Investigating the Methodology of Writing Poetic Anthology of Nowruz and Jamshid by Rashha Isfahani and the Reasons for Adding Stories to the Anthology

 In the Qajar Era, some poetic anthologies were written in literary and fictional genres. One of these anthologies belongs to Mirza Mohammad Bagher Rashha Isfahani who was one of the famous authors of Isfahan and Yazd. This anthology is considered the methodology of Persian anthology writing because firstly,it is poetic and secondly, it is written as a story. Therefore, the authors of this study consider it as an implicit anthology. In this study, we examine storytelling and anthology writing as a story and investigate the related cognitive errors. The results show that Isfahani, being aware of the literary conditions of the Iranian central region, tried to ignore the common norms of anthology writing in the Qajar Era and added stories as flavor. Since memorizing a poem is much easier than prose, Isfahani used poetic stories to write anthologies to attract the audience and make his work notable. His efforts in describing the life and works of poets were valuable as means of remembering and recognizing anonymous poets. Besides, in many cases, his work was the main source of knowing some of the poets from Yazd, Isfahan, Fars, and other regions of Iran.Introduction One of the anthologies written in the Qajar Era is the one written by Mirza Mohammad Bagher Rashha Isfahani which is unique. This anthology can be classified as an implicit anthology because it is written with the storytelling method. In this anthology, the story is a platform by which the biography of contemporary poets is described. Isfahani tried to forget about the traditional and common methods of anthology writing and employed a creative method to write it. Isfahani's anthology which Mohammad Ali Vamegh, the author of Meykadeh Anthology (Tazkareh of Meykadeh) called "Atashzaneh" is a poetic one with samples of poems written by the poets of that era. In this research, we aim to introduce Isfahani and his enlightening method of anthology writing. Also, we will examine the criticisms regarding his work and the reasons for its popularity.Materials and Methods The authors did not find any research done on this subject. Isfahani and his anthology are briefly introduced in Ahmad Golchin Maani's book and no other book has ever mentioned them. A Monumental History of Persian Anthologies (Tarikh-e Tazkareha-ye Farsi) is the main source for studying the history of anthology writing in Iran. This book introduces and criticizes 529 anthologies and compares their writing styles. It is an authentic and reliable source for studies related to anthology writing. In Golchin Maani's report of Isfahani's work, errors can be seen that will be discussed in this study. Except for the two mentioned works, no other papers have studied his work. In 2016, a study entitled ‘A Grammatical Reflection upon Isfahani's Anthology’ by Maryam Mahmoudi and Mojtaba Saadat was presented in the International Conference on Language and Literature which has nothing in common with the present paper. Some sources have provided information about Isfahani and his life which will be discussed while introducing him.  Discussion of Results and ConclusionsIsfahani's story-anthology is an implicit anthology and a great effort in the tradition of writing Persian literary history. Isfahani was a wise man and wrote this story to be a part of the anthology writing movement of the Qajar Era. The uniqueness of his work has two reasons: being poetic, and being written as a story. About the poetic feature, the writer was limited to the rhythm and rhyme, so the information given about the poets might be restricted to observing the poetic figures of speech. On the other hand, the combination of poems from different poets and using the Hazaj meter are the reasons that readers face difficulty and frequent pauses while reading them. Also, using rhetoric in anthologies written in the Safavid Era became so common that the facts and information got lost under the shadow of metaphors, puns, and rhythms. This problem is seen in his anthology and the reader gets no clear information about the poets. However, many contemporary poets’ names were mentioned and it is enough reason for it to be important and popular. Some poets got known only through this anthology and their names are not mentioned anywhere else. Isfahani made an effort to mention the name and title of poets of Isfahan, Yazd, and Fars.Regarding his ability of storytelling, it should be mentioned that due to repetitive plots and clichés, the reader experiences no special excitement. The linear story of lovers and beloveds is told without any characterization, suspension, or even an open ending. Isfahani tried to imitate Nizami Ganjavi, but like many others, failed in doing so. Nevertheless, Nowruz and Jamshid is considered as a great effort in anthology writing history, and the creativity and courage of the author to ignore the traditional methods is admirable.