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Coleman Barks (born 1937) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 poet
Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry....
. Although he neither speaks nor reads Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
, he is nonetheless renowned as a translator of Rumi and other mystic poets of Persia.

s is a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga, "the Scenic City", is the fourth-largest city in Tennessee , and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, in the United States....
. He attended the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public university research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States....
 and the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley is a public university research university located in Berkeley, California, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines....
. Barks taught literature at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public university research university located in Athens, Georgia, Georgia , the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning....
 for three decades. He currently lives in Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia

Athens-Clarke County is a Consolidated city-county in Georgia , United States, in the northeastern part of the state, at the intersection of U.S....
, where he translates Rumi and composes poetry of his own.

Barks makes frequent international appearances and is well-known throughout the Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
.






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Coleman Barks (born 1937) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 poet
Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry....
. Although he neither speaks nor reads Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
, he is nonetheless renowned as a translator of Rumi and other mystic poets of Persia.

Biographical notes

Barks is a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga, "the Scenic City", is the fourth-largest city in Tennessee , and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, in the United States....
. He attended the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public university research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States....
 and the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley is a public university research university located in Berkeley, California, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines....
. Barks taught literature at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public university research university located in Athens, Georgia, Georgia , the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning....
 for three decades. He currently lives in Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia

Athens-Clarke County is a Consolidated city-county in Georgia , United States, in the northeastern part of the state, at the intersection of U.S....
, where he translates Rumi and composes poetry of his own.

Barks makes frequent international appearances and is well-known throughout the Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
. Barks's work has contributed to an extremely strong following of Rumi in the English-speaking world. Due to his work, the ideas of Sufism
Sufism

Sufi is generally understood to be the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a ufi , though some adherents of the tradition reserve this term only for those practitioners who have attained the goals of the Sufi tradition....
 have crossed many cultural boundaries over the past few decades. Coleman Barks received an honorary doctorate from Tehran University in 2006.

He has also read his original poetry
Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature art in which language is used for its aesthetics and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning ....
 at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

The biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival is the largest poetry event in North America. These four-day celebrations of poetry have been called ?poetry heaven? by the 1995-1997 U.S....
.

Rumi translations

Barks has published several volumes of Rumi's poetry since 1976, including The Hand of Poetry, Five Mystic Poets of Persia in 1993, The Essential Rumi in 1995 and The Book of Love in 2003.

Barks does not speak Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
, but bases his translations entirely on other English translations of Rumi. This includes translations by John Moyne. In addition, while the original Persian poetry of Rumi is heavily rhymed and metered, Barks has used primarily free verse. In some instances, he will also mix lines and metaphors from different poems into one 'translation'.

Original poetry

Barks has published several volumes of his own poetry, including Gourd Seed, Tentmaking, and, in 2001, Granddaughter Poems, a collection of Coleman's poetry about his granddaughter, Briny Barks, with illustrations by Briny.

Quotes

Iran is my first home-land. (2006)

The only credential I have for working on Rumi's poetry is my meeting with [my Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India....
n guru
Guru

A guru is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and who uses these abilities to guide others....
], Bawa Muhaiyadeen. That relationship is the only access I have to what is going on in Rumi's poetry.

See also

  • Persian poetry
  • Sufism
    Sufism

    Sufi is generally understood to be the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a ufi , though some adherents of the tradition reserve this term only for those practitioners who have attained the goals of the Sufi tradition....


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