batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l9393-l9503
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l9393-l9503
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
passage_locator:
label: OF QONYA. / PREFACE. / IN THE NAME OF GOD, / THE ALL-MERCIFUL, THE VERY-COMPASSIONATE.;
lines 9393-9503
start: '9393'
end: '9503'
translation: The Mesnevi
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: "“Man merged in God, most entirely is drowned / As wave of a sea”"
summary: The passage counsels silence and attentiveness in love, describes the lover
as overwhelmed, self-sacrificing, and merged in God, reflects on secrecy and divine
jealousy, then turns to lament, pain, tears, and prayer to God as the source of
justice and unity beyond “I” and “we.”
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The speaker tells a loved addressee to be silent and attentive when someone
loves them.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: A torrent is described as needing to be banked up to prevent overflow and
ravage below.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The passage says a person merged in God is entirely drowned like a wave of
the sea.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: The speaker says the lover’s life is self-sacrifice and that winning a heart
costs the lover’s own heart.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The speaker recounts courting a heart and being told by the beloved to hold
his tongue and not move that theme.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: The speaker says that saying “lip” may mean “margin of sea,” and that “No”
may be understood as “Yes.”
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: The passage states that God was jealous before the world, and contrasts God’s
jealousy with human jealousy through wheat and chaff imagery.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: The speaker says his cries, moans, and lamentations are loved or enjoyed by
the divine beloved.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: The speaker says he loves his anguish and pain so long as it pleases the treasured
beloved, and that lovers’ tears are pearls at the beloved’s feet.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:10
text: The speaker addresses God as the fount of justice, free from “I” and “we,”
and says that “I” and “we” will unite in One and be absorbed in God’s essence.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:11
text: The passage says love’s green pastures are infinite and above the states of
pleasure and pain, spring and autumn.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: speaker-lover
description: The first-person speaker who loves, laments, seeks justice, offers
himself, and describes his pain.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: God / He / Thou
description: The divine addressee described as God, soul, source of justice, beloved,
and the One beyond “I” and “we.”
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: female beloved in the courtship anecdote
description: A beloved figure addressed as “she” and “that cruel one,” who tells
the speaker to hold his tongue about his love.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: king or sovereign in analogy
description: A royal figure used in analogies about wardrobe keeping, council, hand-kissing,
foot-kissing, and jealousy.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: servant or courtier in analogy
description: A servant-like figure who may be keeper of a wardrobe, council holder,
guard at a gate, or one who kisses the sovereign’s hand or foot.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: lover
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker describes the lover’s life as self-sacrifice and speaks in first
person of love, anguish, and longing.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: lamenting supplicant
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker cries, moans, complains of pain, and asks God to do justice.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: divine beloved
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: God is the addressee whose look, sweetness, warmth, and light are desired,
and whose pleasure gives value to pain.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: source of unity
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The passage says God is free from “I” and “we,” is One where men and women
join, and absorbs “I” and “we” into divine essence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: source of justice
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The speaker addresses God as the fount of all justice who sits in justice’s
seat.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:6
label: elusive beloved
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The anecdotal beloved resists the speaker’s declaration and tells him to
hold his tongue.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:7
label: sovereign in hierarchy analogy
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The passage uses the king’s honor, hand, foot, and jealousy to illustrate
rank and impropriety.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:8
label: subordinate in hierarchy analogy
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The passage describes a wardrobe keeper, council-holder, gate guard, and
servant in relation to the sovereign.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: water and sea imagery
literal_form: torrent, sea, wave, drowned merging, tears
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: self-offering
literal_form: offer thyself; lover’s heart as price
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: concealment by silence and veil
literal_form: silence, hidden sweetness, austere features as veil, secrets shielded
from ears
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: wheat and chaff of jealousy
literal_form: God’s jealousy as wheat on the threshing-floor; man’s jealousy as
chaff blown away
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: tears as pearls
literal_form: lovers’ tears poured at the beloved’s feet are pearls
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:6
label: I and we
literal_form: pronouns “I” and “we” uniting in One
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:7
label: green pastures of love
literal_form: infinite green pastures yielding fruit, beyond spring and autumn
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Counsel of silence, danger, and divine merging
summary: The passage opens with counsel to be silent and attentive in love, uses
torrent imagery, and describes a person merged in God as drowned like a wave in
the sea.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Self-sacrificing lover and courtship rebuff
summary: The speaker teaches that the lover must sacrifice self and heart, then
recounts being silenced by a beloved after declaring his heart full of love.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Hidden sweetness and guarded secrets
summary: The speaker says words may carry reversed or displaced meanings, and that
sweetness and secrets are hidden behind silence and austere features.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Divine jealousy and royal hierarchy analogies
summary: The passage describes God’s jealousy as prior and greater than human jealousy,
using analogies of a king, servants, hand-kissing, foot-kissing, wheat, and chaff.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Lament as beloved pain
summary: The speaker laments love’s chastening, says the divine beloved enjoys his
cries, values pain that pleases the beloved, and describes lovers’ tears as pearls.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:6
label: Prayer to the One beyond I and we
summary: The speaker addresses God as justice’s source and the One beyond gendered
plurality and individual pronouns, stating that “I” and “we” are absorbed in divine
essence.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:7
label: Love beyond passing states
summary: The passage concludes that a heart bound to ordinary love or smiles cannot
see God as God is, and that love’s pastures exceed pleasure, pain, spring, and
autumn.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: annihilation and union in God
taxonomy_refs:
- annihilation_union
basis: The passage explicitly describes being merged in God and drowned like a wave
in the sea, and later says “I” and “we” unite in One and are absorbed in divine
essence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is devotional and metaphysical rather than a narrative of
literal death or bodily transformation.
