HISTORY OF LITERATURE (JOURNAL OF HUMAN SCIENCES)
Year:2012 | Volume:- | Issue:69/3|Papers Count:10

Persian poetry has, undoubtedly, a revered and honorable history. Even if Iran’s literature was limited to only poets and orators such as Ferdowsi, Nezami, Khayyam, Rumi, Sadi, and Hafez, it was worth appreciating. We can assert that the masterpieces of Iranian literature honours are not just bounded to these celebrated figures. Nima's loud cry was so effectively heard that its infuence on traditional poetry not only was absolutely apparent, but also broke its firmness to a large extent. Hence, poets such as Parviz Natel Khanlari, Mohammad Hossein Shahriyary, Mehrdad Avesta, Hossein Monzavi and others, each influenced by the contemporary modernists, made some innovations in Persian poetic structurs and added new horizons to the literature. In this regard, this article aims at adapting and examining the post-revolution traditional poetry and the classic ones in terms of their structures.

The Thousand and One Nights, as a prose text mixed with verse, is a narrative work in the domain of fiction. Integration of prose and poetry in the narrative structure of this work, with the main narrative load on the prose, paves the way for studying the role and place of poetry within the prose narration of The Thousand and One Nights. Pondering about such features leads to a better appreciation of the whole structure and methods of narration in this and other similar works. Unlike the public opinion that deems poetry - as well as the entertaining narration of 'Hezar o Yek Shab' - fun and amusing, and thus remove able, in narrations of this collection, poetry is not only able to describe and make the narration more pleasant by providing ravishing statements, but also stimulates the narrative path of the work by making a coherent attachment with prose, and using maneuvers, such as creation of atmosphere, denouement, and plot change, advances the story. This paper aims at studying spiritual and verbal functions of poetry in The Thousand and One Nights, investigating the quality of the association between poetry and prose in fiction and the role of poetry in forming this collection. The results of the study show that poetry, in 41 percent of the tales, has an active role and improved the plot; however, in 59 percent of the stories, it has no effect on the narrative trajectory of the story and is used for decoration and style enhancement.

The technique of description is one of the main purposes of poetry that is dependent on fancy. When nature becomes the subject of description, it is like drawing a picture of beauties. Manoochehri Damghani (died in 1052) and Senobari (died in 954) are the greatest nature-oriented poets of Arabic and Persian literature. The importance of the description of nature in Senobari's works is so high that some critics consider him to be the first poet of nature in Arabic literature. Manoochehri enjoys the same status in Persian literature. This paper is a comparative study and analysis of Manoochehri's and Senobari's descriptions of nature in their poems. Evidence for the similarity of these two poets in terms of their descriptions of nature has been provided in this paper. They share much in the images and similes they use for describing nature. In some cases, such as describing flowers, birds, and snow, the similarities are more sensible than in other cases. Manoochehri Damghani has been greatly influenced by Senobari, who is one of the pioneers of using similes in the Abbasid era; however, he does not mention Senobari at all in his Divan.

Persian elegies contain the thoughts, livelihood, and behaviour of poets. They also indicate and reflect on tastes, wishes, and actions of contemporary governers. The passage of Persian elegies t from the Samanid period up to the twelfth century can be examined from various perspectives. One of the considerable subjects that is worth examining is the challanges that poets faced in their contacts with govermental institutions. On the one hand, poets of this age needed the financial supports of the governors and on the other hand, governors needed the artistic capabilities of the poets to sing of and spread their fame, power, and dominance. Through this two-sided interaction, we come up with two groups of poets. The first ones are those poets who did not sacrifies their freedom and righteousness to fame and wealth. But the majority of old elegy writers provided propaganda and publicity in collusion with those in power. This research aims at studying the challenges of ancient poems from the moral, social, and political angles. To this end, one of the most important historical eras regarding the height of elegy composition, that is to say, from the Samanid period to the twelfth century has been investigated.

Nezami's Haft Peykar is one of fascinating texts of classical Persian Literature. This work has many dramatic elements, one of which is fascinating characterization. Due to the following reasons characterization in this text is dramatic and much similar to today's novels: The reason is that apart from direct mentioning of characters appearance, dialogue, and behavior, reasonable depiction of different dimensions of the characters and, as in many great dramatic works, tangible, believable, and imaginable characters are drawn. In this work, the poet tries to represent the characters in action, in their relationship to others, and the tension of communicating with other characters. Nezami makes a successful characterization by application of this method.

