https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/ Persian Language and Literature en daily 1 Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0330 Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0330 https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20775.html The belief in humanoid beings inhabiting seas and lakes has been a persistent element in Iranian culture since ancient times. In classical texts—particularly in ‘ajā’ib-nāma (Wonder Books) and geographical works—they are described as human-like creatures referred to as "Ādam-e Ābi". Occasionally, they are depicted as half-human (male/female) and half-fish, reminiscent of the modern conception of mermaids. The origins of these aquatic humanoids trace back to Mesopotamian mythology, There, we encounter hybrid fish-human protective beings associated with the water deity, known by the names Apkallu and Kulullu/Kuliltu. Atargatis, the fertility goddess of the Aramaeans—who later spread into Mesopotamia and the Western world—was also represented in this form, according to historical accounts and archaeological evidence. In pre-Zoroastrian Iranian beliefs, the Pari (fairy) was a beautiful and beguiling fertility goddess. Under the new Zoroastrian orthodoxy, she was demonized and rejected, yet some of her benevolent attributes were transferred to Anahita, the goddess of waters. These traits also persisted in the collective Iranian imagination, resurfacing in fairy tales—such as the aquatic nature of fairies, their associations with marriage and fertility, beauty, love of music and joy, and their symbolic animal connections to fish and doves. These elements appear not only in Iranian fairy tales and classical literary texts but also share parallels with the goddess Atargatis. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20890.html The tradition of Qurʾānic lexicography in Persian represents a rich heritage that preserves both invaluable and largely unknown works. Nuqūd al-Jumān fī ʿUqūd al-Tarjumān, composed in the seventh/ thirteenth century, is a multi-dimensional Qurʾān-based lexicon that explains the vocabulary of the Qurʾān from Sūrat al-Ḥamd to Sūrat al-Nās, combining translation, exegetical notes, and grammatical analysis. This article offers, for the first time, a comprehensive introduction to and analysis of this work, based on its earliest extant manuscript (copied in 609/1212 and preserved in the library of Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī). After considering the probable identity of the author and the date of composition, the study examines the structure and methodology employed in the explanation of words. The main part of the article investigates the linguistic features of the manuscript on three levels: orthographic, lexical, and grammatical. The findings show that Nuqūd al-Jumān is a valuable source for historical linguistics, stylistics, and the cultural history of Islam in Iran. Its significance lies in the preservation of archaic Persian vocabulary and the reflection of Middle Period writing styles. Notably, the use of regional terminology (such as “kaboutar bana” for “warashan”, indicating the author’s cultural ties to Khurāsān) and particular phonological and orthographic features (such as the writing of dhāl muʿjam in words like paydā and huwaydā, reflecting their distinct pronunciation at the time) highlight the importance of this work as a primary source for understanding the development of the Persian language. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20773.html The Sufi interpretation of verses, hadiths, natural phenomena, and the sayings of the predecessor sheikhs represent their various interpretative choices and criteria in dealing with these matters. In this regard, Hujwiri's Kashf al-Mahjoob, one of the oldest Persian Sufi texts, is an important source in this field. The analysis and classification of his interpretation of verses and hadiths show the extent to which he adhered to the appearance of the text or deviated from it, his tasteful, imaginative tendencies, or the presence of logical and argumentative aspects in interpretation, as well as his ideological occupations in interpretation. Also, by comparing his interpretive patterns of verses and hadiths with the frameworks applied by Hujwiri in interpreting the sayings of the sheikhs, the extent to which he was harmonious and coherent, or conversely, chaotic, in this area is determined. Finally, comparing these frameworks with other Sufis in other periods will explain the process of their changes in the intellectual, epistemological, and tasteful spheres. