Literary Research
Year:2009 | Volume:6 | Issue:24|Papers Count:9

Joy and happiness are part of the Iranian's identity features. This feature enjoys its most appearance after the emergence of Islam and up to Hafiz's time in the poetry of poets such as; Ferdowsi, Manoochehri, Khayam, Molana (Rumi) and Hafiz. In Hafiz's sonnets, delight and gaiety is divided into two kinds; objective or external or extrovertive and subjective, or internal or introvertive. Extrinsic happiness relies upon factors like orchard and spring, streamside and an adorable drink. It actually relies on three particular features; drink musician, and earthly beloved and results in a temporary inner sense of tranquility and peace. Inner delight and joy is the outcome of factors such as union with heavenly issues, as joy turns into a high status; which actually relies on feeling the presence of real beloved in the heart, added to revelation and clarity of mind; leading to permanent inner tranquility and peace. The origins of Hafiz’s delight and gaiety can be divided into five categories: 1. Psychological. 2. Philosophical. 3. Religious. 4. Socio-political. 5. Mystical. The present article surveys and analyzes each of the mentioned origins.

Mowlana Jaluluddin Rumi's mystical character (604-672 A. H) has penetrated so deeply into the hearts and minds of his keen readers and admirers that there is actually no place left for the survey of other aspects in his work which are truly as much comprehensive. The truth is, Massnavi (Rumi’s great poetry book) has the potential to be analyzed from religious, scholarly, philosophical, political and even social perspectives; to mention a few of such a high diverse domain. Government, as a political-religious affair, has been among the topics of interest in Massnavi. Rumi has expressed his views about different kinds of reigns, the legitimacy of reigns, and the characteristics and features of governors and administrators; while he has pointed to the illegitimate reigns, or Pharaoh-like reigns in other words, on one hand and the legitimate or in other words Solomon-like reigns on the other hand. In this article, I intend to pave the way for a better access to Rumi’s opinions about governing through collecting and compiling his perspectives; finally depicting Mowlana’s intellectual basis and the features of a desired and appropriate government.

Some of the well-known Iranian heroes have killed dragons; including Rostam for instance. The reason for this act is that within the wide scope of the Iranian myths, dragon is the symbol of drought; and actually killing dragons is meant to signify the triumph of plenitude over drought. Still, there is one case in Iran which paradoxes with the dragon being the symbol of drought; Rostam Dastan. In the Third Stage of the war, although Rostam succeeds in killing dragons, his banner is dragon-sized, and he boasts about killing dragons to his ancestor-Zahak (in other words Azhi Dahak Avesta)- yet this issue contrasts with his dragon-killing on one hand, and dragon being the symbol of drought in the Iranian mythology on the other hand. Throughout this survey the author of this article has come to finally believe that Rostam’s dragon-sized banner, added to the holiness of dragon in his perspective is most likely an influence of China’s myths which has penetrated into Iran. Therefore the dragon, which is actually Rostam’s totem, and he deeply cherishes, unlike the Iranian myths, is the symbol of rain, freshness and plenitude.

The categorization of literary genres is quite necessary and essential for a high variety of literary discussions and debates. For instance writing the history of literature in terms of the modern approaches and attitudes is not possible without defining the major genres first. This issue is also true in other domains of literature such as literary criticism and content analysis. The subject matter of this article is formed precisely within this point of concern; designing a model for the categorization of Persian literary genres in the classic era. All the literary works are generally divided into two scopes; poetry and prose. The domain of "Persian Poetry" can be categorized within three main genres; epical, lyrical and instructionalinspirational. Our definitions of these three mentioned literary genres do not necessarily correspond with the definitions of the Greek scholar The three genres of interest are redefined in the present article, while examples of their subdivisions in the Persian literature are defined. The Persian "branch of prose writings" includes literary works, nonliterary works and pseudo-literary works. As a literary researcher, I am obviously concerned with the literary and pseudo-literary writings. Once each category is defined in this article, the literary writings are observed within two genres; "narrative-based" and "non-narrative" literary writings. The definition of each type, with examples; in addition to suggesting their subdivisions in the Classic era, all have made another part of this article. Since the contemporary prose and poetry possesses a particular poetical base, categorization of the variety of literary genres demands another opportunity, and our suggested design can merely be applied in the classic literary genres.

Undoubtedly, Khosrow & Shirin, composed by Nizami, is one of Iran’s, and actually, the world’s rich literary masterpieces. As a deep and rich literary work, which offers an artistic pleasure, it has the potential to be contemplated and pondered several times. Therefore through these devices and a close focus on its formal structure, intrinsic content, the rhetoric discourse in its texture, added to all the other concealed structural potentialities within it, the reader can discover valuable points in it. Since the form and structure of a poem develop simultaneously in a horizontal and vertical axis, in the survey of poetic perfectness a researcher should be able to study the form and structure of the created work independently and according to specific principles. For this reason, this article is devoted to surveying the concealed structural and formal potentialities within Khosrow & Shirin. The first part is an attempt for analyzing the structural potentialities which show themselves in the vertical axis of the poem. The second part surveys the formal potentialities in four separate axis. Understanding these two categories of potentialities implies the significance of this poetry; in addition to the significance of its new and even repeated studies.

In a stream-of-consciousness novel, the author attempts to pave the way for his audience to encounter the characters’ mental experience directly. The characters’ mental content, which covers various levels of the mind and even reaches its pre-speech layers, is narrated within this variety of levels. Since connection of memories in the pre-speech layers of the mind occurs through association, one of the methods used by writers for showing the mentality of characters is association. In this case association becomes a device in the hands of writers for creating a link between the objective and the subjective world of the characters, in addition to depicting the constant flow of the mind from memory and a mentality, moving then towards another memory and mentality; finally depicting a picture and image which links to other related pictures and images too. This article is essentially concerned with the survey of association and its related features within the prespeech layers of mind, its quality in the stream-of-consciousness stories, in addition to its correspondence with the mind’s mechanism. For this purpose, initially association and its governing rules are expressed, and then the significance of association in the narration of such fictions and its difference with recall is defined. Following this, the manners in which mentalities are offered in different methods of narration are surveyed through giving some examples from these fictions. The results of this research show that among different streamof- consciousness novels, the method of inner monologue shapes associations more than other methods and develops through a high range of associations. Furthermore, utilization of recall of memories and mentalities in inner monologue counts as a weakness due to its contrast with the entity of the pre-speech layers existing in the mind.

Archetypes are the unknown and complicated dimensions of the collective unconsciousness which have accompanied mankind since his birth; in a manner which makes it seem hereditary. The archetypal images are concealed in the unconscious part of the mind; and are actually the source and substructure of myths. They have a strict and close connection with symbols and are revealed in dreams, poetical and prophetical intuitions and revelations, and even observed in psychosis. Artists and poets create their work by using these concepts in specific mental circumstances, which is to some extent similar to intuition; intermingled with the power of imagination. In this respect, the artist and poet disguise these concepts unconsciously; depending on their own artistic talent and divine potential. Poetry is one of the most expansive domains for the manifestation of such archetypes. In the present article, the authors have made an attempt to briefly survey and analyze the method through which some of these archetypes have been applied and become functional in the poetry of the late Tahereh Safarzadeh; a highly skilled poet. The archetypes which enjoy more frequency in Safarzadeh’s poetry are; water, tree, woman, Mandala, numbers and colors etc. This article has specifically focused on two archetypes of tree and water.