Didactic poems are one of the areas where interaction between science and literature can be found. In fact, through the ages, literature has done great service for science by preserving knowledge within didactic poems. Also, using didactic poems is considered one of the most effective techniques of learning. Despite this, didactic poetry, which is one of the four main types of poetry in the world, has not been properly reserched and studied. Therefore the aim of this paper is to investigate different aspects of didactic poetry and its role in education, using examples from Persian and Arabic literatures.

Persian Shiite poetry has witnessed many outstanding poets. One such poet is Hasan Kashi, the Shiite poet of the 7th and 8th centuries A.H. He dedicated his whole professional poetic life to composing poems in the forms of eulogy and elegy for the Household of Prophet Muhammad, especially Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Thus he is mainly known as the Poet of Amir Al-Mu’minin (a divine title given to Ali Ibn Abi Talib meaning the Commander of the Faithful). His poems are outstanding regarding their content, linguistic structure, style and easy recitation. Considering the presence of Sunnite poets in the 7th and 8th centuries A.H., studying the role of Kashi as a Shiite poet in disseminating Shiite literary concepts in Iran seems to the point and necessary. The current article is a study of Kashi’s poetic style and the major Shiite themes in his poems. Although Shiite poets had to face increasing hardships and challenges during the 7th and 8th centuries A.H., the role Shiite poetry played in the 7th and 8th centuries was similar to its role in the 4th -6th centuries A.H. Hasan Kashi, enjoying Shiite beliefs, was a talented poet who had an active role in shaping Shiite poetry with its rich content, beautiful themes and unique linguistic structures and features.

Principles and concepts related to the rules of chivalry are among the themes of Sadi’s works. Considering that Sadi is a humanist and focuses on man and society, naturally there would be ideas and views that would fit the world of chivalry. This paper examines the practical and theoretical grounds that have aquainted the poet with chivalric rules and traditions, and relates them to the events in Sadi’s life and the age in which he lived. First the state of chivalry and its progress in Sadi is mentioned. Next the ways in which Sadi can be related to chivalry are studied. Chivalry was at its summit of expansion in that period. An influential caliph such as al-Nasser Ledin-Ellah supported and practised chivalry. According to his command it became formalized in large parts of the Muslim world, and reached unprecedented expansion. Sadi, the traveler, passed through such chivalric lands, and also studied in schools and sufic temples. His introduction and induction into chivalric circles was through the efforts of Sheik Shahab al-Din Sohravardi.

Qajar dynasty is a period full of ups and downs in the history of Persian language and literature. This is due to many factors, the most important of which is the considerable change in written Persian because of political, scientific, cultural, military, etc., relations with the West. Foundation of Darolfonoon, the great translation movement, development of travelogues, popularity of newspapers, improvement of people's knowledge, the advent of Mashrooteh revolution, etc., have all played a role in bringing a change to Persian (including its words, prose, etc.).Concerning military terms, among European languages, Persian has been mostly affected by French in this period, with English and Russian ranking next; however, when it comes to Eastern languages, Arabic and Turkish, sharing historical, political, cultural, and religious origins with Persian, are the ones that affected Persian military terms the most. In the late Qajar period, a number of military officers realized that a myriad of foreign military terms had entered Persian, and so they decided to compensate for this deficit from 1922 on. In the end, this sense of commitment to protect the status of Persian led to the foundation of Farhangestan-e Iran.

Great mystics have frequently discussed the subject of ecstatic statements, mentioning causes and origins for them. This is because these statements might arouse suspicions of atheism and blasphemy. Rumi is one of the people of distinction who has tried to clarify pantheist mystics’ ecstatic statements. In spite of his attachment to the subject of pantheism and in spite of his interest in Hallaj and Bayazid's speeches, he is so aware of his own leading position that he avoids the expression of such dauntless statements in the presence of others. He constantly considers his listeners’ level of understanding. His avoidance of making ecstatic statements resulted in the creation of elegant and subtle "allegorical ecstatic statements”. It seems that such an approach was beneficial to him because thus he immunized himself from accusations and expressed his interests as well. This paper considers Rumi’s views on the ecstatic statement and his particular style of making such statements.