The first thing that stuck out to me was the fact that these poems were written in free style rather than spaced out into verses, which I thought was a very interesting choice and almost seemed to make the poems flow better. I thought these poems in general flowed very well, even despite the translation, and all seemed to center on very passionate, heartfelt themes, which I guess could be said of all poetry, but seemed particularly prominent in Rumi’s. It made me wonder if the highly-passionate style was more a result of the difference between Middle Eastern culture and Western culture or a result of the time which has elapsed since those poems were written. I also noticed that a lot of the poems focused on alcohol or drunkenness, which was very surprising to me as I remembered that Islam prohibits the consumption of alcohol, which may be why the poems seem to constantly use drunkenness as a way to convey someone who is out of control, lost, or even irreligious.
One of the poems which stuck out to me in particular was number 3, which also starts off mentioning “the little drunkards” and the “wine-worshippers”, which I thought was a very good way to describe an alcoholic and also almost ties in the idea that those who drink alcohol are irreligious to the Islamic faith. The reason number 3 caught my attention was the fact that it’s meaning is not discernible right away, and in fact seems up for debate and almost ambiguous. I’m still not sure what the garden mentioned in the poem is meant to represent, except maybe heaven or the afterlife because of Rumi’s mention of the souls of the “pure ones” arriving, which makes it seem as though some of the people he lists are no longer alive. However, earlier on when Rumi mentions “rosy-cheeked ones” arriving from the garden it makes it seem as though the garden is where people go to get drunk, which makes me think the garden is not meant to represent the afterlife. Near the end of the poem, the Virgin Mary is even mentioned (which always surprises me in Muslim texts because I associate Mary so heavily with Christianity), as is the concept of religious grace, which once again points to the garden being more heavenly or even supernatural in a way. However, by the end of the poem, I was still at a loss for what the garden was supposed to represent (especially with the addition of the last line), and it was this very fact which made me like the poem so much, as I love when the meaning is left open to reader interpretation.