Book Description
In this transcendent collection, Daniel Ladinsky-best known for his gifted and best-selling translations of the great Sufi poet Hafiz-brings together the timeless work of twelve of the world's finest spiritual writers, six from the East and six from the West. Once again Ladinsky reveals his talent for creating inspiring, profound, and playful versions of classic poems for a modern audience. Rumi's joyous, ecstatic love poems; St. Francis's loving observations of nature through the eyes of Catholicism; Kabir's wild, freeing humor that synthesizes Hindu, Muslim, and Christian beliefs; St. Teresa's sensual verse; and the mystical, healing words of Hafiz-these and other spiritual writers considered to be "conduits of the divine" make up this rich and luminous collection of "love poems from God."
Customer Reviews:
Ladinsky is beautiful, but deceptive.......2007-08-13
I've had this book for a couple of years and I used to enjoy it. I would recommend caution to anyone thinking of buying it, though. Daniel Ladinsky has a history of writing his own poetry and selling it as though it were translated material. Many people in the West know the name of the Iranian poet, Hafiz, through Ladinsky. Although Ladinsky has admitted at times that his writings are not translations of Hafiz but are based on his vision of Hafiz, he has continued to market his material as though it were actually authored by that poet. Many people now read Ladinsky and think that they are reading Hafiz. I think Daniel Ladinsky is a dishonest person for doing this.
That said, his work is beautiful. If what I've said doesn't bother you, then don't worry about it. This book is a pleasure to read. If you are interested in Hafiz or any of the other sacred poets whose names are meantioned in this book, then I would be very careful and not trust anything that has Daniel Ladinsky's name on the cover.
Truly Voices from God.......2007-07-16
This book of poems is an excellent collection of the voices of mystics from both east and west. Wonderful, short poems reflecting very deep and wonderful experiences of God in many different ways and from many points of view. This is a collection for meditation, for sharing with friends, for opening discussions about the divine, about meaning of life, about compassion, love, detachment, and most importantly about divine humor. These writers are so humble they don't have to have a pretentious God - their God is close at hand, humble (meaning well grounded) and not some pie in the sky idealization. Very excellent reading. Would recommend it to anyone, especially someone who is wondering where they might find God.
Inspiring, playful and filled with love........2007-05-25
Daniel Ladinsky's style of translating focuses on the simplicity or essence of the poem. These essential reflections bounce outward like a little child dancing in the rain. I found these poems from various spiritual traditions inspiring me in my own Christian faith as well as my own use of words. The writer of Proverbs warns about the danger of too many words, and maybe these poems remind us of the value in speaking less and allowing the mystery of divine love to hide behind our words.
My Favorite Spiritual Reading.......2007-04-06
This is by far my favorite spiritual book - the one I would take with me to a desert island. The brief biographies of the various authors are interesting and inspiring, but often when I really want to feel "connected" and more spiritual, I just flip to any open page and read a selection. This was my first introduction to many of the individuals and I am now following up on the individual works of my favorites. I would definitely recommend this book as there is something for everyone.
Beauty Lives Inside This Book.......2007-01-06
There's nothing I could add to Rebecca Johnson's wonderful review below. I would however like to comment on the review by M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) which gave this volume one star.
His argument that Daniel Ladinsky has done a disservice to readers by tailoring the translations is flawed. A literal translation is of value to scholors and historians, but not seekers of the heart. For those who are seeking god in ernest, you can trust Mr. Ladinksy to deliver the very soul of the poet he's translating to the front door of your heart. Would Hafiz trust Rumi to translate his works, would St. Francis trust Meister Eckhart to translate his? Yes, and there are people living today who have this same authority...Daniel Ladinsky is one of those people.
Let the worriers worry about hair-splitting and direct translations...and let the lovers revel in these beautiful illumined poems.
Book Description
To Persians, the fourteenth-century poems of Hafiz are not classical literature from a remote past, but cherished love, wisdom, and humor from a dear and intimate friend. Perhaps, more than any other Persian poet, it is Hafiz who most fully accesses the mystical, healing dimensions of poetry. Daniel Ladinsky has made it his life's work to create modern, inspired translations of the world's most profound spiritual poetry. Through Ladinsky's translations, Hafiz's voice comes alive across the centuries singing his message of love.
Customer Reviews:
Divine Hafiz.......2007-08-04
A lifelong fan (dare I say devoted?) to Hafiz and his many works, this book is a must have. Nothing compares to reading Hafiz in Persian, but this book comes very, very close. Hafiz is enlightening, spiritual, refreshing, and above all, very full of wisdom. His works are truly magical, especially considering after all these years, people are still compelled to his work and mystified by his writings. Classic.
