The Influence of Romanticism on Imagery in Simin Behbahani’s Poetry: A case of A Line from Speed and Fire, Arzhan Plain, and A Window of Freedom

Romanticism, one of the most complex and widespread literary schools, emerged as a groundbreaking phenomenon in the late eighteenth-century. The school developed in an era of outstanding scientific, social and political changes in Europe. In the same vein, Iranian constitutional movement introduced Romanticism as a novel intellectual approach in Persian literature. Although Simin Behbahani cannot be regarded as a follower of this literary school, many of her poetic imageries enjoy attributes associated with imagery employed in Romantic poetry. Her poems are similarly replete with imagery which express the poet’s attitude and vision and outstandingly convey her emotions.This article takes a descriptive-analytical approach to Simin Behbahani’s poetry in her three outstanding collection of poems: A case of A Line from Speed and Fire, Arzhan Plain, and A Window of Freedom. The article is an endeavor to study some attributes of romanticism in Simin’s poetry as transformation of nature, individualism, ambiguity in imageries, dynamics of language and transcendence of the images, and melancholy.Ambiguous combinations and imageries, implied meaning and expressions of feelings, transcendence of nature, individual and social melancholy, and personalization of various symbols are amongst attributes which reveal Simin’s poetry to bear influences of romanticism.The findings yield significant implications on Simin Behbahani’s poetry with regards to Persian modifications introduced to romanticism which most visibly concentrate on transcendence of nature and individualism.