Mystical Poetry Research Articles

Poets of Mysticism: Jalal ud-Din Rumi & William Blake: A Comparative and Contrastive Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to examine the similarities and differences between the mystical poetry of Jalal ud-Din Rumi, a Persian poet who lived in the 13th century, and William Blake, an English poet who lived in the 18th century. The focus will be on their respective approaches to mysticism and spirituality, as well as their common themes of divine love, human transformation, and the connection between the material and spiritual realms. Their poetic expressions of mysticism reflect a profound engagement with the transcendent, and they encourage readers to seek higher truths beyond the confines of the physical world. Despite the fact that both poets come from different cultures, their mysticism is in their poetry. The purpose of this comparative study is to highlight the similarities between them in terms of their themes and styles, as well as the differences that stem from their distinct philosophical and theological backgrounds.

A Classification Essay on Islamic Poetry in New Turkish Literature

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to define Islamic poetry, explore its analytical methodology, and provide examples that illustrate its thematic concepts within modern Turkish poetry. Methods: To achieve these objectives, the study employs the document analysis method, which is a qualitative research approach. The analysis focuses on modern Turkish poetry, examining examples across eight distinct categories of Islamic poetry. Results: The analysis of Islamic poetry within modern Turkish literature reveals its diverse manifestations across various thematic categories. These include Islamist Poetry, Turkish-Islamic Poetry, Sufi Poetry, Islamic Mystical Poetry, Islamic Metaphysical Poetry, Islamic Cultural Poetry, Religious Poetry, and Islamic Romantic Love Poetry. Each category is exemplified with a poem, showcasing the rich tapestry of Islamic sensibility, motivation, and thematic concepts present in modern Turkish poetry. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study highlights the enduring influence of Islam on Turkish poetry, both historically and in contemporary times. Through the exploration of Islamic poetry across different thematic categories, the study illustrates the depth and breadth of Islamic sensibility within modern Turkish literature. The researchers' conclusions drawn from the analysis further contribute to our understanding of the role of Islamic poetry in shaping cultural and literary discourse in Turkey.

The Poet’s Knowledge of God: The Work of Parvin Etesami in the Context of the Iranian Spiritual Tradition

The subject of this article is the mystical poetry of Parvin Etesami (1907–1941). In it, we analyse the religious foundations of the poet’s work of the first half of the twentieth century (a turning point in Persian culture), which continue the Persian tradition of searching for God on the paths laid by her predecessors and express her knowledge of God in old poetic forms (monazere, qasida) with a new poetic language. The study of the poetic ontology of Parvin Etesami, that is, of her reflections on God, is based not only on a collection of 60 poems published in Russian (Journey of a Tear, 1984), but primarily on precise translations of Etesami’s poems, published for the first time in the article, which could not be included in the Soviet edition and which were carried out by two of the authors of this article. The article analyses the poet’s ideas about God as the creator of man, about God’s predestination(the establishment of man’s mission on earth as a reflection of divine beauty), and about the Grace of God as the essence of human destiny. In the monologues of the dervishes, ideal personalities in the verses of Parvin, the value of the fruits carried by the mystical consciousness of one who has achieved contemplation of true reality is affirmed. It opposes the ideas of ordinary consciousness, for which the style of behaviour of the mystic is like madness. The love for God and God’s love are shown in Etesami’s poetry as the centre of the heart, so that externally manifested religiosity (the Kaaba as a shrine is the architecturally revealed centre of the world) and the inner comprehension of God (the Kaaba of the heart) are affirmed by Parvin in their complementary wholeness. In this way, it is shown that in the verses of Parvin, fidelity to the thousand-year-old spiritual tradition and individual creativity appear as an organic unityTransl.: Koshemchuk T. A., Reisner M. L., Yahyapour M. 2022. The Poet’s Knowledge of God: The Work of Parvin Etesami in the Context of the Iranian Spiritual Tradition. Concept: Philosophy, Religion, Culture. 6(2). P. 41–58. DOI: https://doi. org/10.24833/2541-8831-2022-2-22-41-58. (In Russian)

The Impact of the Climate on Literature

Nature and its elements have always played a valuable role in the formation of religious beliefs and human art. In myths and literature, special attention has been paid to the elements of nature and their maintenance. Poets who have lived in beautiful and prosperous lands, compared to poets who have lived in plains and deserts, have written beautiful and enduring poems because the beauty of nature and its elements play a valuable role in depicting things. It should be remembered that the preservation of nature and its elements leads to the development and fertility of art and literature. In this article, the impact of climate on literature is analyzed in a descriptive-analytical way. In the same way, the poets and writers of the Dari language and literature have benefited from the elements of nature in different ways in expressing their thoughts. But nature in mystical poetry has a more personal aspect, meaning that mystical poets have used the elements of nature to express their mystical experiences and discoveries. Of course, different poets use nature in different ways. In the poems of the first periods, nature has a global aspect and these poets have continuously described nature and its elements.

