The Poetry of Silence and the Silence of Poetry: A Comparative Analysis of the Silence Motif in Rumi and Whitman

Maulana J''alalu·''d-din Muhammad Rumi and Walt Whitman are two of the greatest and most influential poets of the world. Nicholson considers Rumi as the greatest Sufi poet of all time، and the United Nations (UN) has named the year 2007 after him. Walt Whitman، on the other hand، is the poet who is entitled the father of the American Free Verse، and forms the third column of the trinity of American transcendentalism along with Emerson and Thoreau. Despite linguistic، cultural، temporal and spatial differences، both poets consider language an insufficient tool for the expression of the transcendental and mystical thoughts; hence، their readership is invitation for silence. Undoubtedly the poets have some differences in silence motif، which is rooted in their culture and language. Rumi denies language courageously to the extent that some of his ghazals end in silence. Whitman، too، expresses his concern for silence spasmodically; however، the real silence in his poetry happens when he invites the readers to be united with nature. In this paper، the authors have investigated the silence motif in the poetry of Rumi and Whitman using the theories “analogies without contact” and “Rapprochemen” within the domain of comparative literature.