The Critical Analysis of Simile in SanjarKashani’s Poems

Rhetoric is the knowledge dealing with different ways of expressing meaning. Simile is one of the techniques of it. Various definitions of simile have been offered that all of them are based on the notion that simile indicates the affinity between two things or persons. Particularly, it is said “simile in rhetoric means showing the similarity of one thing with another thing in sense” (Erfan, 1395: p. 46). Simile is regarded as the most significant element in reflecting experiences, beliefs, and thoughts of a rhetorician. Hence, it is considered as the commonest literary figure because it is “the core of most of poetic imaginings. The different types of simile found their origin in similarity that imagination discovers and expresses in various forms” (Pornamdaran, 1390: p. 214).
Simile assists a poet to make the abstract concrete through looking at tangible phenomena from fresh angles. A major part of discussion concerning simile turns round the point of similarity, a common feature that establishes the similarity between two things. The best type of simile shows the most amount of affinity between the two sides.
There is scanty biographical information about Sanjar Kashani. In Tazkareh Riyaz Ashoara, Aligholikhan says “ he was an artist of his time, came to India, and prospered (p. 666). Amin Ahmadrazi believes that “in his speech and poetry he surpassed his father” (p. 1032). Sanjar died when he was returning to Iran after being summoned by Shah Abbas. To approach Sanjar’s poetic style, this study investigates all the similes employed in his collection of poems. This study is done in a descriptive-analytic method. Sanjar was so interested in using simile with other literary figures. It causes the reader to discover the claimed similarities and to enjoy fully the artistic pleasure in his poems. In addition to simile, Sanjar uses irony, metaphor, syllepsis. It is required to note that every new simile can be used in one of the two ways in a literary work. First, reintroduction of stereotypical similes. Second, creation of new similes by the poet himself. There is no doubt that the second type of similes are more valuable. Snajar Kashani was a great poet o Indian Style in eleventh century who employed plenty of similes in his poetry. There is a wide range of things compared in his similes. He was inclined to use to choose abstract ideas, human beings, and their parts of their bodies as his tenors. His vehicles mostly include objects, tools, and natural phenomena. More than half of his similes are structurally eloquent and they have major role in the richness on images in his poetry. Though Sanjar associates simile with other literary figures and it has caused compression of literary images, it has not led to vagueness and ambiguity in his poems. Some of the methods for using similes are personalized by Sanjar and he connects them by symmetry. Besides, Sanjar had special interest in in words such as “grass” and “store” and has created many similes using these terms. He also defamiliriazes some of common similes by adding a new element to them. It must be noted that the images offered by his similes are mostly static and fixed.