Sunday, November 24, 2013

Poems by Rumi

Hi All,

I wanted to invite you to read one (or more) of Mewlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi's poems. You can find quite a few at the following - non-academic :) - site: http://www.poemhunter.com/mewlana-jalaluddin-rumi/poems/?a=a&search=&l=3&y=0

Rumi wrote his poems in the 13th century - but his ideas are still (or perhaps, again) of great importance  today. The original poems are in Persian. So what we are reading are only translations. However, I think they are still quite powerful, and I hope you will enjoy them!

Please comment on one (or two) of the poems that you find particularly interesting….

If you are not familiar with Rumi and his time, please click on the following link for a brief introduction: http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Mowlana_Poet_of_Life_s_Dance.htm


Thank you!

gudrun








10 comments:

  1. I am a little bit disappointed when reading Rumi's translated works because of the originality. I just read his Birdsong for the simple reason that I have listened to a song that has a familiar name called Song Bird by Eva Cassidy (I highly recommend people go listen to it). Most of the translated works are interpreted in the way the interpreter wants to define them; therefore, they might not be as original as they were. However, I wish I could know Arabic so that I don't have to read his translated works. Anyway, I like to express a few points about his poem Birdsong. As Rumi states "I'm just as ecstatic as they are, but with nothing to say!", I started to wonder what this means. I used to think that being happy is just happy.Then, I thought Rumi maybe refer to a sudden change in his state of mental, and I picture that a person overwhelmed by extreme happiness can hardly find an expression to describe his excitement. Moreover, Rumi is hoping to have something or someone, as he calls the "universal soul", stroke him and to express his feeling of happiness in an alternative way so that he can control his feeling again. Rumi is trying to resist reflecting his happiness as if he wants to maintain his good manner.

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    1. Hi Yizhen,
      You are totally right: reading Rumi in the original would be a lot better than reading him in translation. However, as far as the translations go, I think that Coleman Barks actually does a reasonably good job. I have read some Rumi translations by others and didn't like them at all…. Nothing, of course, can do justice to a poem in the original. Having said this: the translation seems to have managed to get at least some of Rumi's message across. Your comments about the poem make a lot of sense and suggest that Rumi's main points came through to you despite the limitations of the English language….

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  2. Whoever Brought Me Here by Rumi was especially interesting for me because I could relate myself to this poem a lot and I actually thought this is MY STORY! Recently, I have been thinking a lot about my identity, what I am living for, why I am here, what the purpose of me here is, who I am and all sort of questions about my being. I am not certain about what I am going for and just simply who I am and who I want to be. Like the speaker of the poem I felt so lost and I felt like I am suppose to be in some other place. I heard there is an actual syndrome not sure the exact name but the feeling of lost during second year of university is proven to be very common (I am in second year science). The pressure is very high, I need to find what I am going to do with my life, I need to do well in classes, and the feeling of every single action that I take right now can determine my rest of the life make me think why I am doing this and who I am and where I am and where I would be. I think most of us would be able to relate ourselves to this poem because I am pretty sure we, as humans, wonder about our identity and purpose at some point of our lives. It's a really good poem! I really recommend you all to have a look at it!

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    1. Hi Michelle,
      The questions you are asking yourself are exactly he same questions that Rumi - and many of the most important poets and philosophers have been asking. I am great you find "Whoever Brought Me Here" useful in helping you think about who you are!

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  3. After reading the poem “Description of Love” by Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi, I felt that my experiences in relationships really resonated with his ideas. Especially the line where he states “Naught but Love itself can explain love and lovers!” Love is a mysterious thing, and only through love can people understand how to appreciate things in life and cherish each and every moment. Many times in the past, I was really confused whether or not I was feeling love. Was I just attracted to the physical appearance of people? Or did I truly care about them because of who they were deep inside. Love is a feeling that no one can quite describe because it just is that mysterious. “No sickness is there like sickness of heart. The lover's ailment is different from all ailments; Love is the astrolabe of God's mysteries.” Rumi is a great writer just through how much sense his work makes to many facets in life.

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    1. Hi Dillon, Yes, these are very important questions! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about love!

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  4. A commonality I find in his poems is the nature-related, and simple imagery. Of course, this is largely due to the difference in time frame and culture, but his poems sound somehow more eternal, since the metaphors relate to rubies and tulip beds, rather than flickering street lamps (which are almost all electronic now) or fads, trends that are only relatable in that time period.

    My favourite one has to be "In Love" with its incredible poignancy, delivered in a succinct form. Interesting that the translator chose to use the word "know", since this word has traditionally been an euphemism for copulation (especially coming from biblical roots). If you take "First I know you, then I die" to be read in the context of the act of making love, Rumi seems to expand the love-making to an entire life, rather than a single event. The narrator summarizes the entire time up to the point of his/her death in the single act of "knowing you". This demonstrates devotion and infinite amount of love.

    However, the last line is most powerful. 'For the one who knows Me, there is no dying.' The lover corrects the narrator (and perhaps the reader as well) that through the process of loving one another, existence takes on meaning and becomes immortal in a sense. Through each other's memories will they survive on, and somehow their footsteps, side-by-side, will linger in the passage of time. Simply beautiful!

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    1. Excellent observations, Rosaline! Thanks for sharing!

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  5. While I was perusing the set of Rumi poems on the site provided, I stopped when I read "Let Go of Your Worries". I am actually a fan of Rumi's poems mainly because I am intrigued by Sufism, and Rumi is a renown Sufi mystic. However, I've never read this poem before, and it reminded me of the many reasons why I like Rumi so much.

    I remember once reading a quote by Rumi: "If you get irritated by every rub, how will your mirror ever get polished?". I'm not sure if there is a difference in translation, but I think that quote and this poem complement one another.

    "Let Go of Your Worries" addresses how people don't glance within their own hearts when they try to discover themselves and their purpose. Rumi tells the reader that in order to truly "behold yourself", you must treat your heart like a mirror, what appears in the reflection is nothing but "the shameless truth". He encourages the reader to truly evaluate what is in their hearts and to not be clouded by our opinion of ourselves, the mirror should be clear of any blemishes. After all, "the heart conceals secrets/ while the mirror does not". This line appealed to me the most because Rumi sums up the purpose of the entire poem in a very succinct and effective manner. He urges the reader to not think for a while but to feel the spirituality present within, something that cannot be accessed by the use of logic but something that is felt with the heart.

    I absolutely am in love with this poem because Rumi does a wonderfully elegant job in mixing the messages of spirituality and self-discovery at once. He first tells us that in order to really know who we are, we need to see a clear and undistorted reflection of ourselves. However, to achieve this, we need to leave our worldly troubles for a while and explore our hearts to truly discover and unearth what lies within, hence the title "Let Go of Your Worries".

    This poem really made me think of my experience with meditation and spirituality. Before, I didn't really think peace came with accessing your inner self; however, when I did start meditation, it helped me clearly assess my actions and the reasons behind my actions. It helped me to really ask myself who I am, what my purpose is and what I am going to do with my life. I haven't really answered these questions because I think people have spent centuries finding "the answer", but it's something we need to find on our own. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm on my way.

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  6. In the poem “The Guest House” by Rumi, Rumi compares being human to a guest house. It means we are a “house” which is vulnerable to every experience in our lives, which he compares to “guests”. Rumi compares our experiences in life to unexpected guests and tells us that every experience is valuable and we should learn to accept all emotions such as joy, depression, and meanness. Rumi believes that all aspects of our lives are crucial. I agree with Rumi’s idea because, from my experience, I know that I could learn many things from all of my experiences, including failure and depression.

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