The Mesnevi, Book the First
Redhouse's rhymed couplet version of the first book of Rumi's Masnavi, from the lament of the reed flute through the tales of the prince and the handmaid, the lion and the beasts, and the harper.
What this poem is
The Masnavi is an extensive Persian masnavi (a poetic form) written by Rumi, and one of the most influential works in the history of Sufism. It is a series of six books of poetry that together amount to around 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines.
Sometimes described as being like a "Quran in Persian", some Muslims regard the Masnavi as one of the most important works of Islamic literature, falling behind only the Quran. It has been viewed by many commentators as the greatest mystical poem in world literature.
It is a spiritual text that teaches Sufis how to reach their goal of being truly in love with God.
The title Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi (Persian: مثنوی معنوی) means "The Spiritual Couplets". The Masnavi is a poetic collection of anecdotes and stories derived from the Quran, hadith sources, and everyday tales. Stories are told to illustrate a point and each moral is discussed in detail. It incorporates a variety of Islamic wisdom, but primarily focuses on emphasizing inward personal Sufi interpretation. In contrast to Rumi's Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi, the Masnavi is a relatively "sober" text. It explains the various dimensions of spiritual life and practice to Sufi disciples and anyone who wishes to ponder the meaning of life.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article “Masnavi” (revision 1362046678), used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Laurel's own notes and measurements are not from Wikipedia.
Measured across the book
Across its 8,222 lines, 93% of stressed syllables fall on the beat (95% interval 93% to 93%). Alliteration runs at 1.01 times what shuffling the words would give (0.46 observed against 0.46 expected). 10% of the lines have a feminine ending.
Baselines and intervals are described in the methods.
Contents
About this text
Public domain. Text from The Mesnevī (usually known as the Mesnevīyi Sherīf, or Holy Mesnevī) of Mevlānā (Our Lord) Jelālu-’d-Dīn, Muhammed, er-Rūmī. Book the First, Project Gutenberg ebook #61724. Free to read, print, copy and reuse.