Echoes of Rumi and Hafez in Western Thought and Literature

In the last two centuries, few voices from the East have resonated so deeply in the West as those of Jalal al-Din Rumi and Khwāja Shams al-Din Hafez. These Persian poets—one a Sufi mystic, the other a lyrical master—have crossed borders of language, culture, and time, finding new life in Western poetry, philosophy, psychology, and even pop culture.

What is it about Rumi’s whirling verses or Hafez’s wine-soaked insights that continues to captivate modern audiences? And how did these medieval poets find their way into the libraries—and hearts—of so many Western thinkers and artists?

Rumi: The Universal Mystic

Rumi (1207–1273) is often cited as the most widely read poet in the United States, a remarkable feat for a 13th-century scholar from present-day Afghanistan and Iran. His poetry—particularly in the Masnavi and his Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi—speaks of love, unity, divine longing, and spiritual transformation.

Rumi in the West

The 19th-century German philosopher Goethe was among the earliest European admirers of Persian poetry, and his West-Eastern Divan pays homage to Persian forms and mysticism. But it was in the 20th century, with the translations of R. A. Nicholson, A. J. Arberry, and later Coleman Barks, that Rumi's poetry truly caught fire in the Anglophone world.

Although Barks’ versions are technically adaptations (more interpretive than literal), they introduced Rumi to a generation hungry for spiritual depth, connection, and self-awareness.

• Carl Jung cited Sufi texts, including those of Rumi, in his explorations of the collective unconscious and …