Rumi’s Elemental Imagination: Elemental Ecocritical Interactions and Agency in Rumi’s The Masnavi

Authors : Dilek Bulut Sarıkaya

Pages : 23-45

Doi:10.46250/kulturder.1584189

View : 61 | Download : 46

Publication Date : 2025-03-10

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The elements are the most essential components of the universe in which the interminable process of vitality is ensured through the incitement of the magnetic attraction and interaction between the elements. Overbearing impact of the elements is observed not only in the outside physical world but also deeply felt in the inner world of human imagination, feelings, and emotions. The medieval poet Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi’s (1207-1273) The Masnavi gives a wide coverage to the elements, directing human life as well as cosmic natural events. Each element, in this respect, is embedded with a spiritual energy, called by Rumi as love, stemming from God and circulating in the universe, sparkling life and vibrancy among human and nonhuman beings. Rumi’s notion of vitally alive universe with intentionally active elements in it strongly resonates with the theoretical views of elemental ecocriticism which insistently advocates the agency and intentionality of the elements that matter significantly both in human life and the external material world. The aim of this study, accordingly, is to examine the elements in Rumi’s The Masnavi under the critical lens of elemental ecocriticism only to disclose Rumi as an abiding philosopher, much ahead of his own time, with his modern, biological conceptualization of the elements as living entities and efficiently articulate forces that play actively dominant roles in the ongoing materialization of the universe.
Keywords : Rumi, Mesnevi, doğa, elementler, elemental ekoeleştiri