Luminous soul food!.......2007-01-19
Hafiz is, together with Rumi, simply one of the greatest poets to have walked on this earth (in my opinion), and Ladinsky's translations bring them to English speakers in a way that we can easliy and deliciously assimilate. This book of enlightening poems will make your soul glow and shiver with delight, if only you let it...
Skip Ladinsky - read Hafiz.......2006-02-26
Once again, Ladinsky claims to be presenting English speaking readers with the work of the great Persian poet Hafiz, and once again, he hasn't felt the need to actually learn Persian or actually base these works on any previous translation of any poem by Hafiz. These are the poems that Ladinsky imagines Hafiz might have written had he been a twentieth century baby boomer Californian disciple of Meher Baba, instead of a 14th century Persian Sufi Muslim. Ladinsky believes (or claims to believe) that Hafiz told him these poems. If so, the afterlife hasn't done anything for the great poet's literary talent.
all you need is love..........2006-01-17
and this book to keep you in touch with your heart.
The beautiful words will take your mind on a sweet journey.
A MUST.......2006-01-15
Read Hafiz any where, any time, in any language.
Take a time to think about it deeply, again, again, and again.
You must try to understand it with your heart, not with your head!
I think no matter in which language is written or translated, Love has only one language.
Book Description
“Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?” —Mary Oliver
This luminous anthology brings together great poets from around the world whose work transcends culture and time. Their words reach past the outer divisions to the universal currents of love and revelation that move and inspire us all. These poems urge us to wake up and love. They also call on us to relinquish our grip on ideas and opinions that confine us and, instead, to risk moving forward into the life that is truly ours.
In his selection, Roger Housden has placed strong emphasis on contemporary voices such as the American poet laureate Billy Collins and the Nobel Prize–winners Czeslaw Milosz and Seamus Heaney, but the collection also includes some timeless echoes of the past in the form of work by masters such as Goethe, Wordsworth, and Emily Dickinson.
The tens of thousands of readers of Roger Housden’s “Ten Poems” series will welcome this beautiful harvest of poems that both open the mind and heal the heart.
Customer Reviews:
Not so great.......2007-01-30
I return to a really good anthology (Staying Alive) over and over to find favorites and to stumble upon those I've not read yet, and those poems I've forgotten.
I haven't picked up this book (Risking Everything) a second time - there's just nothing in it I need to read again. Too bad.
After reading supeb reviews I strongly felt compelled to try!.......2006-05-29
Already a fan of Frost, Cummings, Dickinson, Eliot, Kunitz, and Rilke, I began with James Wright: "Today I Was Happy, So I Made This Poem." Then I discovered, "We Shall Not Cease," by Eliot, the "Holy Spirit" by Hildegard and "Sunset" of Rilke! Quickly as carried back into that, never-never Land of youthful days, I settled into early favorites of Robert Frost and ee Cummings!
In addition to these favorites by Wright, Eliot, Hildegard, Rilke, I have come to a renewed reverence for Goethe, Wordsworth and Robert Bly!
Back to days spent singing with Robert Shaw and Frostiana Pieces like, "The Road Not Taken and "I Thank You God for this amazing day." These stand alongside the 99 year-old Stanley Kunitz, "The Long Boat!"
FROM one who tends toward nostalgia, Retired Chaplain, Fred W Hood, "barbara377" (Fayetteville Georgia United States)
Save Your Soul! Beautiful & Complete.......2006-05-24
I have been carrying this book around with me since I purchased it at the beginning of the year. It has helped carrying me through a pretty rough personal time. As usual, Housden is spot on with his choices; in terms of nourishing the spirit, there's a range of choice, and there isn't a bad poem in the lot. In fact, some of the best poems ever written are collected here. This book has become so meaningful for me that I'm requiring it for my new poetry students next semester. I've also given copies as gifts. Don't miss it!
A Luminous & Inspirational Poetry Anthology.......2005-08-09
Writer and editor Roger Housden's luminous and inspirational compilation of poetry "Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation," is one of the best anthologies of this type I have read or seen. This is Housden's fourth volume of a series that began with "Ten Poems To Change Your Life."
In "Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation," Housden selected 110 poems from around the world, whose poets' lives and works span the centuries. I frequently open the book at random and never fail to be moved. Housden has written: "Great poetry happens when the mind is looking the other way and words fall from the sky to shape a moment that would normally be untranslatable." Carl Sandburg wrote: "Poetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away." And from Emily Dickenson: "To see the Summer Sky / Is Poetry though never in a Book it lie / True Poems flee." Whatever poetry is, some of the best can be found here.