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20889.html This article deals with a descriptive-analytical study of the conversational logic and intertextual nature of two contemporary works, "Azadaran Bil" (The Story of the Cow) and "Asrar-e Ganj Darreh Jeni" (The Secrets of the Treasure of the Valley of the Genie) with the classical literary text "Kalila and Demna". The present study seeks to understand how two contemporary modern works, with different perspectives, are placed in the same context as a classical literary work. It is worth noting that the key intertextual term in this study is "cow" and the concept of its killing. After examining, we found that, based on the interactions that past texts have in future texts, the myth of the cow and its sacrifice has been used both in the classic text "Kalila and Demna" and in the two contemporary works "The Mourners of the Bayal" and "The Secrets of the treasure of the Valley of the Genie" to express social, cultural concepts and power relations and various social bases. The common meaning in all three works is the death of the cow, the loss of something valuable, equivalent to identity and social base. The interpretability of the three works and the socio-political orientation are other common features of all three works. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20807.html Shams Tabrizi was a learned dervish of the 6th and 7th centuries AH (12th–13th centuries CE).His only surviving work, compiled by others, is a collection of discourses known as the Maqalat (Discourses). Among the sayings attributed to him is a set of forty-one brief statements that have appeared in some manuscripts of the Maqalat as well as in other works. The editor of the Maqalat has presented these sayings separately under the title Kalimāt-e Qeṣār (Aphorisms).This study aims to answer the question of whether these sayings genuinely originated from Shams himself and reflect his own contemplations, or whether they were utterances of others later attributed to him. Since Shams does not reference the sources of these statements or their original speakers, research and investigation into earlier Sufi sources and related texts reveal that, unlike other parts of the Maqalat, these sayings are in fact derived from earlier sources. However, the editor of the Maqalat has only identified two instances of such borrowings.This article examines twenty-one of Shams’s sayings in the Kalimāt-e Qeṣār section and demonstrates that these statements are drawn from sacred and prophetic traditions (Hadith Qudsi and Hadith Nabawi), as well as the sayings of earlier Sufi masters and other sources. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20778.html One of the ways to get familiar with narrative literature is by aligning it with the characteristics of narrative. Gholam Hossein Saedi is one of the most renowned figures in Iranian narrative literature. More than ninety works of his in various genres, including novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays have been published. In 1960, he published a short story collection titled “A Magnificent Soirée”, and the last story of the collection is titled “The Farewell Ceremony.” The aim of this paper is to examine the functions and features of narrative in this story, in order to highlight a part of the role of narrative in the literary fiction of the 1950s and Saedi’s position in the field of storytelling. The research method is analytical-descriptive. Some of the findings include the following: all elements, including the narrator, are manifested through the narrative in this story. The point of view is first-person, with internal focalization. The story is written in the form of a memory-speech hybrid. It employs two types of narrators, a primary narrator and a supporting one. This story is part of a broader intellectual-literary movement, in which, especially in the poetry of Nima Yooshij and Akhavan Sales, night symbolizes tyranny and oppression, while winter represents despair and social alienation. The text follows the message of the story: the night is very long, and the sun will not rise anytime soon. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20883.html It is well established that Shaykh Saʿdī was affiliated with the futuwwa tradition, particularly the brotherhood of the saqqāyān (water-bearers). In his final years, at the expense of Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad, the Ṣāḥib-i Dīwān, he founded a ribāṭ (Sufi lodge) outside Shiraz. After his death, he was interred on the site’s suffah; consequently, over the centuries, the ribāṭ served as a pilgrimage site for both the poor and the elite, its fortunes fluctuating with broader historical conditions. Contemporary accounts from near Saʿdī’s lifetime are scarce. This article introduces two early sources on the ribāṭ’s foundation and explores their historical implications. The earlier source is an addendum appended between 721/1321 and 742/1341–42 to the Suʿāl-i Ṣāḥib-i Dīwān treatise, one of the six prose works in Saʿdī’s Kulliyāt. This addendum reveals that the ribāṭ was originally founded in 679/1280–81 and that, exactly thirty years after Saʿdī’s death—in 721/1321—ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿImād