The Analysis of Satire Literary Mechanisms in Nasim-e-Shomal Newspaper

Alongside the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and its social and political upheavals, magazines and newspapers were recognized as the most important media among both the general public and the intellectuals. Newspaper satire became widespread; so that satire journalists of this era, began to criticize political and social issues in order to make intimate contact with regular people. One of the most important publications in the Constitutional era is Nasim-e-Shomal newspaper in which Seyed Ashrafedin Gilani’s satirical poems and writings were published.  Due to its specific type of satire, Nasim-e-Shomal attained unique reception from the general public. In this article, we have studied Seyed Ashraf’s literary satire tricks in his poems and anecdotes. The results show that among satire-making mechanisms in his works, there are several important features; 1) Using fable or identification with animals which is a symbolic-narrative type. 2) Using ignorance via which everything is changed to its opposite. 3) Playing with symbols’ meanings which relate to religious and superstitious beliefs. 4)  Using allegory for presenting serious messages beyond figurative elements of artificial narratives. 5) Intentional benefitting from inner-textual paradoxes that fills poems or writings with political and social ironies. Moreover, nonsense writing is done through a type of satirical writing strategy via presenting irrelevant content.