Rumi’s Modification of Narrative: Expansion of Stories

There is no doubt that Rumi wrote Masnavi under the influence of his predecessors’ mystical and theological texts. Yet, why Masnavi is one of the unique masterpieces of Persian Literature is a question that has absorbed researchers’ minds for many years. Rumi’s genius for storytelling is one of the reasons that this work is a masterpiece. Perhaps no poet has modified the nuances of story like Rumi. He sometimes narrates a story with utmost brevity and sometimes extends his narration to hundreds of lines. This paper analyzes five stories of Masnavi in order to study how Rumi alters the usual structure of story. Thus, the article demonstrates that the expansion of stories in Masnavi is a fully conscious act that serves specific goals.