The Study of Rhetoric and Phonetic Aesthetics in Rumi’s Sonnet

Translators often translate rhetoric as rumor, semantics, sermon, or eloquence. Romans called oratory and orator as rhetorica and rhetor respectively. As the beauty of an architecture is the product of the exquisiteness of its different parts, rhetoric and aesthetic aspects of poetry is also the result of the aesthetics of its structural units, including the attention to the phonetic structure and the use of techniques and methods that enhance the aesthetic effects of the vocal of speech more and more. Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (Mawlana)’s skill in expressing concepts and using language is shown in his sonnets by utilizing poetic creations and artistic processing as well as various figures of speech. The mastery of Mawlana on language has a great contribution to his artistic personality and literary creativeness. As one of the most prominent Iranian poets and mystics in Iran, Rumi has skillfully used the phonological elements of the language to musically create his own words and, as a result, has had a greater impact on the addressee. By using his knowledge of language capacities especially in the field of phonology, he has not only made music and formed pictures but also has paid special courtesy to transfer the necessary concepts to the addressee. Hence, Mawlana’s prominent and distinguishing feature in this field is his selection of appropriate formal elements in order to induce his poetic meanings in a way that his sonnets are not only regarded as a suitable tool to transfer the supreme concepts of his mystic thought, but also as a kind of musical tool to impress the aesthetic emotions of the addressee. Results of this research, which are based on a bibliographic and descriptive-analytical method, show that Rumi has used phonetic clusters at all phonological, lexical and syntactical levels appropriately.