al-Dīn Muḥammad Faryūmadī, an influential minister and arts patron at the Ilkhanid court of Sultan Abū Saʿīd Bahādur Khān, allocated resources for its reconstruction and the revival of its charitable activities. The second source is a previously unpublished poetic fragment by Jalāl Ṭabīb of Shiraz (d. before 785/1383–84) praising Saʿdī’s ribāṭ; absent from the edited dīwān, the poem highlights the ribāṭ’s connection to water and the practice of siqāyat (providing water). https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20884.html In the story of Zal and Rudabeh Ferdowsi used an vehicle for the “nose”of Rudabeh, which appeared in three editions of the Shahnameh:”Simin Qalam”,”Tigh-e Dožam” and ”Tighe Deram”,which has sparked debate among scholars. This article shows, with evidence, that the recording of “Tigh-e Dožam” meaning “sharp and cutting blade”, in several manuscripts, is the more difficult and original recording and Ferdowsi presented her simile in the form of metaphor of identification (personification) and considered the “blade” as a person who is angry. In another verse from the same story,” from that silver dome, stretched on the ground/ prostrate on the mud the ambush lasso. ”which is again a description of Rudabeh and its reading and reporting have been the subject of debate and disagreement, “gonbade-e sim is a metaphor for “sorin”(buttocks) and “Kamand-e Kamin” is a metaphor for Gisuye Boland(long hair) and “گل” should also be read »gel« so that the order and semantic sequence of the verse is correct. Rudabeh has spread her long hair, which is like a lasso that ambushes men , from her buttocks towards the grownd. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20632.html In its thirty-odd years of activity, the Academy of Persian Language and Literature has, in addition to selecting words and publishing volumes of the Comprehensive Dictionary of the Persian Language and dozens of issues of the Academy's journal and its appendices and special issues, presented its suggestions on Persian script, including: writing words separately and continuously, and the way words are arranged in the text in terms of observing spacing or half-spacing when typing, in two books, "Persian Calligraphy Grammar" and "Persian Spelling Dictionary". One of the ways in which the contents of these script styles have become widespread and practical has been the two hundred and forty books that the Academy has published so far; especially thirty of them are dedicated to correcting Persian literary texts. What is noticeable in studying these books, although they may have come from the hands of a single editor, is the difference in taste in recording and writing sentence components in terms of Persian script. This article attempts to examine the style of the correctors or editors of the Divan Qatran Tabrizi, especially in the continuous (half-spaced) writing of inverted adjectives and other words and combinations. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20888.html The novel Prince of Ehtejab by Houshang Golshiri, with its mind-centered, nonlinear narrative mixed with memory, illusion, and nested language, is considered one of the prominent examples of introspective narrative in modern Persian literature. In addition to the sequence of external events, the narrative of this work is reflected from within the feverish, delusional, and memory-deprived mind of the main character, namely Prince of Ehtejab, and represents his experience of history, violence, illness, sin, and decline in a multilayered and polyphonic format. The main issue of this research is how the narrative in this novel is formed based on the main character's mentalities and cognitive processes and organizes narrative elements such as time, place, language, and relationships between characters. The purpose of the research is to analyze the narrative structure in this novel based on the four main components of David Herman's cognitive narratology theory, which are: mind-centeredness, world-building, experience-centeredness, and multi-purposeness. The research claims that in addition to utilizing a mind-centered narrative, the mind of its main character is the main context and origin of the narrative; a mind that both reflects and reconstructs the fictional world. The research was conducted with a qualitative method and based on narrative text analysis. The findings show that this novel, by creating a psychological, multilayered, and static world, is an excellent example of mind-centered and experiential narrative in Persian literature, and its structure can be clearly analyzed with the components of cognitive narratology. