Classical Persian Poetry Research Articles

Visual articulacy and periphrasis in the art of the unmentionable

ABSTRACT For reasons of personal safety, artists are not always allowed to mention directly and articulately events in history and the issues that arise therefrom. One of the skills of the artist is to employ suggestiveness and allusiveness in regard to what they are contemplating. This method is used in contemporary Iranian art. Here I take a number of examples from six contemporary artists who have used different means to fly under the radar of state authorities to be expressive without being explicit. In each of these the central idea is allusion as a way of not mentioning the precise subject so as not to incriminate the artist. In time, a shared imaginary of the unmentionable becomes the characteristic ‘language’ of the Iranian artist. My subject is a study of visual periphrasis in Iranian art in the modern period. This first appeared long ago in literary form in classical Persian poetry and has recently re-emerged in several modernist and contemporary movements in the art of protest and polemic in periods of repression and state censorship. I argue that this is concealed in the barely observable, or in what is missing altogether, and is present only in allusion and suggestion.

Ṣâib-i Tebrîzî’nin Gazellerinde Yaşlılık ve Hırs

Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī is one of the most well-known figures of 17th century Persian poetry. He poems are considered typical examples in Indian Style, a poetry movement that was marked with the use of imagery that deviated from established norms of the past centuries. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Ṣāʾib’s imagery and show its differences and similarities with traditional imagery of classical Persian poetry. To this end, Ṣāʾib’s ghazal beyts that focus a particular subject, that is, greed in old age, are scrutinized. Elderliness was one of the recurring themes in Persian poetry even before Ṣāʾib so this topic is suitable for comparison. The review of Ṣāʾib’s beyts show that novel and surprising ideas do permeate his poetry and are a distinguishing feature of his style but in most cases his ideas are not entirely original. His innovation is based on taking metaphors from tradition and giving those metaphors new meanings that is not entirely detached from its former meaning. Ṣāʾib also uses unique imagery that is not seen in the works of any other poets but this happens very rarely. Hence, Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī’s poetry retains its connection with tradition and achieves freshness through this connection rather than representing a style that is completely cut off from past.

Printing a Transregional Ṭarīqa: Haji Imdadullah Makki (d. 1899) and Sufi Contestations from Thana Bhavan to Istanbul

Abstract This article analyzes the prominence of print in the Sufi ṭarīqa of Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (d. 1899), a pre-eminent Indian Chishti-Sabri shaykh who settled in the Ottoman Hijaz after escaping North India in the aftermath of the 1857 mutiny. It explores the transregional contexts of the publication of Haji Imdadullah’s works, in the long journey of his manuscripts from Mecca to their lithographic printing in North India and their distribution through Ottoman disciples as far as Istanbul. In this study two main lines of inquiry are followed. First, how did Imdadullah participate intimately from Mecca in the editing and publication of Arabic, Urdu, and Persian books in British India, including his famed commentary and critical edition of the Masnavi-yi Maʿnavi of Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273)? Second, the article follows the emergence of broader scholarly exchanges as a series of Istanbul-based Mevlevi shaykhs became invested in Imdadullah’s publications and even translated some from Persian to Ottoman Turkish. Ultimately, this article sheds light on how such Indian – Ottoman encounters in the Hijaz were catalyzed by a common investment in the Persianate disciplines of Sufi theology and classical Persian poetry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period typically seen as marking the shrinking and disintegration of the Persianate world. In so doing, the article highlights how modern Sufi discourse in Persian continued to facilitate intellectual exchange between Indian and Ottoman Sufi shaykhs through the Hijaz and formed an integral pillar of transregional Persianate print culture.

