Rumi Birdsong: Fifty-Three Short Poems [Paperback]

Jelaluddin Rumi (Author), Coleman Barks (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Persian

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Maypop (November 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096189167X
• ISBN-13: 978-0961891671
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,075,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Inspirational & Religious
  • #94 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Mysticism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Sufi (ecstatic religious) poetry, August 17, 2000

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rumi Birdsong: Fifty-Three Short Poems (Paperback)

Birdsong contains 53 short poems that are reworkings of the translation by A. J. Arberry, a major scholar of Sufism.

Not all of the poems have any direct relationship to birds, rather the birdsong of the title refers to a common metaphor in mystic traditions e.g. The Conference of the Birds, a major Sufi work.

Barks, as usual, provides excellent translations; he truly makes the poetry of Rumi accessible to the average reader (as compared to some scholarly translations that are precise but no longer poetry or that require technical vocabulary).

His selection of poems is also excellent; they are poems that encourage meditative thought. An example: "Stars burn clear / all night till dawn. / Do that yourself, and a spring / will rise in the dark with water / your deepest thirst is for. "

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All I want now to do or hear is poetry!, November 10, 1999

By 

Yod Asugia ([e-mail]) (Carbondale, Illinios) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rumi Birdsong: Fifty-Three Short Poems (Paperback)

Rumi is brilliant in his acuteness. Birdsong only makes me want to learn and read more about this impressionable thinker. His words truly hold the essence of life. Recommneded to all who adore poetry.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant simplicity, December 19, 2006

By 

Leisa - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rumi Birdsong: Fifty-Three Short Poems (Paperback)

I have had my copy of Rumi for some time. I have just recently picked it up again. While I had several old favorites, my dog-eared pages marking them, I found some new ones that now captivate.

The elegant simplicity--spare verse, carefully crafted structure--of these poems is mesmerizing. Enigmatic and ecstatic they will lift your spirit.