Quietness- by Rumi

Inside this new love, die.

Your way begins on the other side.

Become the sky.

Take an axe to the prison wall.

Escape.

Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.

Do it now.

You’re covered with thick cloud.

Slide out the side. Die,

And be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign

that you’ve died.

Your old life was a frantic running

from silence.

 

The speechless full moon

comes out now.

 

      As a poet who was striving for enlightenment, Rumi uses poetry as a vessel to tell the world about life lessons and how to make meaning of our time on Earth. In his poem, “Quietness”, Rumi uses silence as a metaphor for a transitionary period, creating the idea that letting a facet of yourself die is good, and helps promote personal growth.

      In the first three lines, Rumi goes right into the message using a second person’s commanding tone. Coupled with his end-stopped sentences, it creates a compelling argument stylistically as we read the poem. He tells the reader, right off the bat, “ Inside this new love, die.”(1) Even within the first line, he brings up the idea of death and gives the command for us to die. He combines the idea of comfort within love and fear within death and allows us to feel the embrace of love, even in death. The second line of “your way begins on the other side.”(2) seems mystical, and implies a journey, even beyond this realm. The choice of using the words, “way” and “other side” help convey this, creating our journey to the afterlife.

      The third line helps emphasize this point when he says, “Become the sky.”(3) By allowing ourselves to die(or a facet of our selves), he says we can transcend corporeal form and meaning, painting the meaning of our life. His use of words like, “die” and “become” help set the tone. One is very distinctive and harsh. The other is the gradual development. By contrasting this, he is able to help view death in a positive light; it’s something to work toward, note fear.  He continues this thought in the fourth and fifth lines, telling his followers to, “Take an axe to the prison wall./Escape.”(4-5) Once again, the use of end-stopped sentences is a clear stylistic choice, bringing out the urgency within his words. With his combination of short diction and frequent periods, Rumi rushes the reader, almost forcing them past our point of hesitation. Throughout this section, he also uses assonance to help section the transition of his poem, despite only having to stanzas. The use of words such as “die”, “side”, and “sky” help create the illusion of a transition into the next phase, despite there being none. The sixth line is where the transformative meaning of the poem in regard to the self starts to flower. After escaping the prison of your mind, then you can, “Walk out like someone suddenly born into color./Do it now”(6-7) This represents the shedding of the previous self. Once again, the succinct and direct addressing creates a powerful message. He contrasts this with the idea of quietness. While the connotation of quiet is usually audible, Rumi uses wordplay and context to shift the meaning from calm and quiet noise to a bleak color scheme. Comparing this to the self, he calls out those who cannot existing color; they are quiet and dead, for “Quietness is the surest sign/ that you’ve died.”(10/11) Once again, the use of assonance couples together these two lines, separating them from the rest of the block. In addition, the imagery he spins allows the reader to truly understand the implications of a quiet soul, and drive home his point. This is further supported when he says, “ You’re covered with thick cloud/ slide out the side.”(8-9) Metaphorically speaking, clouds often represent confusion or a person being lost. Rumi is calling the old soul lost, and no longer relevant. By using the adjective of a “thick” cloud, the metaphor is further implied as someone who is very lost; someone whose soul, whose mind is extremely quiet. 

     One direct contrast that further divides this stanza is the distinct lack of end-stopped sentences. In fact, Rumi moves into enjambment, which is the exact opposite of what he was doing previously. This change halfway through the poem once again signifies a transition but also signifies confusion. In the first portion of the stanza, Rumi uses end-stopped sentences because he is certain that he is right. He is commanding the reader to follow his lead. But as the “thick cloud”(8) starts to appear, even his vision is clouded, showing how muddied the old self truly has become.

     The last two lines in this stanza wrap up the initial thought but also brings it to a nice close. By saying that, “Your old life was a frantic running / from silence.”(12/13), Rumi acknowledges the human plight of trying to avoid this “quietness.” by using words such as “frantic”, he perpetuates that hurried tone, as if death truly is upon their heels. By separating the “from silence”(13) using enjambment, Rumi can isolate it, but also create this disjoined connection to the first part as if to understand the effort put into escaping it, even if it was futile.

     The final portion of the poem is significant because of how it parsed away from the rest. While it is physically parsed away, there is no mention of  “death” in any form, despite being abundant in the previous stanza. Quite frankly, the use of the moon, a symbol for the calm of the night, as a connection to the silence of the heart is odd. “The speechless full moon”(14) is the source of beauty, a muse, an inspiration for many. Despite its connotations, it ignites the soul back into color. For Rumi to pair it with the adjective “speechless”, shows us that even quiet can be multi-faceted, just like humans. While many crave that tranquil calm, not all calm is good, and this line showcases it better than others do. The final enjambed line of “comes out now.”(15) connects to the previous thought. The peace of the soul, though in full color can now come out. While it is quiet, it is not silent. There is an important distinction to make between the two words. By separating the last line from the previous one, he is able to do that, creating a semblance of that calm through the tone for the reader.

      Overall, Rumi’s use of contradicting stylistic choices helps bridge the gap between life and death as well as stagnation and growth.