PERSIAN LITERATURE QUARTERLY
Year:2010 | Volume:7 | Issue:27|Papers Count:23

The present article is a review of the article entitled "the emendation of a few poems from Shahnameh." This review is two-fold. Firstly, it tries to remove some ambiguities which might have arisen through history. It secondly wants to critique the criteria to extend ancient texts and to present some suggestions in this respect.

In the Koran, there are some verses which are not about creation or the first man but include all men and the existence of man according to God’s will. Mowlana's Mathnawi and Nezami Ganjavi's works have many such instances. The Persian word انسان refers to his intimacy (انس) with others in order to continue his social life. Without such human relations, he is not able to survive. God created a creature named man, who has all the apparent and inherent, material and spiritual, worldly and heavenly forces. All the virtues and features found in the nature of man can naturally be found in the nature of all men.Most of the meanings found in Persian literature on man’s achievement of truth and justice are taken from the Koran.The more godly virtues a man achieves, the closer he gets to God.

A word which may be used between a number and a noun is called a numerative. The word جلد in the sentence دو جلد کتاب خریدم can be omitted. In some cases, it is necessary and it has extra meaning: صد گرم زعفران, دو لیتر شیر. It may sometimes be used in grammar, but it is not used in spoken language: ده نفر شتر دیدم, سه زنجیر فیل در سیرک بود.

Philosophical Allegoism is based on the belief in the duality of the earthly and spiritual worlds. This philosophy is based on the bi-dimensional nature of allegories: narrative surface structure and intellectual deep structure. It attributes a two-faceted structure to allegorical narration: one facet being narrative, the other philosophical. The link between philosophical allegoism can be seen in the narrative structure of Mathnawi.Such a link can be seen between western symbolism and Platonic idealism in western literature.Having a look at the roots of philosophical allegoism, the present article studies the manifestation of this thought in Mowlana's world view and works. The structural forms of the emergence of this attitude in Mathnawi parables will be analyzed under three titles: suspense avoidance, adage-setting, and allegorical interpretation.

The introduction of the present article focuses on Roodaki's sublime place in Persian literature and the references made to his name in biographies and in the poetry of his successors. Then, the influences of his mind and language and his thoughts and poetry on other poets and their intellectual and poetic similarities will be studied. As an example, Roodaki's influences on Nasser Khosrow will be analyzed in the two areas of thinking and eloquence. After that, the main topic of the research, the intellectual and poetic similarities between Roodaki and Khayyam, neglected for a long time, will be explicated. Some comparative examples and instances of these similarities and influences will be presented. The conclusion of the article will state that among the plenty of poets whose thoughts and poetry have been influenced by Roodaki, Khayyam can be considered to have continued Roodaki' s flow of thoughts and poems.

Mythical mysticism is the first and the most basic mysticism that man has so far practiced. It is a mysticism that ancient and mythical men naturally and unknowingly practiced and implemented since the dawn of history.Ancient and mythical men were the first mystics because their world view was somehow similar to today's mystics. The present article makes a broad comparative study of ancient and modern mystics.To prove such similarities, some dead and living myths will be mentioned.In addition to this comparison, ancient men's mysticism, called mythical mysticism, will be broadly studied and analyzed. Novel and elegant theories about mysterious dance (samma') and Zoroastrianism, a religion based on aesthetics, will be portrayed.

The word سبک (style) in Arabic means to melt and forge gold and silver; سبیکه is melted silver. In literature, it refers to special kinds of verse and prose. The origin of the word style is the Greek word stylus, a wooden or metal device to imprint words and letters on wax tablets.Bahar's book Stylistics was the first work on stylistics in Iran.This three-volume book has reviewed Persian prose works since the dawn of the Islamic civilization up to the present era. All those succeeding him followed his example, except Shafiee Kadkani, Shamisa and some comtemporary scholars.Bahar's Stylistics, though very valuable, has some shortcomings.Having a critical look at stylistics in Iran, the present article tries to present a new approach to stylistics. With an impartial approach, it tries to propose a scientific approach to stylistics.

Israel is the name which was once used in the Koran to refer to Prophet Jacob (A.S.) (Ale-e-Emran/93). Israelites (اسرائیلیات) is a term used by Islamic scholars to refer to the superstitious ideas and stories propagated among Muslims in the first century via Jewish and Christian scholars.These false legends infiltrated commentaries of the Koran and history books and influenced mystic and religious poets and writers, some of whom were reciters of the Koran and studied commentaries of the Koran. They used such stories in their poems without studying and criticizing them. Although such Israelites have inflicted plenty of damage on Persian literature, the art and skill of mystic poets and writers, such as Attar and Mowlana, caused Israeli stories to result into some new symbols and concepts in mystic literature, the most important of which will be studied in the present article.

The search to achieve true inner knowledge in the history of Islamic thought has been done in four categories: philosophy, scholastic theology, theosophy, and mysticism. Transcendental (اشراقی) thinkers are somehow close to mystics. Pure-hearted theosophists and mystics have done their best to cleanse their hearts of wickedness and meanness and to fill their hearts with virtues. They have endeavoured to shine the mirror of the heart in order to behold God more clearly.Mystics, Sufis, and transcendental thinkers believe that one of the ways to achieve true knowledge is to go beyond reasoning. Ghazzali was the first to use this concept in Persian mystic literature. It can also be found in the works of Ein al-Qozat Hamadani, Attar Neishaboori, and even Safavid philosophers.Sheikh Mahmood Shabastari, influenced by Ghazzali's thoughts and ideas, believes in the use of inspiration and intuition, in addition to wisdom and narration, to prove any truth and to achieve true knowledge.

In Mathnawi, Mowlana, using verses of the Koran, traditions, biographies of the prophets, parables, and allegories, talks about God's blessings in an effective and elegant way. It goes without saying that God's blessings spread everywhere, but the ignorant man may deprive himself of such blessings. Mowlana pictures God's mercy and compassion in such an attractive and beautiful way that the signs of God's wrath and rage are overshadowed, since the essence of creation lies in God's compassion and mercy.

Ancient Iran had magnificent festivals, such as Sadeh, Nowrooz, Mehregan, Tirgan, Ordibeheshtgan, etc. each one being held at specific times of the year. The present article focuses on Mehregan festival, the way it was held, and the way it has been reflected in Persian literature. Mehregan festival is attributed to Fereydoon. It was held in five to six days and each day was dedicated to a special social class. It was important for both the kings and the people. In this festival, people sacrificed animals and celebrated.

It goes without saying that there are no meaningless words in a language. Every word in a string of words which constitute a meaningful sentence has a specific meaning by itself, complements another word, may have a special meaning in a sentence, or may reflect a regional dialect. Therefore, calling such words redundant may not be right. In other words, some words in ancient texts have various meanings, which can be found in no dictionaries. The present article studies the word self and its various meanings in verse and prose.