Soul Is Here For It's Own Joy

by Robert Bly

Book Overview

Robert Bly's ground-breaking anthology of spiritual poems, the result of over a decade of personal research, celebrates the ongoing role of the divine in literature. For as long as people have lived together in communities and built enduring cultures, they have sung and written about their relationship with the god or gods they believed in. In the words of the Irish writer Sean O'Faolain, "all good writing in the end is the writer's argument with...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 088001475X
• ISBN13: 9780880014755
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

READINGS THAT MIRROR THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

Stepping Off the Edge: Learning & Living Spiritual Practice Beautiful book, arranged like the spiritual journey: At first, you feel the call, have a big experience, make a commitment, then forget it all, do your thing in the world until you get in trouble, then commit to spirit again, forget it, go back to the world, mess up, back to spirit, etc. Until you finally really commit. Takes the reader through poetry demonstrating a deeper and deeper commitment to and knowledge of the sacred. Many traditions. Great introduction to the Indian and Middle eastern poets: Poems by Rumi, Kabir, Mirabai, Lalli, all in one volume.

Truly Joyous

I highly recommend this wonderful collection of poems dedicated to the range of experiences in the quest for spiritual understanding. All those with this quest in mind would do well to read the poetry found here.

A masterful collection

Robert Bly's compilation of sacred poetry is best read to the music of Loreena McKennit or Hildegard of Bingen. Lights should be low, or natural, and a blank journal should be nearby, ready for you to record your revelations and insights. Bly's assortment is remarkable in that it lifts the reader to divinity by celebrating humanism. A book that positively radiates light.

Don't read this review

Don't waste your time reading reviews. Read this book. It is absolutely amazing. Powerful. Deeply spiritual. Touching. Loving.What more can I say?...

A delight! Wonderful, readable spiritual poetry.

Robert Bly has a wonderful knack for finding the best of the most approachable, readable poetry available. If you've never followed his work, I invite you to pick up any of his anthologies for starters: News of the Universe is a good one, also try The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart (it's subtitled "Poems for Men" but it's not really for men only, he features probably more women poets in there than many other anthologies). He continues his winning streak with this book. I've read or heard Bly recite poems by many of the authors featured in this book. If you are a Bly fan, it's standard fare: Rilke, Kabir, Rumi, Dickinson, Stevens, Machado. It's nice to have it combined in one book- a compact, travel edition, if you will. Plus there are poems from Mirabai that have not been included in any of his books (although there's a small pocket book of her poems that's sadly out of print). There is a whole section entitled God in the Feminine, welcome and refreshing for men and I think very valuable for women seeking her spiritual path, surrounded as we are by masculine images of God. The book is divided into 10 sections, by theme. Some of the titles are Starting on the Path, Dying to this World, and The Spirit- Who is a Guest of the Soul- Will Never be at Home on this Earth. Preceding each section Bly gives a little introduction that sets the theme for each. I love his interpretation and gentle guiding. He opened my eyes years ago to reading poetry and looking at the images in a broader way. Bly has received some criticism for his translations, as actually some of his work involves taking the English of other translators and giving it more vernacular language. While I understand and appreciate precision, I would also rather read a Bly translation of, say, Rilke's The Panther. I've seen the original and understand a little German, and to me Bly's ideas about keeping the emotional tenor alive make the poems so much more delightful to read, and his translations lose nothing. So the poems are arranged in sections by topic and with a sense toward their emotional tenor. This is Bly's greatest strength, I think, and combined with his intelligence and broad interests he has used his senses to put together a wonderful, inspirational book. For another excellent book in a similar vein, check out The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks. Includes a couple of recipies (I have yet to try them out). Also The Kabir Book, by Robert Bly. The spiritual poems of Kabir, Rumi, and Mirabai are still new to this culture, and very beautiful and delightful. It's nice to see them in the anthology alongside Western poems- especially alongside Western poems. Who knows? Maybe they will change your life. -Mike