نشریه تاریخ ادبیات
سال یکم شماره 2 (تابستان 1388)

Farid al-Din Attar، apart from his masterly masnavies (distiches)، has also been a prominent and innovative figure in the development of the Persian ghazal، especially the theosophical variety. Attar’s ghazals have special importance in Persian poetry because of their explanatory techniques، poetic content، and variety of topics. Theosophy، ghalandaryat، description، lyricism، didacticism، depiction of practical experience and internal moods، are among many of the features of his poems. Also one finds the best and most innovative examples and treatment of ghalandary and rendi in Attar’s ghazals.

The ghazal has always been of interest to poets. The form was employed for expressing social and political issues during the period of constitutional revolution and، despite some success، it could not affect the fortunes of the general public. The appearance of New Poetry caused a new development in contemporary Iranian literature، and affected poetic forms. Hooshang Ebtehaj and Shafiye Kadkani managed to develop a variation of the ghazal form (containing characteristic features of New Poetry while maintaining the ghazal’s traditional structure). These ghazals can be called “new ghazals”. Elements of these ghazals are: use of Hafiz’s manner of expression، use of symbolism in words and images، use of natural elements and the use of national and historical elements. In this essay، these elements have been examined in the socio-political ghazals of Hooshang Ebtehaj and Shafiye Kadkani.

In this paper، along with a brief review of the social and political situations of the Safavid era، some issues like notification، the position of term and meaning، and the change in eloquence criteria have been investigated with a novel view، and new points have been raised with a new approach. One of these novel issues is the case of johar-e shamshir (sword essence) and johar-e ayeneh (mirror essence)، and its link with ants. In this paper، a scientific approach on experimental sciences with the aid of modern discoveries has been employed in combination with samples from former writers، in order to resolve the ambiguities in this topic. In this paper، the author has explored novel issues in the Indian Style which have not been investigated previously in any book or paper، and have been neglected in literature.

Christ and Siavash represent people whose innocence and chastity are in opposition with the truth of their age. They spend their lives under oppression and desolation، and despite the differences in their manner of living، become kindred spirits in death. The struggle between the two dimensions of body and soul is the shared element of their life and being; and since the manner and philosophy of their death give meaning and significance to their life، the present study examines and compares the death of these two personalities from a mythical and epic aspect.

In structuralism systematic study of structure and form in literary works results in the discovery of methods of producing meaning in literary texts، and the form of the text is like a bed in which meaning takes shape; from this point of view، in order to analyze and examine the history of thought and theories related to literary texts، one must first study and analyse the form of these texts; since one of the main branches of structuralism is the science of narratology in literary history studies، the study of the development and evolution of the story of narrative texts is of special importance. The current article examines and analyses the narrative construct of “The Tale of Bubakr-e Hasiri” in Beihaghi History to show that the book’s special position is not solely due to its historical function and linguistic value in stylistic studies. In this study، utilizing the views of one of the greatest structural narratologists، Gérard Genette، three narrative levels (Histoire، Récit، Narration) of the tale are studied، and factors that maintain the narrative level in mutual interaction (tense، mood and voice) are analysed to show that this text has its own specific narrative structure، and also— in opposition to the views of some contemporary scholars who consider Jamalzadeh’s “Once Upon a Time” the first complete example of a classic narrative—to describe the solid plot and complete narrative of this tale..

Norooz، this ancient festival which is a treasury of pleasant traditions، has an history ever so long and admonitory. From very ancient days، whose dating is beyond the ability of History itself، until today، this festival، with all its traditions and ceremonies and mores، continually facing the upheavals of history، and during huge events، has opened its own path and has joined the legendary ancient world to today’s age of knowledge. This festival، during its long history، has left many traces of itself not only in the history of Iran، but also in that of all nations that have become familiar with Iranian culture، and the traces that have remained in Arabic history and literature are not few. This festival was celebrated with magnificent ceremony and pomp by court officers and Iranian ministers of the Caliphate، especially during the Abbasids. Arab or Arabic-speaking poets and writers have composed congratulatory odes describing and praising in various ways traditions of this festival; therefore، this festival has had an obvious influence both on the political and social history of the Arabs and on the history of the literature of the Arabic language.

Finding the beginnings has been one of the preoccupations of Iranian scholars to such an extent that it can be said they have devoted themselves wholeheartedly to this endeavour. A survey of their findings also shows this fact that they have not reached similar conclusions، and their conclusions are a sign of diversity of their opinions، so that in finding the beginnings of the Indian Style، we are faced with the same diversity of opinion، to such an extent that poets like Khaghani، Hafiz، Fozooli، Babafaghani، etc، have all been nominated as forerunners of the Indian Style. The authors of the present article believe that no single poet can be the originator of a style so extensive as the Indian; but that the share of each poet in the formation of the Indian Style should be acknowledged. Therefore two Azerbaijani poets (Fozooli and Khaghani) have been chosen so that، through an analysis of the content of their poetry، their level of influence on the formation of the current of Persian poetry can be examined.

The philosophy of life and the events after death have been some of humankind’s unsolvable puzzles throughout the history of human life. All the world thinkers have commented on them in one way or another، but all have confessed that these issues have been and will remain the most important undivulged secrets of humanity. Among poets and Islamic philosophers، Omar Khayyam more than any poet and writer has dealt with these themes. The real essence of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat is answering this question: to show the inherent impotence of humankind in solving the puzzle of existence. However، are Khayyam''s thoughts original or traditional? The present study traces antecedents of Khayyam’s beliefs in world classical poetry. This article، by presenting nineteen literary commonplaces of Khayyam''s poetry related to the philosophy of life and death، tries to show that poets prior to Khayyam were concerned with these issues and they are not unique to Khayyam، and that claims of Khayyam’s originality by Iranian critics are done so carelessly.