Included in this volume are: "Poetry" by Pablo Neruda, "On Angels" "Eyes" by Czeslaw Milosz, "Today Like Every Other Day" by Rumi, "That Day" by Denise Levertov, "Milkweed" by James Wright, "My Fiftieth Year" by W. B. Yeats, "Sunset," and "The Swan" by Ranier Marie Rilke, "The Wind One Brilliant Day" by Antonio Machado, "Everything Is Plundered" by Anna Akhmatova, "Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" (excerpt) by William Wordsworth, "A Homecoming" by Wendell Berry, "The Third Body" by Robert Bly, "To have without holding" by Marge Piercy, "Deeper Than Love" by D. H. Lawrence, "The Peace of Wild Things" by Wendell Berry," "Soul At The White Heat" and "Wild Nights" by Emily Dickenson, "I Thank You" by E.E. Cummings, "Postscript" by Seamus Heaney, "The Road Not Taken" Robert Frost.
Roger Housdan is the author of numerous books on cultural and spiritual themes, including the bestselling Ten Poems series.
JANA
To live is to risk.......2005-07-21
A few days ago I picked up a copy of Roger Housden's anthology Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation. Today I opened it at a random page, and suddenly felt compelled to start reading the poem out loud. It was D. H. Lawrence's Deeper Than Love, and I found myself reading it slowly, lingering over the words, tasting them, feeling their weight on my tongue.
Love, like the flowers, is life, growing.
But underneath are the deep rocks, the living rock that lives alone
and deeper still the unknown fire, unknown and heavy, heavy and alone.
The noise of the air conditioner in the kitchen drowned my speech (it's a miserable night, dew point around 75, no central air) which was good: I was only reading for myself. I finished the Lawrence, and opened again at random: Billy Collins' This Much I Do Remember. Not a poem to read out loud, this one, but one to close your eyes and see what the poet had seen:
that I could feel it being painted within me
brushed on the wall of my skull
And of course all of Housden's favourites are here, like old familiar friends: Rumi, Bly, and above all Mary Oliver. What a glorious collection.
Book Description
Here, in one compact volume, is a greatest hits collection of the 100 bets love poems ever written by 100 of the world's greatest poets.This essential anthology is ideal for the romantic-and will inspire any cynic.The poets included range throughout the history of world literature: from the Classics (Sappho, Catullus) and Renaissance (Shakespeare, Donne, Dante) to the Romantics (Shelly, Keats, Wordsworth) and 20th century giants (Frost, Lorca, Graves), right down to the present day (Viorst, Patchen, Neruda).Each poem features a brief introduction, which details the poet's life history as well as the poem's significance.
Customer Reviews:
Great variety.......2007-07-05
I like the variety of Love Poems in this book, from serious to ribald, from classic to modern. Also includes notes from the "author" which may offer some interpretive assitance.
Stunning Visuals!.......2006-05-04
This book paints a picture of love with the most beautiful word pictures, it decorates the soul with heartfelt visuals of passion.
Elegant and Classic.......2006-03-30
How can I keep my soul in me, so that it doesn't touch your soul?
How can I raise it high enough, past you, to other things?
I would like to shelter it, among remote lost objects,
in some dark and silent place that doesn't resonate
when our depths resound. ~Rainer Maria Rilke
Leslie Pockell has created a collection of 100 Love Poems in order to explore the many facets of love's expression. The poems range from passionate longings to realistic portrayals (Judith Viorst's True Love). There are images of love's transcendence and safety. Everything from ecstasy to grief is included. Classics like To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe are very familiar.
The River Merchant's Wife by Li Po brings elegant beauty and Strawberries by Edwin Morgan dips into memories of storms while eating strawberries in sugar, one of my all-time favorite poems because of the ending. Katherine Mansfield's poem about tea is warm and satisfying. The flow and rhythm in many of the poems is especially comforting.
The wide range of emotions within the poems also allows for a few moments of sarcasm (Love 20 Cents the First Quarter Mile by Kenneth Fearing) and even humor that is adorably funny. Your Catfish Friend by Richard Brautigan is witty and cute and looks at love from an especially creative perspective. This allows for poems with personality and lightens the heavier content and melancholy love often reveals.
Complete poems and extracts mingle effortlessly through the pages. Each poem is accompanied by an insightful explanation that also sheds light on historical facts and the life of the poet. In Love Song by Rainer Maria Rilke we learn of his lifelong melancholy and Leslie Pockell explains how he is conscious of the distance between lovers playing an "essential part in sustaining the mystery of love and life." Her ideas flow with the poems in a beautiful celebration of poetry. She gives only enough information to introduce the poem and does not provide extended commentary.