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20774.html During the period of the Iranian Literary Society, the critique and revision of texts were considered integral components of literary research. Concurrently, Hassan Vahid Dastgerdi, a poet, critic, and magazine editor, published his literary studies in two domains: theoretical and practical criticism, with a primary focus on the works of Nizami Ganjavi in the magazine Armaghan. By examining his efforts to revise Nizami’s Khamseh (Quintet) as a cultural asset, this study addresses the role of reverse Iranology in the emendation and processing of literary texts. It demonstrates that Vahid Dastgerdi’s skepticism toward the literary methods of European orientalists forms the basis for discussing the theoretical advancements made by textual emendators. This skepticism, particularly after engaging with Helmut Ritter’s scholarly-critical framework and meeting Jan Rypka at the Ferdowsi Millennial Congress, highlights Dastgerdi’s reversal of orientation. The research method involves qualitative content analysis, with data collected from old manuscripts of Haft Peykar (The Seven Beauties) and its printed editions, as well as other relevant sources. The study explores how Dastgerdi’s national rethinking of the Khamseh revision in a European style, aligned with literary theory and criticism in Armaghan, connects with themes such as “Vahid’s mythical thinking as a poet turned critic,” “the poetic nature of the Khamseh and the chaotic state of its manuscripts,” and “the convergence of European scientific-critical tools with local traditions” during his time. This intervention contributed to the localization of textual critique and revision within Persian literary heritage. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20910.html The theory of the Four Spiritual Journeys (Asfār-e Arba‘eh), which explores the profound concept of movement and transformation in the course of Mystical wayfaring, has been extensively reflected in Persian Mystical poetry and ghazals, alongside its presence in certain anecdotal narratives. From the perspective of Philosophy (Ḥikmat) and Mysticism, these journeys occur in four stages:1. Departure from Creation (the outer) toward the Truth (the inner)2. Journey within the Truth alongside the Truth3. Return to Creation with the Truth4. Journey within Creation with the TruthMystic/Āref poets have depicted these stages in their lyrical poetry through symbolic and metaphorical imagery as follows:1. Renunciation of faith (religion/asceticism), knowledge, and Reason (representing the three main forms of superficiality and Externalism)2. Realization of Blasphemy (as a mark of love and Inner vision)3. Realization of Qalandari and Rendi (spiritual libertinism)4. Realization of Mission (Risālah) and spiritual authority/Sainthood (wilāyah)These stages—or Valleys—of the spiritual journey are conveyed through a symbolic, metaphorical, and allegorical language (such as Mosque, Tavern, Cloak, Wine, Prayer niche, and Eyebrow...), so much so that readers of such poetry may misunderstand it, failing to interpret them clearly for others, thus remaining unaware of their symbolic and metaphorical meanings. Comparative study of epistemological themes and lyrical poetry, coupled with research into the decoding of Mystical expressions and terminology, may inaugurate a new chapter in literary and Mystical studies and elevate lyrical poetry to higher epistemological and spiritual levels. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20776.html Amir Hassan Yazdgerdi, relying on four relatively late manuscripts, produced the first critical edition of Nafthat al-Masdūr. However, a comparative analysis of these manuscripts with his edited text reveals several inaccuracies in the transcription of words and the recording of textual variants. This study, incorporating the Tehran University manuscript—unavailable to Yazdgerdi in its original form—and examining the influence of Mojtaba Minavi’s conjectural emendations, classifies these errors into three categories: (1) readings without manuscript support, (2) inaccurate reporting of textual variants, and (3) omission of significant variants. The findings indicate that the correct forms of certain phrases differ from Yazdgerdi’s readings, including:بأس این پادشاه bā’s-e īn pādeshāh →بأس پادشاه bā’s-e pādeshāh;سلطانِ ألیس  solṭān-e alaysa →   شیطان ألیس shayṭān-e alays;  جان و جهان jān o jahān → جانِ جهان jān-e jahān; لا یحصد  lā yaḥṣod → لم یحصد lam yaḥṣod; and   پای‌برجایpāy-barjāy →  پابرجا pābargā. This article critically evaluates such cases and provides the corrected readings alongside facsimiles of the original manuscripts. