| The present work examines the mixed-language macaronic poems, mulamma‘āt, of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207–1273), one of the greatest mystical poets of all times. Rūmī's mixed language poetry, however, had received no significant scholarly or lay attention prior to this study. While the preponderance of Rūmī's literary and didactic output found expression in Persian, he also composed close to one hundred ghazals, lyrical poems, by mixing languages including Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Greek, the occasional Mongolian locution and even an amorous Armenian phrase.; The first section of this study commences with an investigation of the life of our author and attempts, in particular, to glean information on circumstances and events that may have influenced his literary output, particularly his mulamm‘āt. It continues with an examination of mixed-language compositions in both the Western and Islamic literary traditions—the macaronic in the former, and the mulamma‘ in the latter. The work then turns to Rūmī's fascinating mixed language poetry, concentrating on its formal features. Rūmī's particularly expressive use of Qur‘ān and H&dotbelow;adīth citations then provides a fruitful avenue for exploration. The penultimate chapter addresses the puzzling question of whether Rūmī's verses were the outpourings of an entranced mystic or the poems of a proud composer. Here, Rūmī's mixed-language poetry plays a fundamental role in shedding light on this oft-discussed, but hitherto unsatisfactorily addressed problem. The first section of the dissertation concludes with a theoretical formulation for the use of the mulamma‘āt by Rūmī. It reads the mulamma‘āt as a dynamically imaginative and unique form of apophatic discourse. Within these mixed-language compositions, Arabic emerges as a language suitable for privileged discourse for the “cooked,” the mystically experienced, excluding the “raw,” the neophytes. However, the latter need guidance too. Persian rises to the occasion to act as a language for all, sharing the “sweetness” of divine experience. The mulamma‘āt mirror the divine-human encounter and the simultaneous experience of unity and duality in the tension of the mixed languages. This inner tension is also a reflection of the competing mystical and prophetic spirits, wrenched between exercising caution, and revealing all in order to lead others to similar heights of encounter.; The second section of this study provides a complete, scholarly translation into English of Rūmī's mixed-language poetry from the Kulliyāt-i Shams. This is followed in section three by an in-depth metrical analysis of all of these poems. |
