Year:2005 | Volume:22 | Issue:1 (42)|Papers Count:16

Nahjul Balagha, the title given to a collection of Imam Ali's sayings and statements, has had a profound impact on Arabic as well as Persian culture and literature since its appearance. Before the compilation of Nahjul Balagha (400 A. H.) poets like Rudaki and Ferdowsi, have also been influenced by Imam Ali's words. In this article, after an investigation into the factors bringing about such a great influence, examples have been presented, in verse and prose, from the works of poets and writers from Rudaki to Feyz Kashani.

The issue of martyr and martyrdom in Islamic mysticism is a fairly new one. Therefore, no thorough and independent study has been done on these concepts yet. Although the high place of these concepts in the Sharia of Islam is clearly established in Islamic mystical writings, there are no direct references to the concepts except for fragmentary statements. This study primarily attempts to clarify the valuable place of martyr and martyrdom in Sharia; then the issue of martyr and martyrdom is discussed with regard to Islamic mysticism. The key factors which are effective in the occurrence of these concepts in mysticism are stated.

The ninth century ranks very high in Persian Literature. Many poets and writers created a great amount of poetry and prose. As this century is an introduction to the Indian Style and the beginning of prolific abstract poetical themes, there exists a variety of forms and types of poetical expressions. Poets of this century paid special attention to different literary types some of which were rarely used in the previous ages. Elegy, panegyric, eulogy, chronogram, riddle, complaint and poems on food and drink are some of these types. Most of these new deviees were used by Shiraz poets and this paper studies literary types of Shiraz poets.

Mathnavi of Mowlavi has various dimensions one of which is its social dimension. His social ideas come from his direct intuition, perception, experiences and understanding of the society. In this essay Mowlavi's views on various aspects of the society and the relationships among individuals are analyzed. Mowlavi's social views are sometimes descriptive and sometimes normative; that is, he sometimes pays attention to describing normal and abnormal behaviors and at other times, he suggests ways for modifying abnormal behavior and establishing normal behavior.

Identity could be considered as an individual or a social issue from different aspects such as religion, culture, etc. Literature provides the broadest horizon in culture, whose description of human social destiny discloses the main elements of identity. The most frequent elements of Persian identity, that is, basic Persian characteristics and cultural motives, have been presented similarly in structurally different literary genres. This article, deals with the study of the meaning of Iran and Iranian in a survey of Persian literature up to the Mongol invasion to find the most frequent cultural elements of Iranian identity in literature.

This essay is an attempt to describe preferential simile in the poetry of Emad Faqih. First it is tried to show the important role the study of simile plays in literary criticism. Secondly, concentrating on how old similes come to be used as new, the writer describes preferential simile as the most important type of this reconstruction process. Moreover, preferential similes of Emad are compared with the preferential similes of three other poets of the Khorasani style. It is argued that his preferential similes fit in with his mystic viewpoint. Furthermore, preferential similes in lines ending in "t" are dealt with in the essay. It is concluded that the extensive use of preferential simile by Emad as a poet of Iraqi style is a characteristic feature in his poetry in general.

This study is about themes in ninth century poetry. Since there are many themes in the poetry of this period, ten more frequently used themes are chosen for discussion: eulogy, panegyric, gnosticism, love, God, sorrow, separation, carpe diem and no confidence in the world. These themes are analyzed in the divans of prominent poets of the ninth century such as Jami, Shah Nematollah Vali, Helali Joghataee, Ahli Shirazi, Baba Faghani Shirazi, Ghasem Anvar, Onsi and Katebi. The themes are discussed based on their frequency and structural and semantic differences with other ages are explained.

In this article all the forms used in Farrokhzad's poetry are studied. Based on three elements of rhythm, rhyme, and method of writing as shaping the form of a poem, we can classify her five collections of poetry into four different groups: semi-classic, new quarters (pop and musical), Nimaee and neo-Nimaee (her own style). This article focuses on neo-Nimaee style in her poetry. It is argued that there is a kind of defamiliarization of Nimaee style in her poetry which makes her poetry closer to prose.

The objective of the present study is to survey and evaluate the status and image of women in popular stories of Samak Ayyar and Darabnameh. The study shows that women's roles are presented positively in these stories. Although women have an effective role in decision making, governing, wrestling, ayyari and loving, there are cases in which they are treated pejoratively and their roles are ignored. Since these stories belong to the ordinary people, the lower class women have a broader and more effective presence than the higher ones. On the whole, the image of women in these stories is neither completely positive nor totally negative.