The symbol of Grief in Azerbaijan mysticism poetry

The symbol of Grief in Azerbaijan mysticism poetry

سید انور علی شاہ کی مذہبی و صوفیانہ شاعری:ایک مطالعہ

Sufi Syed Anwar Ali Shah, born on 11 Muharamul Haram 1324 H at Village Jahan pur Sharif, Taluka Mirpur Mathelo District Ghotki, His father, s Name is Syed Khuda Bux Shah. The forefathers of Syed Anwar Ali Shah belonged to Arabia, then migrated to Punjab (Uch Sharif) and then to Balochistan and then to Sindh. Syed Anwar Ali Shah received his early religious education from his uncle Hafiz Syed Bahadur Ali shah and then from Molvi Mohammad Essa Noorani. Anwar Ali Shah received a little wordly knowledge in apparent but his spiritual and metaphysical knowledge is very thoughtful. Sufi Anwar Ali Shah composed poetry in many languages i, e Sindhi, Urdu, Siraiki, Balochi, Persian, Arabic, Hindi and Marwari. Syed Anwar Ali Shah, s mystic poetry is full of deep sense, wide message and a great insight and enlightenment. He is on the same path of Mansoori. Poerty of Syed Anwar Shah is message of unity, tolerance and co-existence. Nodoubt, the urdu poetry of Syed Anwar Ali Shah is replete with thought-provoking subjects, and metaphorical terms, which needs a very deep study and insight to understand. Syed Anwar Shah is a great Sufi saint, and his message in poetry is in line with same all sufis of world. This article peeps in deep to his Urdu poetry at wider length.

The Role of the Otherworldly and Real elements in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Coleridge has offered his readers with a "nature and otherworldly" combination in his poetry that is both unique and impressive. Coleridge believes that man is surrounded by environment and that it is a special honour to be able to comprehend what he sees. Though written in the romantic style, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is often considered as a masterwork of mystical poetry because to the poet's sense of wonder and the wide range of topics it addresses. On the other hand, it teaches its readership that no wrongdoing, no matter how little, will be tolerated. The article investigates how Coleridge balances earthly and otherworldly elements in the poem.

Mystical poetry and the ontology of the self in liberation psychology.

Mystical poetry and the ontology of the self in liberation psychology.

Relocating a Sacred Space: From Mount Zion to the New Jerusalem in the Mystic Poetry of Rastafari

Biblical scriptures, holy chants and prayers, stories of conquest and destruction, pilgrimages and diaspora narratives have provided a range of perspectives related to the city of Jerusalem. Different cultures and faiths have interpreted its symbolic value and claimed belonging, conquest, ownership, and possession. Amongst these are the Rastafari, members of a spiritual movement that originated in Jamaica, who claim Davidic roots and aim for repatriation to their Promised Land, the New Jerusalem. In their vision, the sacred space of the city of Jerusalem has been relocated to Ethiopia, the land where the Ark of the Covenant has been supposedly moved to, along with the throne of Solomon. The scope of this article is to contextualise how the dynamics of Rastafari mystical poetry have redefined a physical and metaphysical space and the significance of this space as expressed through the biblical archetype of Zion/Jerusalem. The contribution focuses on the comparative textual analysis of multimedia repertoires related to the symbolic and geographical (re)location of the sacred space of Zion/Jerusalem, highlighting how the interpretation of sacred texts and historical events has impacted the spiritual geography and cross-cultural Rastafari iconography at a global level.

The Lonely Endeavour of Daud Kamal

Besides discussing such seminal images in the poetry of Daud Kamal as Gandhara art, the bridge, and bird migration, this essay explores solitude as a necessary accompaniment to Kamal’s creativity, as he sought, in “the translunar paradise of art”, “a cure for the cancer of loneliness”. This essay also examines the undiscerning critical reception of Kamal’s poetry, which notwithstanding belongs to the finest tradition of Islamic mystical poetry and is therefore destined to last.

LOS MÍSTICOS: EL PODER DEL PENSAMIENTO POÉTICO

This article focuses on the presentation of some characteristics of the Spanish mystical poetry during the second half of the 16th century. The main purpose of this study was to distinguish different themes and symbols in the literary creations of two remarkable Spanish ecclesiastics, great mystics of the Carmelite school: Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint John of the Cross. This study is mainly based on an analysis of different poems with psychological implications about the concepts of suffering and purification.

В поисках скрытого смысла: роль «внутреннего комментария» в поэзии Насир-и Хусрава (XI в.)