Iraj Mirzā: Women and Their Representation in His Poetry

Abstract Iraj Mirzā has a reputation for excessive sexual content in his poetic oeuvre. His “forbidden literature,” so to speak, and to quote Paul Sprachman, has suffered unjustly from charges of frivolity, and while vanity and profanity do indeed feature prominently, these allegations disregard the artistic high-mindedness that is ever-present in the prince’s extensive canon. Recent scholarship has attempted to rehabilitate his reputation by highlighting the formalistic aspects of his poetry as well as by emphasizing the striking intricacies of his particular poetic perspective. In this article, I will delineate Iraj’s line of poetic maturity—especially when interlaced with thoroughgoing thoughts of Constitutional Revolution—and will discuss how, juxtaposing the stylistic decorum of classical Persian poetry with interlocution and colloquialism, he could impact the upcoming movement of new poetry (she‘r-e no) in Iran. More emphatically, I will illuminate how Iraj Mirza’s attitude toward women is self-contradictory—though in some places he seems sympathetic toward women, criticizing the restrictions placed on them in Qajar Iran, he ultimately betrays them by degrading them to the status of sex objects as in ‘Ārefnāmeh, where he depicts the veil as an obstacle to women’s and the country’s progress and he contaminates women’s chastity by justifying his (character’s) raping. Iraj’s boldness in addressing female genitalia and sexual intercourse pushed the boundaries of literature in transitional Qajar era; however, seen from a feminist perspective, his poetry equates the Persian literary woman to the fictionalized demimonde who wished to be sexually abused.

‘The Female Rumi’ and Feminine Mysticism: ‘God’s Weaver’ by Parvin Iʿtisami

ABSTRACT Parvin Iʿtisami (1907–1941), the first important twentieth-century woman poet of Iran, was well versed in classical Persian poetry. Her knowledge of English language and education at the American school for girls as well as her father’s translations from foreign literature contributed to her appreciation of modern ideas, including women’s rights. Unlike some of her contemporaries in the early twentieth century who tried to revolutionize the form of Persian poetry, she expanded the potentiality of poetic language in its traditional forms. Iʿtisami’s profound knowledge of mystical Persian literature and her awareness of gender inequality as well as her familiarity with Western literature, particularly Walt Whitman, contributed to introducing a character in the poem ‘God’s Weaver’, a spider who possessed characteristics of a female and those of a mystic. Through this character, Iʿtisami formed an association between femininity and mysticism and challenged the patriarchal system, particularly the patriarchal discourse of Persian mysticism and the lethargy of the (mostly male) mystics.

Iranian Poets and Poetry in the Vision of Russian Poets (Linguoimagological Aspect)

In the article on the material of works of Russian poets who wrote about Iran / Persia ("Persian motives" by SA Esenin, "Death of Vazir-Mukhtar" by YN Tynyanov, the fundamental work of Iranian colleagues Marzieh Yahyapour and Janollah Karimi-Motahhar "Saadi and Russian poets”), the image of this country is recreated, which is the goal of linguoimagological research. On the one hand, there is a deep immersion in the classical poetry of medieval Persia (the work and personalities of Saadi, Ferdowsi, Omar Khayyam, Hafez), on the other hand, masterpieces of Russian poetry have been created over the course of two centuries (from A.S. Pushkin to S.A.). In our country, classical Persian poetry has been known since the 19th century. Getting to know her and Persia, Russian poets showed themselves as educated, erudite, benevolent and sensitive to creativity. None of them have been to Persia, but the image of the country through the prism of poetry has formed a multifaceted, interesting and mysterious. Extended abstract: The purpose of the article is to reveal their vision of the personalities and works of the outstanding Persian poets Saadi, Ferdowsi, O. Khayyam, Hafiz, who personify their homeland, based on the material of the work of Russian poets and writers. The study was carried out within the framework of lingual imagology, designed as a result of linguistic-stylistic and ethno psycholinguistic analysis to form the image (image) of the country in the linguistic consciousness of another people or country, in our case - the image of Persia for the Russian linguistic consciousness. Thus, the research method is linguo-magological. None of the Russian writers and poets, whose work we refer to, have not been to Iran, all their impressions and assessments are conditioned by the perception of the work of these poets, therefore the second most important postulate of lingual imagology comes into force - the assessment characterizes not so much the evaluated, but the evaluating. Russian poets and writers showed themselves as educated, erudite, benevolent and sensitive to creativity. The article presents both direct and indirect perception of Persian poetry: the hero of Yu.N. Tynyanov's novel "The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar" - the outstanding poet-diplomat A.S. Griboyedov, who died tragically in Persia, that is, Yu.N. Tynyanov saw Persia through the eyes of A.S. Griboyedov. The Russian poet-diplomat plunged into the life of the host country: Saadi's poems sounded in his mind in the original, the novel shows an exam for translation from Persian in one of the universities of Russia, in which A.S. Griboyedov took part. Upon direct perception, Russian poets wrote about Persian poets. These fragments are structured as follows: biographical information about the poet in question, a general description of his work according to an authoritative source - "Brief Literary Encyclopedia", dedicated to one or another author. So, Saadi was called the singer of Iran (N.S. Gumilyov), traditionally compared with a nightingale (N.S. Gumilyov, P.S. Obodovsky, A.N. Delvig), a lark (D.K. Shchedrin), they evaluated him as brilliant (D.B. Kedrin), sweet (P.G. Obodovsky), emphasized his wisdom (G.A. Sannikov), but for some reason they saw him only as old, gray-haired (G.A. Sannikov). Saadi - "Alla's necklaces diamond" (N.S. Tikhonov), the embodiment of tenderness ("Tenderness is like Saadi's songs" - S.A. Yesenin). The appeal to his work was carried out in four forms: translation, retelling, quotation, imitation. Ferdowsi is the personification of Persia (S.A. Yesenin), he is known as the author of the poem "Shahnameh", in which the foundations of the figurative system of all subsequent Persian poetry were laid.The poem in the 19th century was translated by V.A. Zhukovsky, in the 20th century by M. Lozinsky, S. Lipkin, V. Derzhavin, Ts.Banu, M. Dyakonov. Omar Khayyam, despite his wide and multifaceted activity, for S.A. Yesenin is primarily a poet. The relationship of O. Khayyam with Hafiz is presented in the poem "Coffee House" by D.B.Kedrin. For A.N.Delvig, G.A. Sannikov, Hafiz and Saadi are equal singers of Iran - nightingales. The fate of Persian poetry as a whole worried AA Surkov, which is reflected in the poem "Shiraz". Thus, Persian poetry in our country has been known and revered since the 19th century, the traditions were continued in the 20th century by S.A. Yesenin. Our contemporaries must continue the important work of their predecessors.

