Analysis of Story II. The Oilman and his Parrot
Jalal al-Din Rumi 1207 (Balkh ) – 1273 (Konya )
An oilman possessed a parrot which used to amuse him with its agreeable prattle, and to watch his shop when he went out. One day, when the parrot was alone in the shop, a cat upset one of the oil-jars. When the oilman returned home he thought that the parrot had done this mischief, and in his anger he smote the parrot such a blow on the head as made all its feathers drop off, and so stunned it that it lost the power of speech for several days. But one day the parrot saw a bald-headed man passing the shop, and recovering its speech, it cried out, "Pray, whose oil-jar did you upset?" The passers-by smiled at the parrot's mistake in confounding baldness with age with the loss of its own feathers due to a blow.
Confusion of saints with hypocrites.
Worldly senses are the ladder of earth,
Spiritual sense are the ladder of heaven.
The health of the former is sought of the leech,
The health of the latter from "The Friend."
The health of the former arises from tending the body,
That of the latter from mortifying the flesh.
The kingly soul lays waste the body,
And after its destruction he builds it anew.
Happy the soul who for love of God
Has lavished family, wealth, and goods!
Has destroyed its house to find the hidden treasure,
And with that treasure has rebuilt it in fairer sort;
Has dammed up the stream and cleansed the channel,
And then turned a fresh stream into the channel;
Has cut its flesh to extract a spear-head,
Causing a fresh skin to grow again over the wound;
Has razed the fort to oust the infidel in possession,
And then rebuilt it with a hundred towers and bulwark
Who can describe the unique work of Grace?
I have been forced to illustrate it by these similes.
Sometimes it presents one appearance, sometimes another.
Yea, the affair of religion is only bewilderment.
Not, such as occurs when one turns one's back on God,
But such as when one is drowned and absorbed in Him.
The latter has his face ever turned to God,
The former's face shows his undisciplined self-will.
Watch the face of each one, regard it well,
It may be by serving thou wilt recognize Truth's face.
As there are many demons with men's faces,
It is wrong to join hands with every one.
When the fowler sounds his decoy whistle,
That the birds may be beguiled by that snare,
The birds hear that call simulating a bird's call,
And, descending from the air, find net and knife.
So vile hypocrites steal the language of Darveshes,
In order to beguile the simple with their trickery.
The works of the righteous are light and heat,
The works of the evil treachery and shamelessness.
They make stuffed lions to scare the simple,
They give the title of Muhammad to false Musailima.
But Musailima retained the name of "Liar,"
And Mohammad that of "Sublimest of beings."
That wine of God (the righteous) yields a perfume of musk;
Other wine (the evil) is reserved for penalties and pains.
Scheme | X AXBXXCXCXDXEXFFXXBXGAEXDHDXXGXBFXXXACXAFHEXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010111011110100100111111111110101010010101110111010111110101111000110110101011011111101101111110101111011110101011011001001001111111111101010111010100101011101111101101 01011110 1010101011 100011010110 01101011101 011010101 011010010110010 110101101 010111010 010101011101 100111111 110100101 101111101010 0111010110101 1110101010 01101101010 111111011 1001111011001 1101110100010 01011101010010 1101001111 11111101111 01110101001010 100110101100100 111011111111 111111100101 01011110111 01111010011 1011110111 111110111011 11110101110 11111111001 1010110110 1011101111 01111100011 00101011101 1110101011 01010101011100 0110101101 01101010001 1111011010 110101010111 110101110 0010111110 1111010100111 101010101110001 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 2,875 |
Words | 531 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 45 |
Lines Amount | 46 |
Letters per line (avg) | 50 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,151 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 262 |
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Story II. The Oilman and his Parrot" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54271/story-ii.-the-oilman-and-his-parrot>.
Discuss this Jalal al-Din Rumi poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In