Poets featured in this collection include: Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Howard Moss, Christopher Marlowe, John Milton, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Burns, Robert Graves, Rumi, Sir John Suckling, E.E. Cummings, Frances Cornford, Sir Philip Sidney, Guillaume Apollinaire, Juan Ramon Jimenez, Walt Witman, Pablo Neruda, William Blake, Robert Frost, Catullus, Octavio Paz, Tzumi Shikibu, Sylvia Plath, Li Po, D.H. Lawrence, John Keats, Ted Hughes, Margaret Atwood and many more...
There are 100 poets featured in this book. Whether you are a hopeless romantic or enjoy thinking about the many aspects of love, this book has much to offer. I can almost guarantee you will find 5 poems to adore, 10 you want to read again and again and 20 new poets you are happy to have found.
~The Rebecca Review
Excellent book of poems!.......2004-02-19
The title says it all. Great Poets with great love poems equates to a pleasurable read. If you like romance and love, then this book Love poems are for you.
Finally, a comprehensive collection of all the greats!.......2003-10-30
At first I thought, oh here is another thrown together "best of" collection....*yawn*. But after reading this collection, I was so glad I picked it up! Finally, an anthology that includes all the classics, plus some pleasant surprises that would normally be overlooked. Hopefully, more "best of" collections will come from the team that put this one together!!
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful!
- Love poems for all of us
- One of my favorite writers
- the most romantic book of love poems ever written
- Beautiful, wrenching poetry
|
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair: Dual Language Edition (Penguin Classics)
Pablo Neruda
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
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Binding: Paperback
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The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems
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Pablo Neruda: Selected Poems (Edición bilingüe)
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Odes to Common Things, Bilingual Edition
ASIN: 0143039962 |
Book Description
The Nobel Prize-winning poet's most popular work
When it appeared in 1924, this work launched into the international spotlight a young and unknown poet whose writings would ignite a generation. W. S. Merwin's incomparable translation faces the original Spanish text. Now in a black-spine Classics edition, this book stands as an essential collection that continues to inspire lovers and poets around the world.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful!.......2007-01-17
This book was very beneficial as I translated some of the poems myself. It allowed me to compare differences in the two translations and choose which was most accurate.
Love poems for all of us.......2007-01-09
Our Spanish is weak, mine much weaker than hers, but the language speaks, the tone of the language sings, as we sit on a beach and share these beatiful poems, in words we understand, and sounds we listen to.
One of my favorite writers.......2006-08-15
In this duel language edition, the voice is soft, sincere, and refreshing. His language borders on a passion that seems to rouse the senses like skydiving, or waiting for first rain. I recommend this book and all his books to the poetry reader.
the most romantic book of love poems ever written.......2006-04-07
perhaps this is the most romantic and most beautiful book of love poems ever written. every word, every stanza is so easily read, so quickly understood, like an arrow to the heard. give this gift to your lover and they will never forget it.
Beautiful, wrenching poetry.......2004-07-30
A beautiful gift for a lover. Perfect Valentine's Day gift or some other romantic moment. Draw a bath for them, light a candle, pour some wine, and sit and read them some of these often torrid poems. You will thank me later! MUCH later!
Book Description
Praise for The Ordering of Love
By Madeleine L’Engle
“In a brilliant marriage of myth and manner, histories sacred and profane, prayers of petition and of praise, these poems both articulate and illumine the trouble in the gap in which we live–the gap between human affections and Divine Love. L’Engle is unfailing in her willingness to see through–not around–human suffering, and in so doing announces no final severing of spirit and flesh but an enduring vision of resurrection in that crux, in the cross, in the One in Whom all things meet, continuing.”
–Scott Cairns, author of Slow Pilgrim and Philokalia: New and Selected Poems
“I love L’Engle’s poetry for the way it incarnates not only the great Truths of the faith, but all the little truths of our ordinary existence–our working and playing and loving and fighting and dreaming and idling and all the rest of it–and for the way it shows us that those big and little truths should not, cannot, be separated.”
–Carolyn Arends, recording artist and author
“Why is L’Engle one of the defining poets of our time? Because when life hurts, she does not shrink from the wounds. She clarifies the murk with hope as we feel the lift of grace.”
–Calvin Miller, Beeson Divinity School
Birmingham, Alabama
“We are, all of us, the richer for this carefully crafted and prayerfully rendered collection.”
–Phyllis Tickle, Author, The Divine Hours
“Poetry, at least the kind I write, is written out of immediate need; it is written out of pain, joy, and experience too great to be borne until it is ordered into words. And then it is written to be shared.”
–Madeleine L’Engle
Madeleine L’Engle’s writing has always translated the invisible and intricate qualities of love into the patterns and rhythms of visible life. Now, with compelling language and open-hearted vulnerability, The Ordering of Love brings together the exhaustive collection of L’Engle’s poetry for the first time.