ՀԱՖԵԶԻ ԲԱՆԱՍՏԵՂԾԱԿԱՆ ԱՇԽԱՐՀԻ ԱՐՏԱՑՈԼՈՒՄՆ ԱՅԴԻՆ ԱՂԴԱՇԼՈՒԻ ՆԿԱՐՆԵՐՈՒՄ

Classical Persian poetry, when embodied in the oeuvre of the contemporary artists of Iran, was becoming for some a major source of artistic inspiration. The article analyzes the inner creative bond between classical Persian poets and present-day artists, exemplified by Hafez and the modern Iranian painter Aydin Aghdashloo, whose all canvases stem from poetry, and the best of them are considered among the most valued achievements of visual arts. Hafez’s verses were conducive to introducing surrealist style to Iranian portrait and miniature by the painter Aydin Aghdashloo, who has created thereby a new style of "crumpled miniature".

Persian Literature and Modernity: Production and Reception

Persian Literature and Modernity: Production and Reception

Prophet Sulaymān in Classical Persian Poetry: Semantics and Structure of the Image

The article discusses structure, semantic content, and functioning of the image of the Qur’anic prophet Sulaymān (Biblical Solomon) in Persian medieval poetry. Analysis of the poetic material leads to a conclusion about the main spheres of application of this image and its semantic connotations both in eulogistic and religious-mystical poetry. The article defines the main motifs of the Qur’anic story of this prophet that became a part of Persian poetic tradition and how they relate to the various themes that poets touch upon. For instance, motives of Sulaymān’s power over winds and demons, as well as images of his throne and the ring that gave him that power, were used primarily in eulogies when poets compared their patrons to the legendary king. A special place in Sufi poetry is occupied by the image of the hoopoe and the motif of the bird’s language that reveal topics of a disciple-mentor relationship and leadership in the path of mystical knowledge. As a global characteristic of Sulaymān’s image, we can outline its ambivalence which has its roots in the biblical narrative, where along with wisdom one can find mention of Solomon’s arrogance. Further exegetical tradition speaks of dethronement of Sulaymān by a demon as a punishment for arrogance. Later on, these themes can be found in Persian literature in the form of motifs of humility and frailty of the earthly life, which gained special meaning in the context of didactic and mystical poetry.