The research is devoted to the function of inner commentary in the Nasir-i Khusraw’s poetic works. Being the outstanding religious philosopher and Ismaili Teacher, he had reformed the artistic language of Persian Classic Poetry with the help of strategy of allegorical commentary ta’wil, which was firstly used only on the Quran’s text. He used the traditional form of qasida for didactic aim. Сonventional poetic motifs and standard beginnings served as the basis for creating allegories of varying degrees of complexity. The objects of this article are some examples of allegories based on traditional poetic motifs and standard beginnings of Nasir-i Khusraw’s qasida, his interpretations of term ta’wil and author’s discourse upon form and meaning of Word. The article also deals with different kinds of inner commentary in Nasir-i Khusraw’s three spring qasida. The analysis shows that on the first stage of formation of mystic poetry’s language commentary, giving secret meaning of text was the sphere of author’s individual initiative. At the stage of fixing the created connotations in the canon, they become stable and to a lesser extent depended on the presence of the author’s commentary, thus the allegorical ambiguity of the text becomes the generally accepted norm.

Modernity and Spirituality in Malaysian Anglophone Poetry: An Interview with the late Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof

Malaysian literature in English epitomises the move to the new world and incorporates various national and international, social, political, and cultural subjects. Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof (1939-2022), an eminent Malaysian playwright and poet, voices the spiritual vacuum these changes bring within the modern man and draws the path towards relief, solace, and comfort in the soul’s journey back to the Creator. Ghulam-Sarwar’s poetry explores various social and cultural aspects, but no endeavour to date has been taken to discuss its spiritual dimensions. Given this background, this interview with Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof outlines his perspectives on the quest for spirituality and the modern man’s hunger and restlessness to find a meaning for existence as a way to connecting with the higher Being. Using the qualitative method of semi-structured interview that contains both structured and unstructured questions, the paper sheds light on the artistic abilities Yousof shows in blending themes of self, love, nature, and society. The paper attempts to critically appreciate the interweaving of modernity with spirituality in Ghulam-Sarwar’s poetry and demonstrates how it is clothed in simple language, coupled with a sublime content, and delineated with harmonious and rhythmic intensity of his mystical experiences. It seeks to situate his mystic poetry within the realm of modern Anglophone poetry.

Die verwantskap tussen khôra en die mistiek in M.M. Walters se gedig ‘Die groot stilte’

The relationship between khôra and mysticism in M.M Walter’s poem ‘Die groot stilte’. In view of M.M. Walters’ recent death (28 Julie 2020), it is timeous to pay homage to him by focusing on a lesser-known aspect of his poetry, namely mysticism. This article aims to demonstrate the relationship between the mysterious and enigmatic Platonic concept khôra and mysticism, and to subsequently indicate how this is expressed in the poem ‘Die groot stilte’ (in the volume Sprekende van God). Walters (1929–2020) was mainly a satirist, but also a poet of religious verse. However, he differentiated himself as an unconventional religious poet and alternative seeker of God. He opposed church dogma and believed that Christ should be sought in ways that go beyond simply accepting the church’s teachings. The article opens with a brief survey of the mystical tradition in Afrikaans poetry, after which the poetry of Walters is briefly described. Subsequently, the reception of his anthology Sprekende van God is discussed. After an introductory discussion of the khôra concept, his poem Die groot stilte is analysed in detail, and the relationship between khôra and mysticism explained. Pieter G.R. de Villiers (2020) maintains that Walters created striking poems with mystical content, and that he was often misunderstood by the clergy and orthodox believers as an enemy of religion and the church. Countering this, De Villiers observes that Walters was driven to seek a genuine, credible spirituality. De Villiers finds it unfortunate that this aspect of Walters’ poetry is not sufficiently recognised.Contribution: Based on the analysis and interpretation of ‘Die groot stilte’, the conclusion is reached that Walters can indeed be described as a mystical poet and that his mystical poetry can be regarded as part of the relatively small yield in mystical Afrikaans literature. This article adds to the equally small corpus of academic literature on mysticism in Afrikaans.

Czy poezja jest przekładem?

IS POETRY A TRANSLATION? ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS IN THE POLISH TRANSLATIONS OF FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA AND JUAN GELMAN
 The article points to the inspirations of the mystical poetry of St. John of the Cross in two 20th-century Spanish language poets, Federico García Lorca and Juan Gelman, in whom it takes a special form of intertexts. The poets refer to others’ words out of a sense of the inadequacy of language and the inexpressibility of feelings that accompany them after the loss of their loved ones – loneliness, despair, abandonment. At the same time, the act of “rewriting” earlier texts as an expression of apophatic theology is present in St. John himself. An analysis of Lorca’s Polish translations, as well as of Gelman’s experimental poems, leads to the conclusion that the complex web of diachronic intertextual references poses a difficult challenge to the translator and requires extensive historical literary and cultural competence.

