Comparative study of Persian Psalms and Gabriel's Wing

See also Chapter 82, 'Gabriel's Wing' in The Republic of Rumi: a Novel of Reality

“Read Persian Psalms in solitude if you have a taste, for the midnight lament is not without a secret song,” says Iqbal in a couplet in Gabriel’s Wing (1935).

The two books have thus been cross-referenced by the poet himself, and indeed there are some interesting similarities. Just like the first two parts of Persian Psalms, the other book also contains two sequences of numbered but untitled poems at the beginning. However, while the two sets are clearly identified as separate parts in Persian Psalms, the second book contains no such marker. There, the only indication is that the numbering of the poems restarts after sixteen. It is as if the poet expects the readers to remember the format of the first book and apply it themselves on the other one.

The latter half of Persian Psalms consists of two coherent narratives: ‘The New Garden of Mystery’ and ‘The Book of Slavery’, each of which could be treated like a complete book itself. The second half of Gabriel’s Wing consists of several poems, each carrying a different title, but it could be a very engaging mental activity to see if they could also fall into clusters and narratives to parallel the second half of Persian Psalms.