The Journal of Epic Literature
Year:2009 | Volume:5 | Issue:8|Papers Count:14

Naryousang is one of the ancient Gods who in the Zoroastrian world arose as a mighty angel. In Manavis mythology also this Deity established his central position.Declining fame and significance of a God or its growing fame and significance is usually accompanied with transformation in the cultural system which stems from a transition in the structure and the relationship between the binary oppositions which are the main determiner of that cultural system.This article aims at investigating and analyzing the changes befallen the God, Naryousang in different periods in Iran and the other neighboring cultures such as the Greek and Roman.

Till present, a considerable amount of research has been undertaken regarding Afrasiab’s character, the renowned Tourani commander whose evil character is among the most striking in the epic works of this land.This research is an attempt to find the mythological origin of this character by investigating ancient religious works, Middle Persian and Islamic texts according to their historical order of appearance.Moreover, in order to prove Benevenis’s claim that Afrasiab is most probably the consequence of Diva Famina (Epeousha), numerous evidence from the above texts are presented. In the course of this research attempt is also made to examine the origin of the myth of Arash, a character who is also associated with water and rain, to signify his role in persuading Afrasiab to withdraw.

The play Pardeh Khaneh, is a dramatic work written by Bahram Bayzaii, in which woman plays a pivotal role. The play talks about the life of women who have been captivated under a harsh, dictator regime. In this work apart from analyzing some characteristic features of women in a male-dominated system, the different roles of women in such systems are highlighted.Despite widespread attempts of male-dominated system to metamorphose the identity of women, killing their thoughts, and rob their body and soul, women in the light of consciousness, wisdom and tactfulness, could gain victory over this system and regain freedom and other rights denied them for so long. Also this play lends itself easily to interpretations; woman in this play not only plays her real natural role in a male-dominated regime, but also borrows many tactics from Anahita, the mythical Goddess. In this article, attempt is made to analyze and investigate the role, position, actions, and reactions of women in such system.

Although Hafez is a true master in almost all figures of speech, however his utmost art and the characteristic of his poetry find expression in his puns. The scope of this literary device in his poetics particularly taking into account the newly found puns becomes so extensive that it transcends the typical classification of puns in academic rhetorical textbooks.This technique also renders his “garden of imagination” more colorful.This article is concerned with the introduction of variety of puns as well as the two newly found ones. Examples are given for each kind from the poetry of Hafez.

There exists a manuscript in 505 pages from Kamal-al Din Kashi in Higher School of Sepah Salar (Shahid Motahari). It contains a collection of treatise on wisdom, Erfan, manifestations of the Almighty God, argumentative and intuitive science.Pages 100-126 of this treatise are devoted to the issues regarding mysticism and discourse.The significance of the subject and the character of the writer inspired the correction of this manuscript copy in the hope that subtleties in this work could assist authorities in their criticism and analysis.

Event or Incident is one of the structural elements of the novel that together with other elements such as tension, conflict, anticipation, rising action, climax, and resolution constitute the main body of the plot in the story. In the book“Terminology of the art of story writing”, incident is defined as follows: “Incident is born when at least two things or forces clash. It is a plot component and it drives the plot forward in order to reveal different aspects of the character”. (Mirsadeghi, 1377, p81.) The purpose of this article is to analyze and investigate the depth and quality of the incidents in this novel and also to illustrate the relationship of the events with other components of the story.

The purpose of this article is to investigate and analyze Suhrawardi’s masterpiece “The Calling of Simorgh” and to examine the grand thoughts of this thinker. On the surface, this valuable work seems to be a treatise on mysticism explaining the stages of Suluk and the secrets of Gnosticism, but in fact is a voluminous book, summarized for instructional purposes.

The sociological approach to literature examines a literary work with reference to the social milieu of its creator and focuses on the interaction between social milieu and literary work, and it introduces the role of the society in the creation of a work of art.The purpose of this article is as follows: 1. Investigation of the impact of sociology on the Persian Literature.2. A glance at the political and literary milieu in Safavid era.3. Short Introduction to Kalim Kashani and his poetry.4. Investigating social institutions from the sociologists’ perspective.5. Evaluation of social elements in Kashani’s poetry using social institutions as yardsticks in order to illustrate the role of social effects in mirroring the society of his time.