KLASİK FARS VE TÜRK ŞİİRİNDE ŞAHNÂME KARAKTERLERİ

Firdevsî’nin büyük eseri Şahnâme içerdiği bilgiler bakımından gerek tarih alanında gerekse edebiyat alanında araştırmacıların dikkatini çekmiş ve üzerinde birçok çalışma yapılmasına olanak sağlamıştır. Şahnâme hem Fars edebiyatında hem de Türk edebiyatında büyük ilgi görmüştür. Klasik Fars edebiyatında ve Klasik Türk edebiyatında Şahnâme’den esinlenerek eserler yazılmıştır. Kimi zamanda şairler şiirlerini yazarken Şahnâme’den faydalanmış ve Şahnâme’de geçen karakterleri edebi sanatlar bünyesinde kullanmışlardır. Şairler bazen memduhları için yazdığı kasidelerde memduhu yüceltmek için Şahnâme’de geçen büyük ve güçlü bir kahramana benzetmiştir. Klasik Fars ve Türk şiirinde şairler kimi zaman da memduhun düşmanını Şahnâme’de yer alan zalim bir karaktere benzetmişlerdir. Çalışmamızda hem Klasik Fars edebiyatında hem de Klasik Türk edebiyatında çoğunlukla kasidelerde yüzlerce örneği olan Şahnâme karakterlerine yer verilen bu tarz kullanımlardan ziyade her iki edebiyatta da gazellerde geçen farklı kullanımlar tespit edilerek beyit örnekleriyle dikkatlere sunulmuştur. Konunun genişliği göz önünde bulundurulduğundan her iki edebiyatta da örneği bulunan karakterlere yer verilmeye özen gösterilmiştir. Söz konusu örneklerle ilgili olarak her iki edebiyatta da beyitler dikkatle seçilmiş; Farsça beyitler Türkçeye çevrilmiş; beyitlerde geçen kahramanlarla ilgili bilgiler verildikten sonra gerekli açıklamalar düşülmüştür.

Evokers of the Divine Message: Mysticism of American Transcendentalism in Emerson’s “Nature” and the Mystic Thought in Rumi’s Masnavi

Mysticism, religion and mankind’s relationship with an all-absolute deity has been a prominent part of the human experience throughout history. Poets such as Emerson and Rumi were similarly concerned with this question in creating their works. Although Rumi’s thought stems from the Quran and Emerson’s manifestation of Nature takes roots in the ancient eastern philosophies such as Buddhism, their works seem to share some explicit characteristics. Rumi (1207-1273) lived most of his life in Konya and Khorasan and Emerson (1803-1882) lived in America, but their immense geographic and temporal distances did not surpass their analogous attitudes as mystics. The biggest and the most obvious affinity between these mystic thoughts is believing in Monism as a spiritual practice. Although Emerson read and was influenced by classical Persian poetry of Hafiz and Sa’di, there is no evidence suggesting that he was familiar with Rumi’s poetry. Moreover, thematic analogies between Rumi’s Masnavi and Emerson’s essay on Nature result in a shared ideology which includes themes varying from monism, kashf or unveiling, attitudes towards language and the uninitiated. These concepts, observed in both works, point us toward the realization of universal features of mysticism.

A City Besieged and a Love Lamented: Representations of Delhi’s Qila-i Mualla (‘Exalted Fortress’) in the Eighteenth Century

After the devastation of Delhi in the eighteenth century, a new genre of Urdu poetry (shahrashob, ‘the disturbed city’) emerged, lamenting the fallen city and simultaneously marking the displacement of Persian as the language of court poetry. This paper considers two visual laments from this period, focusing on artistic representations that merge structures modelled after the Qila-i Mualla (the Red Fort of Delhi) with narratives of suffering and longing drawn from classical Persian poetry. These responses to Delhi’s endangered existence also register the symbolic importance of a history of sovereign Mughal power associated with the Qila and the now imperiled Persianate cosmopolitan culture from which it developed.

