The Conference of the Birds
ESSAY #5: The Conference of the Birds
ASSIGNMENT:
- Take a section from the assigned readings and do the following in an essay:
- Discuss the basic structure of the section.
- Identify the allegorical players in at least one of the parables told.
- Explain what each of the significant players in the parable represents.
- What is the parable suggesting?
- How is the soul’s journey being blocked from its path to God?
- What answer is the parable giving in reference to the hoopoe’s advice?
- Be mindful of the editor’s suggestions about interpretation of allegory on pages xv-xviii:
- “Two themes in particular are diffused throughout almost the entire poem—the necessity for destroying the Self, and the importance of passionate love” (xviii);
- “If there are two main actors in any given story, it’s a good bet—it doesn’t always work but it does most of the time—that one of them represents the human soul and the other God” (xvi);
- “…often in Sufi tales it is the socially inferior person who represents God or the divine. This is the part of the Sufi love of paradox, a way of jolting the reader out of his normal expectation of the world” (xvii);
- Objects and individuals don’t maintain allegorical significance from one story to another, so the meanings of the symbols in each story have to be worked out anew” (xviii):
FORMAT REQUIREMENTS:
-MLA FORMAT
-12pt Times New Roman font
-Double-spaced
-1500-2000 words (about 4-5 full pages)
CLARIFICATION OF WHAT A SECTION IS FOR ESSAY #5 (The Conference of the Birds)
Essentially, you will choose from one of the following posting assignments:
- Posting #4 (pp. 61-66).
- Posting #5 (pp. 230-231; 231-232; 234-235).
- Posting #6 (pp.86-92).
- Posting #7 (pp. 127-128; 128-130).
- Posting #8 (pp. 132-133; 134-135; 135-136).
- Posting #9 (pp. 162-163; 163-164; 164-165; 165-166; 166).
The key is that you'll be analyzing the entire structure of the section you choose. For example, an entire section constitutes the following:
- A bird complains, or is otherwise reluctant;
- The hoopoe replies;
- A series of parables follows that exemplify through allegory the hoopoe’s reply.
For example, in posting #9, the section is as follows:
- A bird speaks its reluctance: "A bird who claims to be satisfied with his spiritual state" (162);
- The hoopoe replies: "The hoopoe answers him" (162-163);
- A series of parables follows: "How Sheikh Abu Bakr's self-satisfaction was reproved" (163-164); "The devil's secret" (164-165); "The sheikh and the dog" (165); "The anchorite whoh loved his beard" (165-66); "A dreaming fool" (166). [THESE PARABLES EXEMPLIFY THE HOOPOE’S REPLY TO THE RELUCTANT BIRD].
You’re not limited to the assigned sections; you can choose from other sections from the poem besides the assigned readings. Use the document “The Conference of the Birds SECTIONS DOC” to choose a section. Just make sure you choose from the sections ONE to TWENTY which are outlined on pages 2-6 of the document. That way you are assured of having a section with the following elements:
- A bird complains, or otherwise is reluctant to journey to the Simorgh;
- The hoopoe replies;
- A series of parables follows that exemplify through allegory the hoopoe’s reply.
TO SEE HOW FORMER STUDENTS DID THE ASSIGNMENT, PLEASE REFER TO THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS:
1. RESOURCE: Samantha Student--INTRODUCTION;
2. RESOURCE: Sammy Student--SAMPLE INTRO & FIRST PARAGRAPH;
3. RESOURCE: GENERIC OUTLINE.