Structure and Creation of Allegory in Masnavi Manavi

In Rumi's Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, allegories do not merely reveal ideas; rather, they themselves serve as the very sources of associations, themes, and images. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of allegory in the Masnavi can, on the one hand, render the geography of Rumi's mental associations more tangible and concrete, and on the other hand, help us better comprehend how the vertical structure of the Masnavi is formed.
Allegories are structural patterns that Rumi frequently employs to generate narrative movement. In other words, the allegories of the Masnavi arise from its underlying ideas. Thus, the allegorical concretions in the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi offer a means of understanding Rumi's subjectivity and ideas. By examining the function and mechanism of allegory, one can grasp this structural principle in the Masnavi—namely, how allegories interconnect with narratives and interpretations to construct the multi-layered textual world of the work.
This article, adopting a structural approach, first investigates the origin, function, concreteness, and narrative structure of allegory, and then demonstrates how allegory creates structure in Rumi's Masnavi. That is, it shows how Rumi, through spontaneous and extemporaneous storytelling and allegorization, shapes the discontinuous-yet-continuous vertical structure of the Masnavi.