Essays on Nima Yushij: Animating Modernism in Persian Poetry

Essays on Nima Yushij: Animating Modernism in Persian Poetry

Gender and Dance in Modern Iran: Biopolitics on Stage

Gender and Dance in Modern Iran: Biopolitics on Stage

A Theory of Reduplication: Eightfold Meters in Classical Persian Poetry

It is a known fact that classical Persian poets were partial to poetic meters composed of eight feet, known as muthamman. On this topic, however, two issues remain unsolved: How did the Persian poets devise these meters in the first place? Despite their flagrant predilection for eightfold meters, why did the Persians never use such meters as sarīʿ and qarīb in this form? This paper argues that the Persians, influenced by the structure of the Arabic eightfold base meters, crafted their muthamman meters after a specific process of reduplication. This theory also accounts for the lack of eightfold sarīʿ and qarīb meters, their structure being incompatible with the reduplication process.

The Kujujī Poets: Families, Poetry and Forms of Patronage in Azerbaijan and beyond (Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries)

Abstract Tracing the extended Kujujī family unit, originally from Western Azerbaijan, through the fourteenth up to the seventeenth century, I am especially interested in the interplay between members of the Kujujī family, their professional background, and the poetry they composed. Poetry is interpreted as a mode of transmission, understanding panegyric and mystical forms of poetry as a means to shape and reinforce family identities in reciprocal relationships – in our case the relationship between the local Sufi-notable family network of the Kujujīs with the respective ruling families of the Jalayirids and Safavids. The article explores their poetry, the poets as actors of transmission and the links that are created between distant members of the “imagined” family of the Kujujīs as expressed in literary anthologies (taẕkiras). Moving beyond traditional perceptions of one-on-one, client-patron relations in the production of court poetry and emphasizing the role of families creates a long-term perspective and re-evaluates classical Persian poetry as intra-generational cultural bond.

“You are Jesus, and I am your bird”: Christ, Persian poetry, and theological imagination in the Iranian diaspora

The growth of the gospel amongst the Iranian diaspora remains markedly unexamined in missiological circles. The few existing analyses draw attention to disillusionment with Islam as a result of the current political regime in Iran, sustaining an extractionist approach which tends to marginalize interest in spiritual resources Iranians find attractive and useful in their diasporic experience. This article explores the potential of classical Persian poetry, and its depictions of Jesus in particular, to inform and expand missiological engagement with the Iranian diaspora. Following a discussion of three poetic representations of Jesus, consideration is given as to how these representations might serve as sites for both creative evangelistic endeavour and as a potential source of reflection for Iranian Christians.

Effect of Persian classic poetry on the level of stress hormone in retired academicians

Retired academicians undergo serious periods of stress and heath vulnerability in the sudden experience of loss, after retirement. Poetry writing is applied for its therapeutic effects, while the rhythm of relaxing music has proved effects on the emotional state. This study investigates the impact of classical Persian poetry, for the domain of its associative meaning and the power of its exhilarating rhythm on the level stress hormone, in retired Persian male academician. For this purpose, 300 lines from the sonnets of Hafez were randomly selected. A sample of 26 men, aged 54 (±3) years, was randomly selected and heared for 5 days a week, at 8 pm, for 8 weeks.The findings showed that while retired men face the risk of suffering stress and depression, listening to classical poetry can be considered as an alternative means to the medical methods. It also suggests that may be listening to the classical poetry of any language for reducing stress in the speakers of that language would be beneficial.

Leonard Lewisohn (ed.). Hafiz and The Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

Ce volume resulte d’une conference donnee a Exeter en 2007. A part un court avant-propos du regrette Peter Avery (decede en 2008), et une premiere section grandiloquente par Lewisohn, qui donne un apercu du contexte, ‘Ḥāfiẓ in the Socio-historical, Literary and Mystical Milieu of Medieval Persia’ (p. 3-73), il contient neuf articles, de valeur tres inegale, repartis entre trois sections. Dans l’ordre du livre: section II, ‘Hāfiẓ and the School of Love in Classical Persian Poetry’ : Husayn Ila...

Leonard Lewisohn (dir.). Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

Dans ce travail d’edition de grande qualite, L. Lewisohn rassemble ici un tres bel ensemble d’articles dedies a Hāfez, de la plume de specialistes renommes. Le tout forme une excellente introduction a l’etude de ce poete qui fut le plus fameux representant du ġazal persan et de ce que l’on peut appeler « la religion de l’amour ». Les aspects philosophiques, theologiques et mystiques de la spiritualite de Hāfez, son enracinement dans une riche tradition litteraire qu’il a, a son tour, fert...