Rumi, Heart of the Beloved 2014 Wall Ca
The thirteenth-century Persian poet Jelaluddin Rumi has been called the greatest mystical poet of any age. His writings have always been revered in the Persian world, perhaps second only to the Koran, and modern-day scholars often place him in the same category as Shakespeare and Dante. Rumi was born in Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan) in 1207. Fleeing the Mongol invasion, his family eventually settled in what is now Konya, Turkey, where Rumi died in 1273. Rumis mystical writings cover every aspect of life. He writes with humor, humility and inspired passion. Like all truly great writers, he possesses the marvelous ability to speak with the voice of our own deepest longings. And in a magical leap of union beyond boundaries and definitions, Rumis poetry answers that longing with the voice of the Divine. Coleman Barks taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia for 30 years. His life changed directions in 1976 when his colleague Robert Bly handed him an accurate but stilted nineteenth-century translation of the work of mystic Islamic poet Jelaluddin Rumi and said, Release these from their scholarly cages. Huston Smith, author of The Worlds Religions, said, If Rumi is the most-read poet in America today, Coleman Barks is in good part responsible. His ear for the truly divine madness in Rumis poetry is truly remarkable. Barks is the author of numerous Rumi translations and has been a student of Sufism since 1977. His work with Rumi was the subject of an hour-long segment in Bill Moyerss The Language of Life series on PBS, and he was a featured poet and translator in Moyerss poetry special Fooling with Words.