Document Type : علمی- پژوهشی

Authors

• fariba mirzamohammadnia ¹
• mohamad ali gozashti ²
• aliyeh yuseffam ³

¹ PhD candidat of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran

² Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Islamic. Branch of Central Tehran Azad University,, Tehran.Iran

³ Assistant Professor in Persian Language and Literature, Branch of Central Tehran, Islamic Azad University,, Tehran, iran

Abstract

Critical stylistics is a new approach rooted in critical aesthetics that has emerged from the perspectives of the Frankfurt School.. The study of stylistic feature of a text from a critical point helps us understand how the text is related to the power and what the ideology of the text is. In Shamlou's poems, from the point of view of critical stylistics, the layer of pragmatics and rhetorical and lexical layers can be examined. From the perspective of the pragmatic layer we can study propagation of meaning and deviation on the poems of Shamlou. The analysis of these indicators has been done with the help of critical aesthetic theory. From the perspective of the rhetorical and lexical layers we can study archaism and repetition. From an aesthetic point of view, these attributes are explained deviation on the poems and criticism of power in modern times. In these studies, Shamlou's poems are in a negated position toward the center of domination. He criticizes the one-dimensional man in modern times and also the pattern of power in contemporary societies.

Highlights

Critical Stylistics in Shamloo’s Poetry

(An Analysis of Rhetorical and Pragmatic Layers)

Fariba MirzaMohammadnia¹, Mohammad Ali Gozashti∗², Alieh Youseffam³

Abstract

Critical stylistics is a new approach which has its roots in Critical Aesthetics and is affected by the views of Frankfort School. The critical analysis of the stylistic variables in a text results in the discovery of the ideology of the text and the quality of the relationship of the text with the center of domination. From the perspective of critical stylistics, the pragmatic level, the rhetorical level and the lexical level of Shamloo’s poetry can be studied. In the pragmatic level, the two stylistic variables of proliferation of meaning and Shamloo’s norm-breaking view of mythology are taken into consideration and these characteristics are analyzed based on the critical aesthetic theory. In the rhetorical and lexical levels, two stylistic variables of archaism and repetition are analyzed; from the aesthetic stylistic perspective these two are considered to serve the purpose of temporal transgression and denouncing the power patterns in the modern era and refuting dominance and suppression. In these analyses, Shamloo’s poetry is considered to be in a negative attitude against the center of domination. Getting help from the stylistics indexes, he criticizes the one-dimensionality of modern human being and the patterns of power in contemporary societies.

Key Words: Critical aesthetics, Critical stylistics, Shamloo

1. ^{1.         Pd.D. Student of Persian Literature, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran} faribamohammadnia777@gmail.com
2. ^{2.        Associate Professor of Persian Literature, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding Author) Moh.gozashti@iauctb.ac.ir}
3. ^{3.        Assistant Professor of Persian Literature, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran}

daliehyf@gmail.c

Introduction

Critical Stylistics, as a system of thought, analyzes the unique characteristics of a literary work which are related to the social processes of domination and power. Consequently, the text is studied in close relationship with its context (the society). The literary text is constructed by the social relationships, stabilizing it at times, and refuting and changing it at others. Basically, the penetration of critical view into stylistics is the effect of Frankfurt School, which leads to the emphasis on those indexes in the poet’s personal style which bind the text with the society. In the present article the stylistic variables of Shamloo’s poetry, in the pragmatic level and the rhetorical levels are analyzed based on the critical stylistics, drawing on critical aesthetics as well.

Research Method

The present research is a descriptive-analytic study. The statistical data are extracted from the text and examined based on the theory.

Hypothesis and Research Question

Shamloo has a rebellious and different view of his society. This different and opposing view necessitates a different language and style to transfer the concepts to the audience; therefore, his unique social approach creates a new worldview which results in basic changes in the language. The question is which linguistic and semiologic possibilities and indexes he has used the most so that the criticism of the social structure in his poetry ends up in creation of a new and innovative structure.

