SOURCE: James Roy King, "Narrative Disjunction and Conjunction in Rumi's Mathnawi," in The Journal of Narrative Technique, Vol. 19, No. 3, Fall, 1989, pp. 276-86.

In the essay below, King studies Rumi's narrative technique and asserts that "the 'meaning' of the Mathnawi cannot be separated from the narrative and the peculiar form into which it is cast."

Star and Shiva Praise Rumi's Movement:

Like the wandering of the soul, or the tireless flight of birds, Rumi's poetry is always moving. It tells of the all-encompassing movement of life: the rising and setting sun, the change of seasons, the turning of the night sky, and the whirling of man which embodies all the movements of heaven and earth. Rumi often composed his poetry while whirling, and the inherent structure of his poetry—the relentless flow of imagery, the inner cadence, and the mantra-like repetition of rhymes—often echoes this whirling motion. There...