This article provides a brief introduction to the art of oratory and explains the manner it influences the mind and soul of audience. Then, the following points are investigated: -The role of the audience in acceptance and vivid remembrance of poem.-The poet’s commitment with respect to society, and his individual and social audience.-Discussing ways to intensity the influence upon the audience by applying delicate rhetorical techniques, and paying attention to the kind of audience involved from different angles.-Observance of Time, Place, and Circumstances-Providing evidence from outstanding poets in different periods to illustrate the Rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questions, imperative and exclamatory sentences, and other instances like repetition, emphasis, and denial.

Since the very beginning of the first edition of her poetry collection in 1331, till the end of her thirty two years of life in 1345, Farokhzad wrote poetry with her own style of expression and language. With her particular use of diction, and unique imagery, she could depict a different world in an old-fashioned, male-oriented society which dominated the Persian Literature.A look upon the history of Persian Literature reveals that one seldom encounters conservative writings of women commenting on the traditional restrictions with no rights to express their views since the old conventional system regarded man as strong, logical, ruler, and speaker, yet woman as obedient, illogical, and silent.The symbol of a good woman was “an angel in the house” submissive, and patient who totally sacrificed herself at home.In this poem, Farokhzad finds empty the place of creative, thinking women in the domain of Art and Culture, and with such claim as “why should I stop” begins her struggle.Obviously such male- oriented society at that time could not accept such non-conventional ways, norm violated language, bold expressions, and truthful diction coming from a woman but Forough, the Iranian woman created a new atmosphere where she could resist the conventional traditions of society and fight for expressing her independent identity.

Nader Naderpour is the great contemporary poet in Iran whose poetry is seldom analyzed and investigated till present. This article aims at discussing external music (meter) in his poetry and illustrating the manner in which it manifests itself in his poems. In order to achieve this goal, first an introduction is given regarding poetry and music focusing on the meter. Second all the meters employed by him are exemplified. Then all his poems such as traditional, quatrain, free verse are classified. Finally a conclusion is drawn and discussed accordingly.

Arnavaz and Shahrnaz’s character, the enviable Jamshid’s sisters in Shahnameh has mythological roots in Avesta, the great religious book in the Ancient Persia.Although out of twenty one sections of Avesta, only five has remained today giving little information about these two royalties, nevertheless by putting together the contents of Avesta and Arabic translations of the Middle Persian texts, and also small yet mysterious hints made by the great Ferdowsi regarding these two characters one can depict a clear picture of them and illustrate their influential role in giving rise to different generations.In this article attempt is made not only to highlight this picture, but also to draw attention to the key role played by women in Shahnameh.

Talebi, the composer of Shoughnameh Mohammadi in the tenth century A.H., being fluent in both Farsi, and Arabic started this work in masnavi style in the year 947 A.H., and terminated it in the holy Makeh in 949 A.H. The transcription of this unique copy in a calligraphic style was made by a calligrapher, Saghi-Ibn Solieman in 950 A.H.Soughnameh is the account of the spiritual journey of Beloghia, the Egyptian king, on his way to the place of pilgrimage of Prophet Mohammad which was composed in 4941 lines. The basic theme of this story is the longing and enthusiasm for reaching the Prophet’s sanctuary. Being largely under the influence of Masnavi Moulana, and Golshan Touhidi written by Shahedi, yet in terms of structure, Shoughnameh bears a lot of resemblance to Attar’s Mosibatnameh. Nevertheless, in expressing religious and moral issues, its tone like that of Sanaei Ghaznavi becomes more instructive and domineering.

Imagery and imagination are the essential components of poetry in such a way that they can be regarded as differentiating factor, separating prose from poetry. In other words, imagination is the very essence of poetry. In this article attempt is made to investigate the common grounds between the Old Persian poetry with Contemporary poetry in terms of poetic criteria such as similarities in imagery, and the function of elements involved in imagination. These elements are either taken from the nature which exists throughout all times and places and is constant, yet differs from the geographical and regional point of view, or they are environmental phenomena which tend to change with the passage of time and change in the mode of living. Thus, the strongest bond between these two styles could have been made on the basis of elements of nature and their function in imagery. With the aid of such criteria, one can judge whether there is a bond between the two styles or they are entirely different.