The Function of Archaism in the Poetry of Shafiei Kadkani

Archaism is a kind of deviation from norms of ordinary language and the use of vocabulary and structures that have been used in the past but are no longer found in the poetry of contemporary poets. The assumption of the researcher in this paper is that among contemporary poets, after Akhavan and Shamlu, Shafiei Kadkani has employed this technique more than any other poet, to characterize his poetic language. Therefore, this paper studies lexical and syntactic archaism in the poetry of Shafiei Kadkani in his three collections, namely, “zemzemeh-ha” (Whispers), “shabkhani” (Nocturnal Recital) and “az zaban-e barg” (As Spoken by the Leaves). Obviously, prior to examining this element in the poetry of Shafiei Kadkani, in the discussion section of this paper, archaism has been defined and its types have been explained. Studying this element in the poetry of Shafiei Kadkani shows that the poet has made extensive use of lexical and syntactic archaism. Yet, more deviations are observed in the lexical area, especially in the use of archaic names.