An examination of the semantic aspect of Taleb-e Amoli's Rubaiyat

Any discussion about signification or denotative aspect of poetry is generally at variance. Contrast between two viewpoints, one regarding signification or meaning as the pivotal element of poetry and the other, negating this standpoint completely, have led to the formation of two contrasting perspectives. The first perspective, associated with the proponents of pure or genuine poetry (art for art), views thought or the semantic content as a kind of experience that is outside the realm of art and, thus, is not an artistic entity. The other perspective deems that poetry cannot be void of ideas and messages. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present inquiry seeks to study the ideas or semantic property of Taleb of Amol in his Rubaiyyat (Quatrains). To this end, the poetic form of Rubai and its potentiality as a vehicle for carrying meanings is first addressed; then the various dimensions of these meanings or "thoughts", if we may say so, are explored in Taleb's Rubaiyat. It will be shown that his Rubaiyat enjoy a special variety in term of significance or semantic content. Taleb's Quatrains should therefore be counted among the most colorful and varied in Persian Poetry. Our conclusion demonstrates that Taleb cannot be considered a pensive poet of Khayyamian type, nor can he be judged as a noble-minded enlightened man of Attar's kind; he can even hardly be regarded as a panegyrist like poets of the Khorasani Style. Nonetheless, he has utilized all their various topics merely as semantic contents if his Rubaiyat.