The Study of Structural Common and Innovative Meters in Persian Poetry

This article examines the structure of popular and innovative meters in classical and contemporary Persian poetry, and a new category of all types of meters. Furthermore, formulating subcategories and the varieties of meters have been studied. Previously, meters were divided into two or three types, and in the most recent division divided into five types “Muttahid -al- arkan” (Unified foots), “Muttafuq -al- arkan” (Allied foots), “Mutanaveb -al- arkan” (Alternating foots), “Mutashabih -al- arkan” (Similar foots), “Mukhtalif -al- arkan” (Different foots), nevertheless there are new meters that are not included into any of these categories, for instance, the meter "‒  / U ‒ ‒ ‖  ‒ / ‒ U ‒ / U ‒ ‒ / U ‒ ‒" in Simin Behbahani's poem. The author has called these meters as the sixth categories of Persian poetry, the "Mustazad -al- arkan". The first part of the current article answers the question that what techniques have been used by creative poets from the past to the present.  This study demonstrates that new meters of each era of Persian poetry history is based on the same well-known meters and has been formed into eight methods:1. Reduction 2. Increase 3. Repetition 4. Transition 5. Change 6. Integration 7. Innovation 8. Combination. In the second phase of this study, according to the results of the first part and accuracy in the structure of common and innovative meters the six types of Persian poetry meters with the letters X, x, Y, y, Ẍ, Ȳ, Z, z, M are formulated.