Beyond the Whirling Dervish: Rumi’s Divan‑e Shams‑e Tabrizi and the Poetry of Ecstasy

Introduction

Most readers first encounter Jalāl ad‑Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (1207–1273 CE) through the rhythmic grace of the Mevlevī “whirling” ceremony or the epic narrative of his Masnavi. Yet it is in his lesser‑known, intensely personal collection—the Divan‑e Shams‑e Tabrizi (“The Collected Poems of Shams of Tabriz”)—that we glimpse the raw, ecstatic heart of Rumi’s mystical experience. Here, love is not metaphor but the very breath of union; language fractures and re‑forms as Rumi seeks the Beloved beyond all boundaries.

The Spark of Divine Friendship

Rumi’s transformation from respected jurist in Konya to impassioned mystic hinges on his encounter with Shams al‑Tabrizi, the wandering dervish who became his spiritual confidant. Their meetings ignited a fierce love that spilled into verse:

“When I am with you, we are two bodies,
But when I leave you, I am ten thousand.”

This intimate relationship—and Shams’s sudden disappearance—propelled Rumi into a creative fever, pouring out thousands of ghazals, qasidas, rubāʿīs, and stanzas that flooded the pages of the Divan.

Form and Frenzy: The Architecture of Ecstasy

Unlike the structured pedagogical tone of the Masnavi, the Divan‑e Shams revels in lyrical intensity:

• Ghazal Form: Short, rhyming couplets that circle a central refrain, each one collapsing time and space in a single image or epiphany.

• Rubāʿī (Quatrains): Sharp, aphoristic bursts of truth, where paradox and paradoxical delight reign.

• Qasida (Odes): Longer, more formal poems that nevertheless swell with ecstatic longing.

Rumi’s language here is intentionally disruptive—he breaks meter, invents new …