Nima's Quqnoos (The Phoenix) and the Elements of Modernism

This article explores different modernist aspects of Nima’s The Phoenix by examining its content and form. Since The Phoenix is considered as the «beginning of the modernist Persian poetry” by some literary critics، the main goal of this paper is to show the modernist aspects of The Phoenix. In order to achieve this goal، first، some of the characteristics of pre-modernism and modernism are studied from the relevant sources. Then، the points of view of various literary critics on this work، The Phoenix، are compared with the aforementioned modernist characteristics. If we find any similarities between them (the main and the minimum required characteristics making a piece of poetry or a literary text a modernist work and the most crucial aspects of The Phoenix)، we try to reinvestigate the modernist aspects of The Phoenix. The results of our study indicate that the form of The Phoenix shows a movement towards modernism and the changes of the poetic forms and the polysemy of the lines play an important role in this movement. In addition، the very same characteristic is seen in the content of the poem. Expressing various instances of solitude is one of the main characteristics of modernism which is seen in this poem. The typology of solitude in The Phoenix shows that the main type of solitude mentioned in the poem is a non-understandable، existential and spiritual solitude، which is perfectly in harmony with the modernist poet، Nima، and his prophetic views، and is completely different from the kind of solitude described in Nima’s previous works، specifically Afsanah، which is much more similar to isolation or alienation.