The aim of this essay is to review and present sources and rules which were used by the experts, sages and interpreters for the analysis and interpretation of dreams. If we consider a dream as an interpretable text, we find out that the ancient dream interpreters in interpreting the texts paid attention to the text of the dream itself or the symbols in it, as well as the dreamer himself and also the historical and social situations of the time. In other words, ancient dream interpretation considered three aspects: the symbols of the dream, the situation of the dreamer and the temporal and spatial situation of the dream. Ancient dream interpreters used sources and materials for interpreting dreams; the most important of them were the Holy Qur'an and religious stories and proverbs. Another way of interpreting the apparent symbols in the dreams was to find a relationship between symbols and their meanings through wisdom or sensibility. Careful attention was paid to the dreamer himself. Therefore, the dreamer was asked about his/her religion, language, and profession. The time and place of dreaming also played an important role in the interpretation of the dream. In this essay, in addition to a review and analysis of sources and regulations of dream interpretation from the ancients' point of view, the opinion of some psychologist and psychiatrists are also mentioned.

The application of numbers has had a special place in peoples' beliefs in such a way that some consider them as sacred and some think of them as ominous. Number three is one of the numbers which has been sacred in peoples' beliefs and special attention has been given to it in different rituals, but scholars have not talked about the peoples' ideas coftcerning this number. This article is a study of number three in Persian culture and rituals and examples from the important sources of the Iranian cultures are also mentioned.

Alienation is defined as getting away from human values and being distanced from maturity and self-esteem due to an inability to know oneself. Alienation has been the center of attention for scholars since ancient times but with industrialization it has resurfaced in a new way. In the 20th century "alienation" as a harmful phenomenon was dealt with by thinkers from different fields including law, medicine, and sociology in industrial societies and western countries. Scientists in western world noticed that industrialization brings with it human beings who are alienated. Alienation has been noted in Persian literature as well. Naser Khosrow is one of the classical poets who has talked about the value of human beings, discusses alienation based on his social, economical, political and cultural condition of his time. In his writings he warns human beings' against forgetfulness and ignorance. He believes that by getting caught in the worldly luxuries, human beings lose their esteemed status.

Fire is one of the fundamental elements in the creation of being and the material world. Based on its importance in human life, from ancient times to the present, there have been many relevant ritual narrations representing the living realities of the ancient world, to be turned into symbols in later ages. The purpose of this paper is to study the symbolism of fire in myths and its reflection in the mythological and epic texts of Iran (Avesta and Shahnameh). The symbol of fire in myths and dreams is interpreted according to Freudian Psychology. Among the examples of fire in Avesta are the "Ritual Fire", "Destructive Fire" (of Resurrection Day) and the "Testing Fire". In the text of Avesta the fire is the focus of ritual and worship. Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, which traces the concept of fire from ancient times, demonstrates examples of fire, especially the "Testing Fire" (the fire made for testing Siavash).

This article aims at analyzing Sadegh-e-Chooback's stories from the viewpoint of story elements such as: plot; characterization, dialogue, etc. The main goal is to find out how Chooback, as one of the greatest short story writers, has employed the modern fictional elements based on which his style will be determined, too. It is also attempted to specify the way Naturalism and Modernism have influenced his writing style.

In classic Persian literature, drama does not exist as an independent literary genre, but it is possible to find many dramatic aspects in other literary forms. In this paper, firstly the definition of literature and its distinction with drama is examined based on the concept of "contact" in Jacobson's communication schema. Then by giving the examples in Persian verse and prose, it is argued that not only literature but also language, uses dramatic features. Therefore, if one studies Persian literature from such a point of view, many dramatic features will be found.

The aim of this study is to analyze the quality and qtiantity of 'thou shalt' and 'thou shalt not' and don'ts in Shahnameh and The Iliad. The values and anti-values in any society should be researched and reviewed in the domains of their geography and history but since the base of the identification of values and anti-values are human subjects and culture, it seems logical to look at the past and to analyze what was considered as good and what was considered as not good. It is concluded that archetypes of 'thou shalt' are more frequent in both epics.