Abstract

Study of most sonnets of Rumi reveals that after music the plurality of images is the most prominent aspect of these sonnets. These images are the result of moments of revelation and ecstasy of the poet. In such moments, the element of language becomes salient for suggesting the meaning to the reader. In such moments, a number of images help Rumi to express his revelations. Because of this, his poems have a revelatory and dream-like mood. The interpretation of such sonnets is possible when the reader recognizes this central element and refers to the prior linguistic elements. The approach which helps the reader in such interpretation is intertextuality. At the basis of intertextuality is the idea that text is not an independent closed system and there is no text in vacuum, but each text, consciously or unconsciously, is written and read with other texts. In this article, the image of sea and its correlates, as one of the most used poetic images by Rumi, are studied on the basis of intertextuality theory. This study tries to find the relations between the texts with regard to this image and interpret these relations.