Сетевой научно-практический журнал АуЧНЫЙ 73 СЕРИЯ Вопросы теоретической и прикладной лингвистики Н резуЛьТАТ UDC 821 DOI: 10.18413 / 2313-8912-2015-1-3-73-82 THE INFLUENCE Bahram Moghaddas Mahdieh Boostani OF RUMI’S THOUGHT ON WHITMAN’S POETRY Bahram Moghaddas PhD in TEFL, Ministry of Education, Mahmoodabad, Mazandaran, Iran Department of English, Khazar Institute of Higher Education, Iran E-mail: [email protected] Mahdieh Boostani PhD Candidate in the English Language and Literature, Banaras Hindu University, India E-mail: [email protected] АBSTRACT ufism or tasawwuf is the inner, mystical, or psycho-spiritual dimension of Islam. SHowever, many scholars believe that Sufism is outside the sphere of Islam. As a result, there has always been disagreement among religious scholars and Sufis themselves regarding the origins of Sufism. The traditional view sees Sufism as the mystical school of Islam and its beginnings in the first centuries following the life of the Prophet Mohammad. Indeed, there is another view that traces the pre-Islamic roots of Sufism back through mystics and mystery schools of the other regions gathered into the trunk known as Islamic Sufism. The word Sufi originates from a Persian word meaning wisdom and wisdom is the ultimate power. The following survey tries to explore this concept in the works of Rumi and its impact on the western writers and poets particularly Whitman. It tries to show how Whitman inspired from Rumi and came to be the messenger of Sufism in his poems. These poems reveal the depth of Sufi spirituality, the inner states of mystical love, and the Unity of Being through symbolic expressions. They also ex- press aspects of Sufism and of traveling the Sufi path inaccessible in prose writings. Key words: Sufism; Persian literature; Persian poetry; Rumi, Whitman. №3 2015 Bahram Moghaddas, Mahdieh Boostani АуЧНЫЙ 74 THE INFLUENCE OF RUMI’S THOUGHT резуЛьТАТ ON WHITMAN’S POETRY СетевойН научно-практический журнал Introduction tions, for example, Tahirids and Samanids were Persian writing is one of the world’s most situated in Khorasan (Zarandi et al., 2014). established written works (Bruijn, 2015; Trin- Iranians wrote in both Persian and Arabic ity, 2013). It compasses over two centuries, (Divsalar and Mazhari, 2013; Lewis, 2011); Per- though a significant part of the pre-Islamic ma- sian prevailed in later artistic circles. Persian terial has been lost. Its sources have been in- poets, for example, Ferdowsi, Sa’di, Hafiz, Attar, side Greater Iran including present-day Iran, Nezami, Rumi and Omar Khayyam are addition- Iraq and the Caucasus, and additionally locales ally known in the West and have affected the of Central Asia where the Persian dialect has writing of numerous nations. truly been the national dialect (Tehrani, 2014; Persian Poetry Reviews, 2012). For example, Molana (Rumi), Classical Persian poetry and verse is con- one of Iran’s best-adored artists, conceived in stantly rhymed. The principal verse structures Balkh or Vakhsh (in what is presently Afghani- are the Qasideh, Masnavi, Qazal and Ruba’i stan or Tajikistan), wrote in Persian, and lived (Iran Chamber Society, 2015; Schimmel, 2014). in Konya, then the capital of the Seljuks. The The qasida or ode is a long lyric and poem in Ghaznavids vanquished expansive regions in monorhyme, for the most part of a panegyric, in- Central and South Asia and received Persian as structive or religious nature; the Masnavi, sent their court dialect. There is in this way Persian in rhyming couplets, is utilized for gallant, sen- literature from Iran, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan, timental, or narrative verse; the ghazal (ode or the wider Caucasus, Turkey, western parts of lyric) is a similarly short poem, generally pas- Pakistan, Tajikistan and different parts of Cen- sionate or mysterious and fluctuating from four tral Asia. Not all this literature is composed to sixteen couplets, all on one rhyme. A conven- in Persian, as some consider works composed tion of the ghazal is the presentation, in the last by ethnic Persians in different languages and couplet, of the poet’s nom de plume or pen name dialects, for example, Greek and Arabic, to be (takhallus). The ruba’i is a quatrain with a spe- incorporated. In the meantime, not all writing cific meter, and an accumulation of quatrains written in Persian is composed by ethnic Per- is called “Ruba’iyyat” (the plural of ruba’i). At sians or Iranians. Especially, Indic, Caucasian, last, a gathering of a poet’s ghazals and other and Turkic poets, essayists and writers have verse, orchestrated alphabetically based on the likewise utilized the Persian language as a part rhymes, is known as a divan (Iran Chamber So- of the land of Persianate societies and cultures ciety, 2015). (Branch, 2014; Zarandi et al., 2014). A word may not be strange here on the un- Depicted as one of the colossal writings of hu- conventional challenges of deciphering Persian mankind, Persian literature has its establishes in verse and literature toward the western reader. surviving works of Middle Persian and