- id: motif:2
label: divine beloved who receives lament
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_beloved
basis: God or the divine beloved is addressed as the one whose look, sweetness,
warmth, and pleasure are desired, and whose enjoyment of cries gives meaning to
lament and pain.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: Some beloved language may also echo human courtship imagery, so exact
referents can shift within the poem.
- id: motif:3
label: lover’s self-sacrifice
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: The speaker states that the lover’s whole life is self-sacrifice, urges offering
oneself, and says a heart is won only at the price of the lover’s own heart.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The sacrifice is expressed as devotional and affective self-offering,
not as a ritual killing.
- id: motif:4
label: mystical quest for divine vision beyond dual states
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
basis: The passage asks whether the eye can behold God truly, says ordinary attachment
to pleasure and pain obstructs seeing God, and places love beyond evanescent states.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: There is no extended journey plot; the quest is expressed as interior
longing and theological reflection.
- id: motif:5
label: duality overcome in oneness
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The passage contrasts “I” and “we,” men and women, pleasure and pain, spring
and autumn, and then places God or love beyond these divisions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents dualities in lyric-philosophical language rather
than as paired mythic characters or cosmological combat.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 9393-9408, around vv.200-205
quote_or_summary: 'The passage counsels silence and attentiveness, uses a torrent-overflow
image, and says: “Man merged in God, most entirely is drowned / As wave of a sea.”'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 9409-9421, around vv.206-214
quote_or_summary: The speaker says humans are good for self-sacrifice, the lover’s
life is self-sacrifice, the heart is the price of winning a heart, and recounts
being told by a beloved to hold his tongue.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 9422-9431, around vv.215-219
quote_or_summary: The speaker shortens the story, says “lip” can mean the margin
of the sea and “No” can mean “Yes,” and describes hiding sweetness and shielding
secrets by silence and austere features.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 9432-9448, around vv.220-229
quote_or_summary: The passage states that God was first jealous, describes the two
worlds as God’s body, uses analogies of king and servantly rank, and contrasts
God’s jealousy as wheat with human jealousy as chaff.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 9449-9466, around vv.230-239
quote_or_summary: The speaker returns to plaint and wail, says the divine beloved
loves his cries and moans, describes deprivation of the beloved’s look and light,
loves anguish that pleases the beloved, and calls lovers’ tears pearls.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 9467-9482, around vv.240-247
quote_or_summary: 'The speaker addresses God as justice’s fount and says: “When
‘I’ and when ‘we’ shall unite both in One, / Absorbed they’ll be in Thy essence
alone.”'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 9483-9503, around vv.248-250
quote_or_summary: The passage says a heart enslaved to love or a smile cannot worthily
see God, and describes love’s infinite green pastures as above pleasure, pain,
spring, and autumn.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal extraction is strong because the passage is explicit about love,
lament, self-sacrifice, divine jealousy, and union. Motif assignment is interpretive
and should be reviewed, especially where beloved imagery shifts between human
and divine registers.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-29'
notes: |-
No external comparison claims were added because the passage itself does not explicitly compare these motifs to another text, tradition, or motif family beyond the supplied taxonomy-aligned candidate motifs.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg__l9393-l9503
passage_sha256=1393ef6f70323e3106a4fdd3226e0a1ef34b7287d00f423bd71db519d95eb74e