Analysis of Ch 02 The Morals Of Dervishes Story 20
Despite the abundant admonitions of the most illustrious Sheikh Abulfaraj Ben Juzi to shun musical entertainments and to prefer solitude and retirement, the budding of my youth overcame me, my sensual desires were excited so that, unable to resist them, I walked some steps contrary to the opinion of my tutor, enjoying myself in musical amusements and convivial meetings. When the advice of my sheikh occurred to my mind, I said:
‘If the qazi were sitting with us, he would clap his hands.
If the muhtasib were bibbing wine, he would excuse a drunkard.’
Thus I lived till I paid one night a visit to an assembly of people in which I saw a musician.
Thou wouldst have said he is tearing up the vital artery with his fiddle-bow.
His voice was more unpleasant than the wailing of one who lost his father.
The audience now stopped their ears with their fingers, and now put them on their lips to silence him. We became ecstatic by the sounds of pleasing songs but thou art such a singer that when thou art silent we are pleased.
No one feels pleased by thy performance
Except at the time of departure when thou pleasest.
When that harper began to sing
I said to the host: ‘For God’s sake
Put mercury in my ear that I may not hear
Or open the door that I may go away.’
In short, I tried to please my friends and succeeded after a considerable struggle in spending the whole night there.
The muezzin shouted the call to prayers out of time,
Not knowing how much of the night had elapsed.
Ask the length of the night from my eyelids
For sleep did not enter my eyes one moment.
In the morning I took my turban from my head, with one dinar from my belt by way of gratification, and placed them before the musician whom I embraced and thanked. My friends who saw that my appreciation of his merits was unusual attributed it to the levity of my intellect and laughed secretly. One of them, however, lengthened out his tongue of objection and began to reproach me, saying that I had committed an act repugnant to intelligent men by bestowing a portion of my professional dress upon a musician who had all his life not a dirhem laid upon the palm of his hand nor filings of silver or of gold placed on his drum.
A musician! Far be he from this happy abode.
No one ever saw him twice in the same place.
As soon as the shout rose from his mouth
The hair on the bodies of the people stood on end.
The fowls of the house, terrified by him, flew away
Whilst he distracted our senses and tore his throat.
I said: ‘It will be proper to shorten the tongue of objection because his talent has become evident to me.’ He then asked me to explain the quality of it in order to inform the company so that all might apologize for the jokes they had cracked about me. I replied: ‘Although my sheikh had often told me to abandon musical entertainments and had given me abundant advice, I did not mind it. This night my propitious horoscope and my august luck have guided me to this place where I have, on hearing the performance of this musician, repented and vowed never again to attend at singing and convivial parties.’
A pleasant voice, from a sweet palate, mouth and lips,
Whether employed in singing or not, enchants the heart
But the melodies of lovers of Isfahan or of the Hejaz
From the windpipe of a bad singer are not nice.
Scheme | A BX X XX X XAXXXC X XXXX X XXXXCX X XXBX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010010010101010011111110001001011000100010111101111000100010110101011111110010010111001010100010001001010011110111111 1010101111111 1010111101010 111111110101101011001110010 11111110101010011101 111101010101111110 0100111111100111111110110101010111011111010111110111 111111010 011011010111 11100111 11101111 110001111111 11001111101 01111111001010001000100100111 01100111111 11011101101 101101111 11111011110 00101111011111011111110010011010010110101111111001011101010010011010011100110011110101111010001101110111010110101010011010010110100101001011111101101011111101101111111 0010111111001 11101110011 111011111 0110101010111 011011011101 1101010100111 11111101100110100111010110011111110101001101010101001111010101111011101111110111010100010011010100111111111010100110111011111111100010110100100110011011100010010 010110110101 100101011101 10100110111101 10110110111 |
Characters | 3,464 |
Words | 622 |
Sentences | 27 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 6, 1, 4, 1, 6, 1, 4 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 88 |
Words per line (avg) | 21 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 219 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:06 min read
- 115 Views
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"Ch 02 The Morals Of Dervishes Story 20" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33827/ch-02-the-morals-of-dervishes-story-20>.
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