Conclusion

From the perspective of critical stylistics, different layers could be studied to examine the power relations so that the discovery of the ideology of the text can be discovered. This article has dealt with the pragmatic level and the rhetorical level and the analysis of stylistic functions has been done based on critical aesthetics. One of the significant stylistic markers of Shamloo, based on the critical view and studied in the pragmatic level, is his norm-breaking view of myths. Shamloo breaks the common mythological beliefs, attacks the myths’ space and tries to construct and recreate them. In this norm-breaking approach, the myths of genesis, the savior and the mythological figure of Christ are attacked. Having convinced his reader of the identical nature of power patterns in the modern era and the mythological one, Shamloo ties the lives of Modern and ancient man, and then, breaking the common myths, he actually attacks these identical patterns of power. That is to say, attacking the myths in this balance is actually an objection of the patterns of human life in the modern era. It is an objection against the captivated life of contemporary human beings, the injustice and the suppression that the patterns of power have enforced upon them. Another stylistic marker which Shamloo has created to object to the lifeworld of contemporary man is the creation of a kind of fluidity of meaning. He emancipates the human being’s value position, the concept of the beloved and, consequently, of love, from the dominion of single meaning; and as the aestheticians would say, emancipates the text from one-dimensionality. He defies the clichés and the common perspectives and gives in to the multi-dimensionality of human beings, something which puts the text in sharp contrast with the dominant ideology.

In the rhetorical level and the lexical level, the two indexes of archaism and repetition in relation with the domination and power systems can be studied: according to the thinkers of the Frankfurt school, deforestation in the modern era, resulted in the dissociation of human beings’ mind with the nature of things and phenomena, something which had not happened in the mythological era. The ancient man was immune from alienation in the world because of living close to the mother nature. Shamloo  creates a kind of temporal norm-breaking through the frequent use of the components of archaic language. He transforms the time of contemporary man into a mythological time to awaken a nostalgic feeling of a mythological past in the reader’s unconscious. From a different perspective the rejection of contemporary man’s language and choosing the archaic language as the prominent one in the poet’s works is a kind of protest against the contemporary human beings and the relationships in their life. Another stylistic marker in the rhetorical level, frequently used in Shamloo’s poetry, is the element of repetition. Shamloo uses similar statements at the beginning and the end of a great number of his poems, which shapes the time into a kind of tossing and turning, making the incessant and endless time of his poetry a mythological time. He thus ties the times of modern and ancient man and induces the identical nature of the patterns of living in the mythological and contemporary world. On the other hand, the use of repetition in Shamloo’s poetry serves the purpose of transferring the central ideas in the poet’s mind; these central concepts are in the service of human being’s insight, showing the dystopia of his time and hope for creating the utopia in his mind in order to foreground the protest against human being’s captivated living in a world full of injustice and suppression. Such concepts fulfill the critical aestheticians’ expectation from real art because, to them, technology and the progress of science has acted against itself and has completely pushed freedom away from the life of human beings. Finally, it could be noted that, to the Frankfurt school thinkers, freedom is an ally of rejection, and any kind of innovation in art is a form of rejection; therefore, freedom is only materialized in the world of the text and the poetry of Shamloo is the perfect example for such a text.

Bibliography

Translated Sources

-Adorno, Theodore, Horkheimer, Max (1389), Dialectic-e-Roshangari, translated by Morad Farhadpour, Amir Mehregan, Tehran: Gaam-e-No.

-Adorno, Theodore et al. (1385). Jaame’e Shenasi Enteghadi, translated by: Hassan Chavoshian, Tehran: Akhtaran.

-Eagleton, Terry (1368), Nazariyeh-Adabi, translated by: Abbas Mokhber, Tehran: Markaz.

-Gastala, Pierre (1336), Zibayi-Shenasi Tahlili, translated by: AliNaghi Vaziri, Tehran: Tehran University Press.

-Selden, Raman, Widdowson, Peter (1380), Rahnama-e- Nazariyeh Adabi Moa’aser, translated by: Abbas Mokhber, Tehran: Tarh-e-No.

Catano, Jameso (1384) Sabk Shenasi, translated by: Farzin Ghobadi, Naameh Farhangstan, Vol. 7, No. 4, 28, 112-121

Marcuse, Herbert (1362) Ensan TakSaahati, translated by: Mohsen Mo’ayyedi, Tehran: Amirkabir.

English Sources

- Cutting, J. )2002(  Pragmatics and Discourse, London: Routiedge.

- Fowler, R. Hodg & Kress & Trew. )1979(. Language and Control, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

- Nørgaard, N. Busse& Montoro. )2010(. Key Terms in Stylistics, London and NewYork: Continuum.

Keywords

• Critical Aesthetics
• Critical stylistics
• shamlou

20.1001.1.22517979.1398.72.240.14.0

Main Subjects

• Contemporary Poetry of Iran