The Poet’s Knowledge of God: the Work of Parvin Etesami in the Context of the Iranian Spiritual Tradition

The subject of this article is the mystical poetry of Parvin Etesami (1907–1941), the article analyzes the religious foundations of the poet's work of the first half of the 20th century (the era of the turning point in Persian culture), continuing the Persian tradition of searching for God on the paths laid by her predecessors and expressing her knowledge of God in old poetic forms (monazere, qasida) with a new poetic language. The study of the poetic ontology of Parvin Etesami, that is, the poet's reflections on God, is based not only on the collection of 60 poems published in Russian (Journey of the Tear, 1984), but primarily on the exact translations of the poems of the Persian poet published for the first time in the article, which could not be included in the Soviet edition and which were carried out by two of the authors of the article. The article analyzes the poet's ideas about God as the creator of man, about God's predestination — the establishment of human mission on earth as a reflection of divine beauty, and about the Grace of God as the essence of human destiny. In the monologues of the dervishes, ideal personalities in the verses of Parvin, the value of the fruits carried by the mystical consciousness of a person who has achieved contemplation of true reality is affirmed. It opposes the ideas of ordinary consciousness, for which the style of behavior of the mystic is like madness. The love to God and the love of God are shown in the poetry of Parvin as the center of the heart, so that externally manifested religiosity (the Kaaba as a shrine is the architecturally revealed center of the world) and inner comprehension of God (the Kaaba of the heart) are affirmed by Parvin in their complementary wholeness. In this way, it is shown that in the verses of Parvin, fidelity to a thousand-year-old spiritual tradition and individual creativity appear as an organic unity.

A,p Principles and manifestations of love in Zabihi poetry

Passion is one of the most influential factors in the formation of human history and evolution, which has manifested itself differently between communities and generations, and throughout the literary history has influenced the process of literary thought creation. Attar is one of the poets in Persian literature who has put passion as the main theme in his poems, and in many of his poems he has tried in various perspectives on love and has left behind himself a valuable product in relation to this concept. Which in some of the poems was full of the meaning of love to the extent that passion has become the main pillar of some of his ghazals. In this study, which based on the reading of the library and the analytical method, we can understand how the poet used a certain level of adoring’s meaning in his poems, and what role he played in bringing this poetic content. The results which have been obtained from this study show that focusing on passion content was one of the most prominent features of Attar's poetic style, and the poet, in terms of his own attitude and spirit, got benefit in using passion as a pretext to express his inner feelings and he could have a speech in most of his poems in various ways on the content of passion also all his ghazal’s structure system was organized as one group, and the poet's simple and eloquent language made his poems the focus of mystical poetry.

Agency of the Self and the Uncertain Nature of the Beloved in Persian Love Mysticism: Earthly, Ethereal, Masculine, or Feminine?

It seems that the controversies over the nature of the beloved in classical Persian mystic poetry (also known as Sufi poetry) as an earthly or ethereal phenomenon would never end. Those in favor of the celestial reading of it consider their counterparts to be narrow-minded. The adherents of terrestrial love, though, see mystical readings dogmatic and outdated, prevailed by traditionalists. The topic gets even more complicated when one takes into account the attitudes in the medieval Muslim world toward pederasty, shāhid-bāzī, on the one hand, and the Divine Feminine /Masculine Beloved, on the other hand, and, thus, the gender of this beloved. The present article explores the beloved in Persian classical mystical poetry via five different but related approaches: historical, philosophical, translational and comparative, linguistic and poetic, and, ultimately, developmental. The study concludes that an essentialist reading of the beloved in Persian love mystic poetry would create numerous problems, and that the spirit of Persian classical poetry in this regard is the spirit of uncertainty with a certain purpose: it is the manifestation of the self-poet’s agency, choosing one’s object of desire without explicitly revealing it and, thus, living one’s own life of choice without fearing the threads of religious fundamentalism.

From the Editor

From the Editor

From Satsaṅg to Stage: Negotiating Aesthetic Theologies and Aspirational Subjectivities in a North Indian Bhajan Competition

Abstract Malvi nirguṇ bhajans, songs once used primarily for spiritual contemplation, are now being performed onstage in a variety of new contexts. I argue that these contexts are more than commercial opportunities and provide performers the opportunity to engage in new processes of self-authorship that I term “aspirational subjectivities.” These subjectivities amalgamate spiritual frameworks of aspiration derived from mystical poetry, socioreligious frameworks of aspiration inspired by lower-caste activist movements, and socioeconomic frameworks of aspiration spurred by India's neoliberal zeitgeist. This article demonstrates how musicians negotiate spiritual, social, and economic aspirational subjectivities through performance practice to overcome long-internalized stigmas of caste discrimination.