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20958.html Maryam Jahani is an author who has embarked on her fiction-writing journey in the past two decades. Her debut novel, "This Street Has No Speed Bump," reveals her as a writer with a social and sociological perspective, paying close attention to the realities of everyday life and societal relationships. This novel presents a realistic narrative, primarily focusing on women and the specific challenges and hardships they face in society.This research, grounded in the theoretical framework of the Hungarian thinker and theorist György Lukács, endeavors to analyze the novel "This Street Has No Speed Bump" through the lens of characterization. The goal is to explore and explain the dimensions of the protagonist's incompatibility with the surrounding world, as well as the obstacles and limitations she encounters. The findings of this study indicate that the novel's central character and narrator, whose primary challenge lies in confronting and combating traditional beliefs and incompatible social norms, aligns with Lukács' character archetypes. The author portrays this character as a human being with flaws, problems, limitations, and prohibitions in life. These results have been analyzed and explained under the headings of character conflict, character and environment, character and other characters, character's identity and time, the character's unconscious and consciousness, the character's profession, characterization and commodification https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20886.html Qalandariyat in Persian literature is generally regarded as a type of symbolic poetry that reflects the experiences and spiritual emotions of its poets through the use of allegories, symbols, and mystical metaphors. However, this type of poetry can also be considered a unique literary form that acts as a powerful counter-genre against other poetic forms by critiquing prevalent norms and literary and social conventions and challenging them. This study, without reducing the dynamic poetic imagery of this genre solely to predetermined archetypes and Sufi symbols, examines its unique poetic structure while considering the inter-genre relationships of Qalandariyat with some dominant normative genres. The findings of the research indicate that the interaction of Qalandari poetry with genres such as praise, pride, and sermon leads to the emergence of a new type of poetry in which unconventional phenomena and elements with anti-normative characteristics are displayed in spaces akin to Mikhail Bakhtin’s “carnival,” where all values, norms, and social hierarchies are inverted. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20979.html A study of ancient literary texts reveals motifs whose traces are also found in early scientific writings. These familiar, imaginative motifs have been repeated and solidified in various forms throughout the centuries, evolving into what we now recognize as fantasy. In certain epic narratives such as the Garshāspnāmeh, Kushnāmeh, and Shahryārnāmeh, the hero encounters and battles giant, ferocious ants in a valley. These ants were inhabitants of the Land of Gold, a region described in the Alexander Romance (and Alexander's account in the Dārābnāmeh) and ancient epics as the source of gold. Another motif is that of African Dwarfs, mentioned in ancient Books of Wonders (ʿAjāyibnāmeh) as battling cranes, whose literary lineage traces back to Homer's Iliad. The commonality linking these two motifs can be seen as the exaggeration in describing physical stature, thereby connecting them to fantasy. The present research, through meticulous examination of literary (particularly heroic) and ancient scientific texts, first investigates these two motifs within the Iranian intellectual tradition. It then traces their historical presence in the texts of ancient Greece and Rome. The study demonstrates that the elements described in ancient Iranian-Islamic texts have Western origins. Furthermore, considering recent scholarship, these motifs are rooted in reality and, over time, were transmitted to Iranian texts through translation and cultural exchanges. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20777.html This article presents a study of the sole surviving manuscript of Manzar al-Abrār, a narrative poem, by Šamsi Baghdādi, while also exploring the life of its author. Šamsi Baghdādi was a Persian-speaking poet of the 10th/16th century (alive in 975/1567) in Asia Minor, about whom little information remains. Although biographical sources trace his origins to Baghdad, evidence suggests he was of Persian descent. He worked as a cobbler in Baghdad and lived an ascetic life for many years. A devotee of the Ahl al-Bayt, he adhered to Islamic rites and held strong convictions toward Shiʿism. His family was known for their erudition, virtue, and poetry, and his son, ʿAhdi Baghdādi (d. 1002/1593), was a prominent poet, literary biographer, and author of the Tazkera-ye Golšan-e Šoʿarā during the 10th/16th and early 11th/17th centuries. Šamsi was skilled in composing ghazals (sonnets), qasidas (odes), and masnavis (long narrative poems). In addition to his scattered surviving poems, his Manzar al-Abrār—a work inspired by Nezāmi Ganjavi’s Maxzan al-Asrār and dedicated to Soltan Soleymān (900–974/1494-1566)—remains extant. This masnavi is the only Persian counterpart to Maxzan al-Asrār in the literary geography of Anatolia and Asia Minor. This study adopts an analytical-descriptive approach, drawing upon literary and historical sources as well as textual evidence. