Spiritual Poverty in Rumi, Ibn Arabi, and Judith Beveridge's Poetry: Comparative Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.Vol60.Iss1.4414Keywords:
divine connections, mystic poetry, Sufism, spiritual povertyAbstract
This study examines the representation of spiritual poverty in the works of three poets from different cultural and historical contexts: Jalaluddin Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian Sufi poet; Ibn Arabi, the influential Andalusian Sufi mystic and poet; and Judith Beveridge, the contemporary Australian poet. Despite their temporal and cultural separation, all three poets employ spiritual poverty as a central theme, expressing existential yearning and the human quest for divine connection. Through close textual analysis, this research identifies similarities and differences in their approaches to spiritual desolation, longing, and transcendence. The study contributes to our understanding of how spiritual poverty manifests in poetic discourse across cultural and temporal boundaries, illuminating the universal aspects of human spiritual experience within distinctive cultural expressions.
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