This volume collects nearly 200 of L’Engle’s original poems, including eighteen that have never before been published. Reflecting on themes of love, loss, faith, and beauty, The Ordering of Love gives vivid and compelling insight into the language of the heart.
Customer Reviews:
Vivid and compelling insight into the language of the heart.......2005-04-03
When my best friend, Jenn, moved to Manhattan she commenced with church shopping. She searched the island looking for the congregation that seemed best suited to her theological leanings and preference for worship style. Nice people were also a big plus. She landed at All Angels Episcopal Church on the Upper West Side, despite the fact that she hadn't fancied herself Anglican in the past. It's a great parish, and I'd like to think that the fact that I'd become involved in the Anglican church not long before she departed for Manhattan might have nudged her to check this one out. I would like to think that, but it would be wrong. Because I know the real reason Jenn is at All Angels --- Madeleine L'Engle.
Out on the church shopping circuit, rumor had it that the famed author was a long-time parishioner at All Angels and that fellow congregants often visited her since she didn't get out as much as in her younger days. The thought of whiling away hours chatting with L'Engle was more excitement than Jenn, book lover that she is, could bear. She took up residence in an All Angels pew (well, chair, they don't really have pews) post haste. In the years that followed she became an active member of the congregation, made friends, got confirmed, met her future husband, taught Sunday School, and got married --- all at All Angels. And she has Madeleine L'Engle to thank for all of that, despite the fact that she still has yet to meet the woman.
Such is the power of L'Engle. Trust me, if you'd read her work and had the potential opportunity to spend lazy afternoons in her company, you'd make your decisions on church membership accordingly as well.
Thankfully, the truth of the matter is that you don't have to trust me. L'Engle is nothing if not prolific with over fifty books --- fiction, nonfiction, and poetry --- to her credit. Her latest release is a collection of almost 200 poems, including 18 that have never been published before, and is an excellent starting place to acquaint or re-acquaint oneself with this potent literary force.
THE ORDERING OF LOVE is a magnum opus of sorts, spanning more than 30 years, from the mid '60s to the late '90s, and it includes everything from unbridled free verse to disciplined sonnets --- all of which tread the well-worn ground of love, faith, and suffering. In her introduction to the book, friend and fellow writer Luci Shaw notes "a good poem is layered, does not reveal itself all at once, in one reading." And, indeed, the understanding of these poems develops so much on subsequent readings that the words themselves seem to be ever-changing. One of my favorites is "The Birth of Love":
To learn to love
is to be stripped of all love
until you are wholly without love
because
until you have gone
naked and afraid
into this cold dark place
where all love is taken from you
you will not know
that you are wholly within love.
In poems like "Fire by Fire" one gets the distinct sense for L'Engle as an "everywoman" who writes about life as it happens and has a gift for seeing the whole spectrum of human experience in the seemingly mundane.
My son goes down in the orchard to incinerate
Burning the day's trash, the accumulation
Of old letters, empty toilet-paper rolls, a paper plate,
Marketing lists, discarded manuscript, on occasion
Used cartons of bird seed, dog biscuit. The fire
Rises and sinks; he stirs the ashes till the flames expire.
Burn, too, old sins, bedraggled virtues, tarnished
Dreams, remembered unrealities, the gross
Should-haves, would-haves, the unvarnished
Errors of the day, burn, burn the loss
Of intentions, recurring failures, turn
Them all to ash. Incinerate the dross. Burn. Burn.
L'Engle also has a very specific talent for turning the stories of Christianity on their heads and making us look at them in new ways. Her poem "Mrs. Noah Speaking" presents a perspective on the flood that we don't often hear but that sounds quite familiar. "The Ram: Caught in the Bush" tells the story of Abraham's almost sacrifice of Isaac from the point of view of the one who would actually go under the knife, conjuring up the image of Christ in the process.
If they ever do meet, I think Jenn and Madeleine L'Engle will get along quite well. Jenn has a knack for endearing herself to somewhat ornery souls and I suspect L'Engle is one, based on her work and the interviews I've read with her. Regardless, she has done her work in Jenn's life merely by living in the space of the written page. Even though Jenn hasn't stopped by at L'Engle's with fresh bagels from Zabar's, she has learned from L'Engle much about life --- the sometimes painful conundrum of faith, the ache of loss, the bliss of love, the assumption of small truths into the Big Truth of redemption --- on afternoons spent with her printed pages. And from a life as a member of All Angels, which she can thank L'Engle for as well.
--- Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel
Book Description
Now in paperback, this is the definitive collection of America's bestselling poet Rumi's finest poems of love and lovers. In Coleman Barks' delightful and wise renderings, these poems will open your heart and soul to the lover inside and out.
