Journal of Poetry Studies (Boostan Adab)
Year:2012 | Volume:4 | Issue:2 (12)|Papers Count:12

The prominent and successful past experiences in poetry are treasures inherited by contemporary poets. Of these, the experience of creating poetic images without using literary imagery can add richness of thought and language, and be powerfully influential to the contemporary Persian poetry. To describe the characteristics of visual poetry, the Ghazals (sonnets) of Sa’di were analyzed. The findings showed that using image creation without imagery or, in other words, ‘the beautiful representation of the reality’ is one of the techniques employed in image creation. The tangible representation of concrete reality is the foundation of this kind of poetry which influences its artistic language, thought, emotions and techniques. Using the adjectival groups as noun descriptor, an adjective replacing a noun or an adverb plays a significant role in representing the reality. On the other hand, using frequent verbs and short sentences are signs of dynamicity and movement. The principles of love, beauty, emotional expression and thinking about human beings form the central concepts of such poetry. Narrative elements such as scene setting, tone of narration, dialogues and the arrangement of events, play significant roles in the representation of reality in a beautiful, tangible, objective and influential way.

The aim of this work is to illustrate major source of narration based on movement; a movement toward the real and mythic origin-the origin accompanied by light-that is facilitated by passing the obstacles and fighting them-as interpreted by Young: fighting with soul. Passing these obstacles with the aid of a mentor is the medium of compromising between two apparent opposing aspects of heroes and to guide the prisoner and descended heroes to their heavenly origin. The attraction of passing the obstacles includes obedience, the experience of sublime life, and the permanent return. In order to show the basis of narration, first, seven constitutional elements with their slight difference in the field of Prop’s morphology are shown and then connection of these elements to mythic beliefs and the subject of totem are addressed.

This article analyzes the symbols of the story of Sheikh-e San’an, the most famous story of Manteq al-Taiyr written by Attar-e Neyshaburi. To this aim the symbols of the story have been redefined considering the narratives of Adam and Eve and their descent in the sacred texts. It seems that Attar’s aim is to present a romantic interpretation of human’s life story. Based on the textual signs it is argued that Sheikh-e San’an is the archetype of Adam, the Christian girl is the archetype of Eve, Mecca is the archetype of paradise, Rome is the archetype of earth, and the traveling of Sheik-e San’an from Mecca to Rome and his returning to Mecca is the archetype of the descent of Adam and Eve to the earth and their return to the paradise.

In the last three decades, literary works have been analyzed through various critical approaches. One of these methods suitable for analysis of literary works is semiotics. “Signs are stable elements that join in theme” (Martin). In this study one kind of frequently used narrative, that is, mystical tale, is analyzed in order to show the function of signs. Attar is one of the poets who used tales in his works very much. One of the ways to determine Attar’s style is analyzing signs which have been used in the tales. In this research after analyzing five tales about prophets, these results were found: adjectives that show future of narration, adjectives that make atmosphere of oppositeness, using dialogue for making atmosphere, using adjectives that make main meaning of tale.

Nima’s literary theory as an independent style attracted many followers. Akhavan Sales is one of those poets who follow Nima in form and social and political content of his poems. “Zemestan” is an important poem which is successful in imitating Nima’s literary theory with regards to formalistic features. The structure of the poem alongside its shocking theme fascinates the readers. One wonders about the huge success of “Zemestan”. What is the mystery which does not seem to exist in other poems of Akhavan? It seems that the success does not lie in the common theme but in the form and techniques embedded in its structure. Such elements as “realism and speculation”, “association of sense and emotion”, “dialectic of rejection with acceptance”, “orchestration”, “equilibrium and symmetry” and “creative ending” are more important in the accomplished process of this poem. This paper tries to discover the less familiar details of “Zemestan” in order to understand the mystery of its success.

One of the elements of religious studies and Persian mythology is the study of demons (deev). In this paper the place of demons in heroic epics after Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh are studied. In some of these epics such as Banoo Goshasbnameh and Kok Kohazad demons have a minor presence and are only used as adjectives for evil human beings. In some other epics such as Samnameh, Shariarnameh and Faramarznameh demons have more prominent roles so that one of the seven labors that the hero must go though is a fight with a demon. The hero must fight the demon to save the girl or girls from the demon’s bondage. In some other heroic epics like Kooshnameh and Garshasbnameh, the demons are not only presented as evil creatures and the enemies of the hero, but also as certain vices such as greed, anger, envy which have their origins in ancient Persian mythology and Pahlavi texts.

Literary structuralism is one of the approaches for the analysis of literary texts with its roots embedded in linguistics studies. Structuralism is based on binary opposition and general structural orientation on the analysis of dual mutuality and their relationships. In this study Rooye Mah Khodavand ra Beboos (Kiss the Beautiful Face of God) is analyzed on the basis of binary oppositions. The researchers have also studied binary oppositions of characters, descriptions and anecdotes in the surface structure and opposition in theme and content in deep structure.

Stephen Toulmin (1958/2003) has introduced the structures of the argument which he claims to be invariant; i.e. universal, in most disciplines. He maintains that argument structures consist of three main sections, namely, claim, support and background. There are three other aspects of the arguments that, though might not be indispensible parts of an argument, can strengthen the argument. They are as follows: Rebuttal, which can support both claim and support or either of them; backing which tends to support the background and qualifier which affects the certainty of the writer of the claim. The present study aimed at finding the similarities and differences between the texts written by three authors of Ghajar era (Assadabadi, Talebof, and Malkomkhan) in postulating arguments. To fulfill this objective, Toulmin Model of Argument is applied to these three argumentative texts. The logic behind choosing these writers is that they are all considered to be very influential in enlightening movement during Ghajar era. It is worth mentioning that each of these writers is considered to be the representative of a different ideological mindset of their time, actively affecting the Constitutional movement in Iran.

Aminpur is a committed and influential poet of after Islamic revolution that depicts pain, regret and aspiration in his poems. He investigates wishes and lost values such as ethical and human values, purity, simplicity and kindness. Following these lost values continuously is combined with a sense of nostalgia in his poetry. In his view village and childhood are similar to an ideal perspective, which represent his nostalgia. In this paper we investigate Qeisar’s nostalgic view for childhood and village and analyze the aspects of this nostalgia.

Sadegh Hedayat, famous Iranian writer, was always interested in history and presented Iran with a look of worshiping the past. Thus most of his books can be viewed in this respect. The Blind Owl is one of his works that can be analyzed from this aspect. This work includes some points about a traditional culture. This culture is famous as gray earthenware culture belonging to immigrant Aryan peoples in Rey (Rages), Turkmenistan and India. Hedayat constantly refers to gray color, and signs of Aryan people’s immigration in this story and the place of event that is the archaic city of Rey, and his tendency to ethnography suggests that there might be some link between this culture and The Blind Owl which this paper searches for.