An Investigation into Ghanaee Literature in Ali Akbar Dehkhoda’s Poetic Work Named “Rememebr, Rememebr the Dead Candle”

The current study explores into the elements of Ghanaee litetaure in Ali Akbar Dehkhoda’s poetic work named” Remember, Remember the Dead Candle”. By definition, Ghana means anthem, music or pleasant and mesmerizing song or lyrical poem projectingthe poet’s hidden emotions and feelings. To this end, in the current study, the samples were extracted from Ali Akbar Dehkhoda’s poetic work named” Remember, Remember the Dead Candle”. The main purpose of the study is to investigate the variables of Ghanaee literatures in the related poetic works. The design of the study is descriptive type; in data collection, various tools were employed; in the main, for data analysis purposes, content analysis was conducted. The elements associated with Ghanaee literature in the study include hopefulness, philosophical thinking, reliance on the role and social manifestation of Ghanaee literature, dependency on freedom, requiem or elegy, attention to the nature of human being as well as human emotions and feelings. The findings of the study indicate the depth of intensity and the highness of the quality of Ghanaee literature; also, the overall result of the present investigation displays the very existence of its being “purely Ghanaee” with reference to the intensity of Ghanaee variables.


The time of constitution made a contribution to the political, economic, and social structure in Iran; the poets at the time of constitution were more sophisticated and enlightened and with use of poetic tools the paved the way for the revolution of constitution. At present study, the purpose of the researcher is to analyze some of the ins and outs of contemporary Ghanaee literature with reference to detailed analysis of the variables of Ghanaee literature in Dehkhoda’s poetic work, i.e. Remember, Remember the Dead Candle. The reason why I did this referes back to the fact that the contents of Ghanaee literature and its related issues and structures and changes relevant to it have not been well-investigated. Therefore, this is in need of being more thoroughly explored. In particular, an exploration into Dehkhoda’s poetic work has not been a matter of concern to most of the researcher and authors. These all in mind, the necessity of research into his poetic work in terms of the variable of Ghanaee literature came to the forefront, so that a detailed exploration into extracting and interpreting the deep structure of his poetic work, i.e., “Remember, Remember the Dead Candle” came to be the main purpose in the present study. Upon deliberate thought on the topic at issue, in the current study, the elements of Dehkhoda’s works were analyzed and elaborated. To this objectives, the references and resources were collected from various credited libraries. An attempt was made to make use of very recently published articles and references in the current study. By the way, the method of the study was librarian, so that I did the research with personal attendance at the libraries and providing flashcards required for the study in order to make the details more organized. As regards the sampels in the study, I analyzed Dehkhoda’s poetic work and also an extraction of the variables of Ghanaee literature used in his work were made. The design of the study was descriptive- analytical and also for data analysis purpose, content-based analysis was conducted. The term “Ghanaee” is in stark contrast to French Lyrics referring to a piece of poem sung together with a musical instrument. It was used in ancient Greece and then entered European literature and finally opened its way to Arabic and Persian Literature (Hakemi, 2007). As regards the pinnacle of progress of contemporary Ghanaee literature, it follows that in the first half of fourteenth century together with Constitution Movement and the familiarity of a group of enlightened thinkers and researchers with European literature, dramatic changes were observed in various literary and disciplinary sciences; this given, the two elements of Persian literature, i.e., verse and poem, were dramatically changed (Haji SyyedJavadi, 2003). These all led to some huge changes in the variables of Ghanaee literature which were unnoticed in previous era, so that poetry of the Constitution Era came to existence and Ali Akbar Dehkhoda was himself more hugely affected by the changes undergone in the era of Constitution. Ali Akbar composed his poem named “Remember, Remember the Dead Candle”in remembrance of his separation from his beloved one. The most significant motifs and implications in Ghanaee literature are below: -          Hopefulness for the future:One of the literary features of Ghanaee literature in the era of Constitution is giving hope to the future; in fact, in the poetry of the era of constitution, the social dimension of romanticism has dominance over the other dimensions (Ghanouni, 2017). Dehkhoda gifts hope to his friend Mirza Jahangir Khan and is optimistic that by the passage of time, the world will be devoid of oppression and cruelty.
-          Philosophical Thought
Philosophical poetry is one of the brnaches of Ghanaee literature; it is indicative of permanent hope for the dominance of goodness over evil; it finally heralds of the theend of the wickedness by God and administration of justice in the world: this is the main implication in philosophical poetry.
-          Reliance on the Social Role and Manifestation of GhanaeeLitearture:This feature of Ghanaee literatures places emphasis on social identity; this is in contrast to the poetry of the previous era when poetry was associated with romance and separation related to the lover and beloved ( RastegharFasaee, 2000).
-          Habsiye( or Prison Letter)
Habsiye or Prison Letter is another feature and motif of GhanaeeLitearture which the poet relates it to the imprisonment of his friend- Jahangir Khan- who was imprisoned by the tyrannical ruler of the time.
-          Reliance on Revolution and Freedom
The poetry of Constitution era is variously featured by dependency on revolution and Freedom seeking, oppression fighting, and thepain resulting from lack of access to this freedom and idealistic world. In Dehkhoda’s mind, the main reason for the imprisonment of his friend, i.e., Jahangir, is  Jahangir’s interest in freedom.
-          Requiem or Elegy
Dehkhoda expresses his deepest grief for missing his friend with a view to the memories of the childhood memory he had with his friend.
-          Attention to the Nature of Human
“Development of interest in the nature of human and the primitive and uncivilized life is one or perhaps the first element of romanticism(Servat, 2006,71-72). Dehkhoda repeats the deepest grief for and separation from his friend in this piece of poem.
-          Feeling and Emotion
From the view-point of romanticists,” The romantic artists notices more his tution and internalfeeling rather than hi wisdom and thinking, so that Dehkhoda addresses his friend Jahangir and starts some speech to him; this while Jahangir is not alive; he is dead! Such kinds of feeling are just fit and emotions arising from inside, nowhere else!. Ali akbarDehkhoda is one of the revolutionary poets of the Constitution Era composing his poem in classic style. Among all his poem the one with Ghanaee implication is “ Rememebr, Rememebr the Dead Candle”; here, some rich Ghanaee implication and motifare observable. The most significant ghanaee features of related to his poetry include:hopefulness, philosophical thinking, reliance on the role and social manifestation of Ghanaee literature, dependency on freedom, requiem or elegy, attention to the nature of human being as well as human emotions and feelings.
Therefore, the intensity of the features of Ghanaee literature in “Rememebr, Rememebr the Dead Candle” refers to the fact that Dehkhoda has included these implications purposefully and intentionally.The overall result of the present investigation displays that Dehkhoda was interested in Ghanaee literature and these all indicate “the existence ofGhanaee literature” in Dehkhoda’s poetic works.
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