Rumi: Poems and Prose Literary Elements

The poems and prose have been written from first person's point of view. The narrator is an unnamed character, who is giving vent to his/her feelings.

Some poems have been written in the form of Ghazal while others have followed the rhyme and meter of Persian verse but most of the poems have been written in free verse form.

The metaphor of straw has been used for human beings. The metaphor of 'eating sugar' has been employed for everything that a man does for the sake of this world in the poem, "Love is the Water of Life". The simile of grinding sugar has been used for human beings that they are being crushed like sugar at the hands of destiny and the metaphor of storm has been used for destiny in Rumi's poem "Love is the Master". The narrator has used the simile of cat for /himself/herself that she/he swings and flings like a cat in the hands of love. The simile of mill wheels has been employed for those who spend their days and night in order to fulfill the commands of God. The speaker has also used the simile of madman for herself when she searches for her beloved in the meadows. In the poem "Confused and Distraught", the simile of heaven, moon and candle have been employed by the narrator and the metaphor of Solomon has been used. The metaphor of cage has been employed by Rumi for this corporeal life. The metaphor of Window-shoppers has been used for those who are not interested in spirituality.

In the poem "Distraught and Confused", there is assonance in the line 'Come you who have departed'.

There is an irony that people claim that they have made a deal with destiny but how a man can make deal with a hurricane.

Mystical, Sufi poetry and prose

The setting of the poems is 13th century, Turkey.

Passionate,desperate, yearning, pleading.

Usually a lover or a dervish is the protagonist in Rumi's poetry who yearns for the beloved and the worldly desires are the antagonist in his poems.

The major conflict in Rumi's writings is the search for the beloved and between life without love and life with the presence of love.

The climax comes when the lover sees the beloved.

Springtime foreshadows that everything will be fine.

There is an understatement that this world is nothing but a distraction so we should aspire to search for the true purpose of life.. Another understatement is that God is the embodiment of love. He is omnipresent, omnipotent and all-knowing and humans have no control over their destinies.

The allusions of death, resurrection, afterlife and tavern have been employed by the poet.

The drunkard are present in tavern so the description of drunkard is an example of metonymy. An example of synecdoche is that the lover in the poems stands for all the lovers of God.

Love and destiny have been personified in the poem "Love is the Master". In the poem, "Where did the handsome beloved go?", the tree has been personified.

There is hyperbole in the description of milk and marsh i.e. 'sweet milk' and 'the salt marsh becomes sweet as Kauther'. The hyperbole has also been employed when the narrator says when the spring comes 'the body becomes wholly soul'.

There is onomatopoeia in the phrase "grinding of sugar".