Analyzing the Myth of Mehr in the Book One Hundred Persian Narrative Love Poems

Narrative love poems constitute a part of Persian classical literary texts, and they are divided into three areas of epic, lyrical, and mystical literature. One of the common features of these works is the extensive presence of the and mythological archetypes and elements in them which could be described, evaluated, and discussed using mythological criticism. In this paper some of the poems of the collection of One Hundred Persian Narrative Love Poems are discussed using the comparative mythological approach of Max Muller regarding the structure and character interaction. Reading the poems in the light of this approach allows us to determine why the protagonists journey lasts one year, to what purpose the orient and the occident are mentioned (China and Roman Empire), the reason behind the presence of a guide, witches and seducing women, horoscopic names, fictional characters and the manifold adventures of the protagonist of the poems. . .