'There are lovers content with longing.
I'm not one of them.'
Rumi is best known for his poems expressing the ecstasies and mysteries of love of all kinds – erotic, divine, friendship –and Coleman Barks collects here the best of those poems, ranging from the 'wholeness' one experiences with a true lover, to the grief of a lover's loss, and all the states in between: from the madness of sudden love to the shifting of a romance to deep friendship – these poems cover all 'the magnificent regions of the heart'.
Customer Reviews:
Soul delicacy.......2007-10-09
This has been my favorite book for years - it can transport me into another world as no other book I know of... It is full of supreme beauty, and yes LOVE, real love... Very highly recommended if you want the real thing
Like trying to condense the ocean into a review form.............2007-07-16
How can I put into words the absolute wordless dimension this collection of poems creates within me?
The commentaries and introduction sections by Coleman Barks are valuable as well beyond words.
The reader would gain insights simply by picking it up and thumbing to any page and just read, read! My daughter and I tried this, we would bring up topics and then say "And what does Rumi say?" and I would read whatever the first words were that I saw in front of me.
They were always universally fitting.
I loved it, just like I love this book.
Wordless, speechless, love-filled - inspired.
Beautiful.......2005-10-14
Rumi needs no praise from me and Barks' translation is beautiful, mysterious, and urgent. I find his introductions to the many sections especially moving. My only problem is that I ordered the book after I bought Barks' "The Essential Rumi," which changed me. This book has many overlaps. I'd have preferred to see more original translations, but as a first introduction, you can do no better.
There Is Some Kiss We Want.......2005-04-22
Coleman Barks once again translates the words of Rumi with respect, good nature, a bit of humor, and a deep understanding of this 13th century mystic and poet. A renowned poet and something of a mystic himself, Coleman Barks leads us through his book as a constant and caring companion. He begins each chapter with his own touching stories, guidance, and expert explanations for the material he lays out. One simply cannot come away from this book without having some sincere appreciation for the devotion and dedication Coleman Barks has for another poet's words.
In "Rumi: The Book Of Love: poems of ecstasy and longing", we are led deep into the regions of the soul, where love is both Universal and Divine. It is a love that beckons us to shed our own image and concepts of ourselves, in exchange for a love that is so vast and joyful, its eloquence can only be experienced rather than explained.
How can we know the divine qualities from within? If we only know through metaphors, It's like when children ask what sex feels like and you answer, "Like candy, so sweet." (88)
Rumi seems to realize mankind is comprised of many faiths, and he mentions many of them with dignity and respect. Yet Rumi's own experience takes him beyond religion, even his own. He often exchanges the word "God" with "Friend", and refers to himself and others who have achieved his enlightened state as "Lovers".
Rumi's words and sublime wisdom ring true for us, as he shares his knowledge of the God-Friend in a both Universal and personal message. We are extremely fortunate to have the poetry of this selfless and compassionate mystic reach us through the fragile, and often forgetful, span of time. Because through Rumi's poetry, we seem to hear our own soul's call and longing to gently open like a beautiful and fragrant flower, and laugh with a tender and colorful sweetness.
There is some kiss we want with our whole lives,
the touch of spirit on the body (33)
~Brian Douthit
author of "Perfectly Said: when words become art"
incredibly moving - I am inspired!.......2003-02-28
This collection of Rumi's poetry moved me like none of his other work. I have already given copies away several times over. You wont regret it!
Customer Reviews:
A rich and sensual read.......2007-10-03
As a poetry lover, it is a shame that I have only recently discovered Nizar Kabbani, one of the Arabic world's best-known contemporary poets. His _Arabian Love Poems_ are vivid, powerful, intense with beautiful imagery and a poignant tone. For readers of Arabic, it is also dual language. In any case, a marvelous collection. Highly recommended.
Good love poems.......2007-04-05
This book makes a real contribution to understanding Arab culture through its rich poetry. I recommend it to the general reader who does not have a background in poetry or literature but just wants a good read.
Arabian love poems.......2006-08-11
Mr. Qabani is very famous in the arab culture. His reputation comes from the sensitive and sentimental poems he writes about love and women. Unfortunately, the collection of poems in this item did not represent well the work he is famous for.
Love is Beautiful!.......2005-07-15
If you are in love read the poems in this book. The words are musical, the emotions are strong, and the fire is really hot!
* Sensual and Passionate Poems *.......2004-11-09
These poems are very sensual, very passionate and very sexy. These are beautiful love poems. Recite them to a woman and see what happens...! Read the poems to someone special.
