The Change in the Pattern of Poetry and Painting of the Safavid Era as Reflected in Ahli Shirazi’s Poems and Reza Abbasi’s Paintings

Imagery in Iranian poetry and in painting are closely related in terms of artistic creation and aesthetics as well as insight. This close connection is effected through the influence of painting on various themes of Persian poetry and literature. According to the findings of this study, at some point in the Safavid era, merchants and the middle class started to prosper; as a result, and due to the great influence of scholars, art matured among the middle layers of society. In addition, the fading of collective values, the growth of pride among poets and artists, and the use of enigmatic meanings caused the paintings to be painted from unusual angles and the tone of speakers and artists to change. Since each era has its own tone, we see the echo of this tone in the poetry and painting of this era to the extent that many of the literary devices of this era became lexical games and the emphasis on figures of speech surpassed imagery in the poetry of Ahli Shirazi and other poets of the Safavid era. Based on the hypothesis of this research, for many instances of wordplay, visual examples can be found. Thus, the main purpose of this research is to find out whether the painters of Isfahan school have employed in their paintings the literary devices of the poetry of this period.