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21222.html Mysticism considers the path to God dependent on liberation from the empirical self and the material body. This liberation from the empirical self paves the way for union with the spiritual self, which is essentially the superego. The superego, in truth, represents the presence of the spiritual, divine, and exalted self of each individual in a state of servitude and angelic nature، something which Sana’i encounters by shedding all material veils. He begins this journey with love and strives for that higher self. In reaching it, he transcends not just the physical body but even the soul, rejecting residence in either realm. He does not become trapped in the baseness of the body or the nobility In the Divan of this passionate poet of Ghazni, the heavenly aspect of man is manifested through features such as love, annihilation in God (fana fi-Allah), subsistence through God (baqa bi-Allah), contentment, spiritual jealousy, and intoxication in divine love. It is also referred to using terms like "King of Kings," "The Greatest Sovereign," "The Pure Ones," "The Speaking Silent," "The Enlightened Mad Ones," etc. Considering that transcending the empirical self is only possible through inner and spiritual transformation, the spiritual revolution of this great poet has left a distinct trajectory in his poetry, which highlights the importance of studying and understanding this dimension. Although some research has briefly addressed individualism and interpretation in Sana’i’s poetry, this article thoroughly explores the manifestations of the superego using a descriptive-analytical approach, highlighting its expressions, reflections, and characteristics. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20984.html The present article identifies and analyzes the types of utopia in Persian literature and attempts to explain this concept in the form of Persian poetry and prose texts. Utopia, as an ideal and perfect world, first appeared in philosophical texts and then in literary texts, and has been widely depicted and drawn in Persian in various forms. Poets and writers have each depicted and explained the types of utopia according to their own cultural, social, and historical backgrounds. This research is in the field of literary typology and has classified and analyzed Persian utopias by genre using a descriptive-analytical and comparative method and library resources. The article also compares the common features and differences of this genre in Persian classical works such as Shahnameh, Eskandarnameh, and Kheradnameh Eskandari, as well as Persian novels of the Constitutional Era and after, and in the analysis of the subject, works are examined in which a general outline of a utopian society is presented. The main issue of the research is the analysis of Persian utopias and their classification based on the characteristics and ultimate goal of those works. The results of the research indicate the diversity and breadth of types of utopias in Persian poetry and prose texts, where writers have used utopia to represent collective and individual aspirations as well as to criticize the social and political situation of their time. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21237.html Sohrvardi's Red Wisdom contains dramatic elements both in the form and structure of the narrative from the Aristotelian perspective. The value of the concepts, content, and meaning of this work can become a guide for performers and writers in the field of drama and theater through the wisdom included in it by Sohrvardi. This treatise, with its dramatic capacities, draws a journey that guides a person in search of his individuality and in the direction of knowing the existence, towards a truth that was once covered by darkness and hidden from His eyes were far away. Elements such as plot ,conflict, character, dialogue, dramatic time and etc. , which include the dramatic textual basis, can be evaluated in this work with the knowledge of its eastern worldview. Time in narration from Gennett's point of view is considered one of the main components that can be analyzed to determine how an author narrates and advances his plot. The modern aspects  of  Red Wisdom have had a profound impact on its writing style. Retrospective and forward-looking narrative techniques play an essential role to creating suspense and progression  of the story and conveying  the author's message. The frequency of  Singular and repeated narrative on one hand, and the presence of negative acceleration in the effect and order continuity besides all the components of Genet's theory, including centralization, on the other hand can also be investigated in the Red Wisdom. