Some Incidents of Imperceptible Artistic Devices in the Poetry of Sa’di and Hafez, Analyzed from a Functionalistic View

Sublime and subtile examples of Persian poetry such as Sa’di's fluent poems  or even Hafez's poetry, despite its complexities of the structure and hidden meanings, are usually pleasant, beautiful and completely understandable. In general the desire to discover the secret of this charm and greatness of the works of such classical authors in the East and the West has always aroused the curiosity of the researchers of language and the literary critics in the world.  They have studied this problem of poetry, since ancient times till today from various perspectives such as literary schools, rhetoric or literary theory hoping to discover perhaps the most fundamental secrets of the glory of poetic discourse. Although Saadi and Hafez have their own poetics, Hafez's, resemblance and closeness to  Sa’di is so obvious that sometimes  they have been studied together in numerous studies.  

  The literary researchers, in their poetic studies have always tried to discover the most exact points about the form and meaning in poetry with a meticulousness regard in the subtleties of poetic language. They have tried then to name, analyze and classify these unknown mysteries of its magic. At last, they have recorded the collection of their knowledge in the branches of literary knowledge and theories. Based on these foundations we have tried to find and explain some incidents of imperceptible artistic devices in the poetry of Sa’di and Hafez, analyzed from a functionalistic view. Although the most important principle of the literary and artistic view in this article is to rely on the role and function that plays the elements and techniques in achieving the main goal of the work of art. Just as in the art of painting that all the elements of design, drawing, coloring glazing and lighting must serve the ultimate goal and the main purpose of the final oeuvre, the same principle is valid in poetry. From this point of view, the most fundamental neglect in the rhetorical and literary analysis of poetry is when the mere existence of poetic forms and literary figurers of speech is considered valuable and beautiful. In addition to it the lavish and bountiful terms to naming these artistic devices create a delusion. Another important principle is remembering that   the brilliance of the artistic function of the literary devices has different degrees in different poems, but in certain cases, with a seemingly simple linguistic device, it is possible to writing the miraculous associations in the poem, which creates colorful and wonderful auras of meaning around a verse.   Review of literature Undoubtedly, the source of the ideas presented in this article, inspired and benefiting from the literary and linguistic teachings, is due to respected pioneers and promoters of literary and linguistic research in the world and Iran, and also the writers of a great number of books and articles written about the poetry of Sa’di and Hafez. They have been the source of inspiration for this article in general. The collection of this vast background, both in the field of literary theory, linguistics, and practical research, especially in the field of poetry of Sa’di and Hafez, is so extensive that it is not possible to mention even the names of a small part of them in this short space.  However, none of examples of Sa’di and Hafez's poetry and their specific functionalist analysis in the present article are taken from the writings of others, because all of them are the result of the gradual achievement of the author's years of teaching and research.  

In the present paper after explaining the generalities and theoretical principles, the following questions are discussed in detail: The method of functionalist analysis of new artistic arrangements in the poetry of Sa’di and Hafez An example of functionalist analysis of the literary industry in Hafez's poetry The necessity of searching and analyzing the hidden and invisible artistic devices in poetry An example of invisible artistic devices in Sa’di’s poetry An example of invisible artistic devices in Hafez's poetry Codification of theoretical foundations of artistic functionalist analysis in poetry Complete functionalist analysis of a short work in Sa’di’s poetry As can be seen in the above titles, first the purpose of functionalist analysis method to find invisible arrangements in the poetry of these two poets of Shiraz is explained and then some examples of them are provided. After that, the importance and necessity of this task in terms of better understanding the poetry of Sa’di and Hafez has been discussed. Then based on these topics and their poetical examples, an attempt has been made to formulate the theoretical foundations of functionalist artistic analysis. Finally as an actual example, a short poem by Sa’di has been analyzed according to these principles and general principles in order to show in practice the value and efficiency of this new method in poetry analysis.

Nowadays this idea is spreading that by using a new perspective and having a deeper understanding of the oeuvres and the ideas of ancient poets, it is possible to reveal the secrets and mysteries of pleasant and beautiful poems such as the works of Sa’di and Hafez. Theoretical discussions and practical analysis of examples presented in the present paper show that merely raising this issue is not enough to achieve tangible results and objective achievements. Achieving such a goal requires a coherent theory and the clear formulation of principles and a methodical way of studying the poems. It seems that the introductory plan based on theoretical foundations and practical examples presented in this article can potentially be applied to the poetry and even prose of other great figures of Persian literature, especially if each poet's special needs and occasions are considered.