Old Per- To the pitfalls regular to all interpretations from sian, the last of which go back similarly as 522 verse must be included, on account of Persian BCE (the date of the most punctual surviving literature, such extraordinary challenges as the Achaemenid engraving, the Behistun Inscription. free utilization of Sufi symbolism, the inces- Persian literature was considered by Goethe one sant artistic, Koranic and different references of the four primary collections of world literature and suggestions, and the general occupation of (Zarandi et al., 2014). The majority of surviving monorhyme, a structure exceedingly compelling Persian literature, notwithstanding, originates in Persian yet unsuited to most different lan- from the times after the Islamic success of Iran guages. In any case, most essential of all is the around 650 CE. After the Abbasids came to con- way that the verse of Persia depends to a more trol (750 CE), the Iranians turned into the record- prominent degree than that of most different ers, scribes and bureaucrats of the Islamic domain countries on excellence of language for its be- and, progressively, additionally its poets and longings. This is the reason a significant part writers. The New Persian literature emerged and of the considerable volume of “qasidas in com- prospered in Khorasanand Transoxiana in light of mendation of sovereigns” can at present be read political reasons – the early Iranian administra- with delight in the origional, though. It is gener- СЕРИЯ Вопросы теоретической и прикладной лингвистики Bahram Moghaddas, Mahdieh Boostani АуЧНЫЙ 75 THE INFLUENCE OF RUMI’S THOUGHT резуЛьТАТ ON WHITMAN’S POETRY СетевойН научно-практический журнал ally unsuited to interpretation. So, the best ap- strate that emotional strategy was not outsider peal of Persian literature lies, as Sir E. Denison to Persian literary taste. Numerous authors and Ross commented, in its language and its music, poets exceeded expectations in effectively ex- and subsequently the reader of an interpretation pressing an idea adequately by the prudent uti- “ has perforce to forego the essence of the mat- lization of complexity, accentuation, paradox, ter” (Iran Chamber Society, 2015: Zarandi et al., and incongruity, yet above all else by a fitting 2014). delineation utilized as a part of Persian didac- Characteristics of Persian literature tic literature to dramatize an abstract point or i. Preponderance and advantage dictum. of Poetry But it is the making of mind-sets and im- A genuinely broad prose literature, basically pacts and the portrayal of scenes and opinions of a narrative, episodic, and admonishing kind that have remained the main concerns of the likewise thrived, yet it is dominated by poetry writers and poets of Persia. Abstract and liter- regarding quality and quantity alike (Nanaje, ary constructions of an architectural nature, 2010; Nejati and Shafaei, 2008). In fact, poetry where all points of interest are subordinated is the art par excellence of Persia, and her notable to the prerequisites of an overriding subject or social and cultural accomplishment. In spite of thought, have from time to time been the con- their significant achievements in painting, pot- vincing point of Iranian literary works. Struc- tery, textiles, and architecture, in no other field tural frames as, they are seen in the West, with have the Persians succeeded in accomplishing emotional pressure coming about because of the same level of prominence. While the extent their improvement of characters and their of alternate arts stayed constrained, literature imagined connection don’t distract the Persian and verse formed into a vehicle for the most re- literary mind. Instead of following a planned fined musings and the most profound supposi- advancement from introductory premises to tions. Pensive and enthusiastic in the meantime, climax and resolution, the Persian authors per- poetry talks the language of the Persian heart, mit themselves to investigate, frequently at a psyche, and soul, completely mirroring the Per- lackadaisical pace, the scenes and points of in- sian world perspective, background and life ex- terest that energize their own creative energy, perience (Nanaje, 2010). and to impart these to the reader. This, unfo- ii. “Tangential” Structure cused, wandering kind of literary development and Organization finds its preeminent sample in Rumi’s Mathna- The literary works of Persia for the most part vi, where mysterious thoughts and preachings have a tendency to be unmistakable instead of are represented by stories inside of stories, with emotional, expressionistic rather than natural- no reasonable structure between drifting ser- istic, natural as opposed to compositional (Lee, mons and philosophical comments. 2012). This does not imply that Iranian writings It is additionally obvious that in the pres- lack sensational, dramatic or well-constructed ent century, when fiction composing has get to stories. The Shah-nama contains some intense be prominent, it is the short story (basically de- stories with impressive emotional impact.