Book Description
An ALA Notable Children's Book
HONEY, I LOVE
and other love poems
Ages 7 to 11
Love don't mean all that kissing
Like on television
Love Means Daddy
Saying keep your mama company
till I get back
And me doing it
Sixteen poems tell of love and the simple joys of everyday life, seen through the eyes of a child: playing with a friend, skipping rope, riding on a train--or keeping Mama company till Daddy gets back.
Each of these sixteen "love poems" is spoken straight from the heart of a child. Riding on a train, listening to music, playing with a friend...each poem elicits a new appreciation of the rich content of everyday life. And each poem is accompanied by a beautiful drawing, both portrait and panorama, that deepens the insights contained in the singing words.
For the first time Eloise Greenfield and Diane and Leo Dillon have combined teir rich talents to bring children a book that shows them the joys that come from seeing with a poet's eyes--the eyes of love.
Notable Children's Books of 1978 (ALA)
A Reading Rainbow Selection
Winner, 1990 Recognition of Merit Award (George C. Stone Center for Children's Books, Claremont, CA)
Customer Reviews:
Honey, I Love.......2006-09-29
Honey, I Love is a fantastic book for young black girls and great for confidence building. The art work wonderfully represents the poems.
Wonderful poems.......2006-07-02
This books is a favorite of mine and memorable since childhood. The poems are sweet and the drawings are beautiful and made with love. A feel good book for adults and children that is simple and to the heart.
And I love it too!!.......2006-02-25
A must read for children of all ages. The Poetry is simply fantasic. The is a feel good book.
Pure, Beautiful Poetry for Any Age.......2005-05-11
This book is a must for any child's bookcase, particularly if one wants to rear a child who is sensitive, racially tolerant and in tune with the beauty of language.
These poems are of pure emotion: love, joy, loss, bravery, silliness. The voice is childlike but amazingly profound as the poems cover a squeaky school piano, a Southern cousin whose every word "just kind off slides out of his mouth" and the complete abandon one feels when dancing deep in the music of Earth, Wind and Fire.
My favorite two poems are a bit more serious. In "Keepsake," Greenfield uses just nine simple lines to convey loss, and the impact adults can have on children. This is not a maudlin poem that is too heavy or upsetting. Although it deals with death, it's respectful and loving. And the poem "Harriet Tubman" is amazing, deftly describing the woman's heroics and bravery in a satisfying and strong verse.
Honey, I Love is a thought-provoking work that stands the test of time. It's a book that adults and children can, and should, enjoy together.
Eloise, we love you too!.......2000-05-05
HONEY, I LOVE and other love poems is simply put, one of the all-time best books of poetry ever written - and it is loved and enjoyed by adults as well as children. Eloise Greenfield's poetry is full of wisdom, simplicity, and elegance. The title poem reflects a childhood any child would be privileged to have - a "flying pool," a cousin from the South whose words just kinda "slide" out of his mouth, a Mama whose arm is for holding her child...and for being kissed. What more could anyone need? The other poems are brilliant as well - especially HARRIET TUBMAN who didn't "take no stuff." This poem, in fact, is an anthem for school children everywhere, who love a hero and aspire to be one as well. Poetry doesn't get any better than the stuff that comes out of Eloise Greenfield's experiences, heart, and pen. As an author and teacher myself, I admire the timeless nature and awesome craftwork in this book, and I share it every chance I get. Honey, you'll love it!
Book Description
While visiting Russia in his twenties, Rainer Maria Rilke, one of the twentieth century's greatest poets, was moved by a spirituality he encountered there. Inspired, Rilke returned to Germany and put down on paper what he felt were spontaneously received prayers. Rilke's Book of Hours is the invigorating vision of spiritual practice for the secular world, and a work that seems remarkably prescient today, one hundred years after it was written.
Rilke's Book of Hours shares with the reader a new kind of intimacy with God, or the divine--a reciprocal relationship between the divine and the ordinary in which God needs us as much as we need God. Rilke influenced generations of writers with his Letters to a Young Poet, and now Rilke's Book of Hours tells us that our role in the world is to love it and thereby love God into being. These fresh translations rendered by Joanna Macy, a mystic and spiritual teacher, and Anita Barrows, a skilled poet, capture Rilke's spirit as no one has done before.
Customer Reviews:
Glad to have the German alongside the translated poems.......2007-01-02
As previous reviewers have noted, _Rilke's Book of Hours_ has its shortcommings, most notably the way in which the poems have been translated. While I am more forgiving of the translations than others, it is valid concern.
First, the German - Rilke's poetry is spiritually transcendent, moving and sublime. This collection is marvelous. However, the translations are a bit sticky. Certainly some slack must be given anyone who translates literature, poetry especially so. And while I was not happy to see some of Rilke's poems "reinterpreted," the translators were quite upfront and honest with their intentions.
