The Mystical Poems - Softcover

"An excellent introduction to Rumi, the greatest mystical poet of Islam. . . . Rumi's scope, like that of all the great poets, is universal--reaching from sensuous luxuriance to the driest irony."--Sherman Goldman "East-West Journal " "Rumi is one of the world's greatest lyrical poets in any language--as well as probably the most accessible and approachable representative of Islamic civilization for Western students."--James W. Morris, Oberlin College An excellent introduction to Rumi, the greatest mystical poet of Islam. . . . Rumi s scope, like that of all the great poets, is universal reaching from sensuous luxuriance to the driest irony. --Sherman Goldman "East-West Journal "" Rumi is one of the world s greatest lyrical poets in any language as well as probably the most accessible and approachable representative of Islamic civilization for Western students. --James W. Morris, Oberlin College"

Rumi, who wrote and preached in Persia during the thirteenth century, was inspired by a wandering mystic, or dervish, named Shams al-Din. Rumi's vast body of poetry includes a lengthy poem of religious mysticism, the Mathnavi, and more than three thousand lyrics and odes, many of which came to him while he was in a state of trance. A.J. Arberry, who selected four hundred of the lyrics for translation and annotated them, calls Rumi "one of the world's greatest poets. In profundity of thought, inventiveness of image, and triumphant mastery of language, he stands out as the supreme genius of Islamic mysticism."

"An excellent introduction to Rumi, the greatest mystical poet of Islam. . . . Rumi's scope, like that of all great poets, is universal--reaching from sensuous luxuriance to the driest irony."--Sherman Goldman, East-West Journal

A.J. Arberry (1905-73) was professor of Arabic at Cambridge University.