From Ode to Masnavi: A Review of Bahar’s Masnavis with an Emphasis on His "Karnameh Zendan” (Prison Poems)

Malek osh-Sho'arā Bahār is considered to be one of the masters of Persian ode, but his masnavis were a strong means for him to depict various personal, social, political, historical and critical concerns. Since Bahar's masnavis constitute a significant volume of his poetic works (348 pages), his artistic personality and poetic performance cannot be properly evaluated if these masnavis are neglected. In the present research, while discussing the poet’s art of masnavi writing, fourteen of his masnavis are briefly introduced and his "Prison Poems", which are the most detailed Persian prison poems, have been examined and analyzed using descriptive and structural analysis method. This research attempts to show that Bahar has expressed his interest for innovation in poetry in masnavi writing. Moreover, in his use of a language influenced by street language and terms and phrases of spoken language, he created a moderate level of literary elements such as simile, allegory and allusion in these masnavis. However, description, narrative, simile, allegory and its types, especially proverbs, irony and allusions, are the most important literary elements in his "Prison Poems". Apart from their literary value, “Prison Poems” contain first-hand information about political strife and arrests of opponents and critics of the government and the state of Iran's prisons; in general, they are historically and sociologically valuable for the study of Iranian society in the previous century.