The Contiguity of the Theoretical and Practical Music in the Two Modes of Delicate Imageries and Exotic Imageries of the Indian style of Persian Poetry

The use of music is one of the most useful techniques in poetry, which poets use to convey their thoughts. Owing to their mastery in music, some poets have employed it to express their reflections and to portray poetic images more than others. The frequency of the discourse of music in the poetry of this group of poets and the imagery created through it shows their mastery over music, both in terms of theory (in topics such as organology and the study of tunes and melodies) and in terms of practice (which is performing and composing music). Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present research aimed at investigating the means of the theoretical and practical music in the divans of two of the foremost representatives of the Indian style (sabk-e Hendī) of Persian poetry, i.e. Saeb Tabrizi, the leader of the mode called delicate imageries (nazok-khiyali), and Bidel Dehlavi, the forerunner of the mode called exotic imageries (dour-khiyali). First, by giving examples, the concepts of music in the poetry of the two poets were examined and then both views were compared in the field of music. The results indicated that mastery of music would highly contribute to the decoding of secrets of the poems. In effect, without finding the musical roots (as a specialty and profession) it would not be possible to gain the correct and precise understanding of some couplets. In fact, this method of applying musical concepts is not a sign of distant knowledge of the field, but it implies a kind of scientific and close knowledge. The result of this study – which is the explanation of the combination of theoretical and practical music in the two modes of delicate imageries and exotic imageries of the Indian style – indicates the three main branches of the association network, the theoretical-practical knowledge and the link between poetry and music.