Certainly purists will take issue with the English translations. Nonetheless, I found this a wonderful, beautiful collection of spiritually moving and thought-provoking poems.
90% Rilke, 10% Translator.......2006-03-28
Rilke wrote exceptional poetry. This book offers prayers he felt compelled to write after visiting Russia and encountering a simpler form of Christianity. It is engaging and powerful to wrestle with God and the human condition as they intersect. Rilke holds himself open and offers the reader language, terror and beauty in the face of an exceedingly complex yet personal God.
Rilke himself deserves five out of five stars. However,as has been noted in other reviews, this book bears the scars of interpretation from its translators. The muddled stories of conversion to Buddhism tip their hats to their interpretive goals. Consider the following end note:
"I,55 We have omitted two lines that didn't fit in the cup. It wasn't just the first murder that fragmented God's ancient names (see I,9), but also our presumptuous attempts to describe God. From the Tao Te Ching: 'The Way that can be named is not the Way.'"
I had bought the book to read Rilke, not some deconstructed version of him. So, although the writing is a fantastic set of poetry, I would caution the reader to move on to another translation that is more about Rilke as Rilke wrote. I wish I had examined my copy more closely before I purchased it.
Rilke's Century-Old Spiritual Poetry Made Bountifully New Again.......2005-12-22
I adore, truly adore the writings - and the heart - of
Rainer Maria Rikle - and as I read each author's preface
to this award winning translation, I felt as if I was
finding two kindred spirits who love Rilke as much
as I do.
Listen to this from the opening notes:
"Most of all we acknowledge the young man who, standing
at the brink of this fearsome century, opened the treasure
house of his huge heart."
I am not a German scholar - all I know in German is
how to say "I love you" - so I can not read Rilke in
the original German. I have read other reviews which
find fault with this translation. I found myself
appreciating the thoroughness of their choices... and
the care they put into word selection and the time
they studied other translations with the intent to
honor the original German.
I have spent the last several days revelling in this
volume and was thrilled to discover this pair of
translators have another Rilke volume on the way.
The book includes a brief history of the poems themselves
and the life of Rilke (vis a vis the collection of poems.)
The included commentary explains their choices.
I would recommend this book for Rilke and non-Rilke
fans a like. The words are timeless, lovely and
imblued with love.
Poems of spiritual yearning originally penned one hundred years ago by Rainer Maria Rilke.......2005-12-04
Co-translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy and a finalist for the Pen/West Translation Award, Rilke's Book Of Hours: Love Poems To God presents poems of spiritual yearning originally penned one hundred years ago by Rainer Maria Rilke. Presenting both the original German text and skillful English translations by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, Rilke's Book of Hours speaks of a reciprocal relationship between mortals and the divine, in which God needs us as much as we need Him. A preface and brief commentary round out this commemorative 100th anniversary edition of classic works of faith and inspiration. I find you there in all these things / I care for like a brother. / A seed, you nestle in the smallest of them, / and in the huge ones spread yourself hugely. // Such is the amazing play of the powers: / they who give themselves so willingly, / swelling in the roots, thinning as the trunks rise, / and in the high leaves, resurrection.
Poems for the theological unconventional........2005-08-28
Rilke's "Book of Hours" is a real treasure. Macy and Barrows give us a wonderful translation, as well as helpful biography of the poet. Context in poetry is important and we get that from the translators in both the Rilke's personal history and the history of his time.
Some of these poems are dark. Rilke was deeply effected by the povery he saw and it can be seen in his poetry. Some have accused him of romaticizing poetry, to which I respond, "What?" There is nothing remotely "romantic" about poverty and Rilke, through Macy and Barrows, gives it to us with all of its grit. Would that we had a similar modern sensitivity today when world poverty is undoubtedly worse.
Dark also are his poems on death. Like the ones on poverty, he tells it like it is. But he asks God to "give us each our own death, the dying that proceeds from each of our lives" (III,6) Isn't that what we all want? I know I do.
Poverty and death are not the only themes here. The Books of Monastic Life and Pilgrimmage contain some of the best writing on mysticism from a Western mind. As with all mystics, sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't, but Rilke's gift, as well as our translators, is to make his mysticism, his experience accessible to us. I am grateful that he did.
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- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED X ASTRAY Volume 2 (Gundam (Tokyopop) (Graphic Novels))
- My Book About Me
- Nemesis: The True Story of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle That Brought Down the Kennedys
- Never Too Late (The Best of Betty Neels)
- New and Selected Poems, Volume Two
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- Painting People: Figure Painting Today
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The Gift
The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz
I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy
Hafiz: The Scent of Light
The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems