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20772.html This paper gives an insight to synesthesia from the viewpoint of conceptual metaphor theory to analyze the synesthesia in the poetry of Sohrab Sepehri. With regard to Ullmann’s hierarchy of senses, some of cognitive science researchers have considered synesthesia as a type of conceptual metaphors; like in a conceptual metaphor, where a concrete conceptual domain is mapped to an abstract one in order to clarify and enrich it, in synesthesia, elements regarding weaker senses are mapped to the domain of stronger senses to give a richer understanding of concepts. This paper tries to review frequent synesthesia constructs in Sepehri’s poetry with an analytical method to show the embodiment implied in his apparently abstract work. Investigating multiple poems of Sepehri shows that almost all of his synesthesia constructs are instances of conceptual metaphors. In other words, all his synesthesia constructs give embodiments of abstract concepts and thus, his poetry is genuinely embodied and earthly, despite its abstract appearance. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21242.html Shahnameh contains unique words, expressions, and constructions that often resist straightforward interpretation. These linguistic complexities have frequently led scholars into realms of conjecture, imaginative reconstruction, and aesthetic interpretation—resulting in a spectrum of divergent and sometimes conflicting readings. One such enigmatic expression is dāstān rā, which has traditionally been interpreted to mean “for example,” “as a case in point,” or “figuratively.” However, a closer examination of this phrase within Shahnameh, alongside analogous expressions in other classical Persian texts—such as xod, hame, and fe-l-masal—suggests an alternative, previously overlooked meaning: that of hattâ “even.” In early Persian literature, the explicit use of hattā is rare; instead, these substitute expressions appear to have fulfilled its semantic function. This study presents textual evidence from Shahnameh and other Persian sources up to the 8th century AH, demonstrating that these terms and constructions, beyond their more familiar meanings, were also employed to convey the sense of “even.” Given that the conventional meanings of the term dāstān and the established syntactic roles of the postposition rā in Persian—along with their historical development—fail to account for the intended sense of dāstān rā in the Shahnameh, a fundamental question remains unanswered: does dāstān rā, when used in the sense of “even,” represent a deliberate neologism coined by Ferdowsi, or is it the product of a broader, naturally occurring semantic shift that had already taken shape by his time? https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20735.html Fereydon Tavallaly stands as one of the earliest modernist poets to emerge after Nima Yushij, successfully establishing a distinctive poetic voice and leading a significant literary movement. The poetic current spearheaded by Tavallaly developed under the influence of Nima Yushij’s seminal poem "Legend" and is characterized as a form of lyrical poetry infused with romantic elements. This trend attracted a generation of contemporary poets who followed in Tavallaly’s footsteps. Beyond its lyrical and romantic qualities, Tavallaly’s poetry also exhibits a profound tragic dimension. This tragic sensibility stems from Tavallaly’s inherently tragic worldview and, in part, from his affinity with dark romanticism—a mode in which the thematic components of romanticism and tragedy are deeply intertwined. This study employs a descriptive-analytical method to explore the connections between Tavallaly’s poetry and the tragic tradition. It examines and analyzes the manifestations of tragic consciousness and the ways in which key elements of tragedy are embedded within his poetic discourse. The findings indicate that Tavallaly’s poetry is deeply interwoven with tragic themes. He positions himself as a tragic hero—a figure who, within the realm of love and human relationships, embodies despair and failure, ultimately surrendering to and accepting defeat in the face of inescapable fate and adverse circumstances. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21299.html Only a few manuscripts of the classical Persian verse romance Vis and Ramin by Fakhr alDin Asʿad Gurgani, composed in the 5th century AH (11th century CE), are extant. The work has been printed five times, among which the critical and scholarly edition prepared by the Georgian researchers Todua and Gwakharia is the most significant. Their edition is based on eleven complete and fragmentary manuscripts, none of which date earlier than the 9th century AH. Therefore, discovering and examining any trace of Vis and Ramin predating this period is of considerable importance and can greatly contribute to the literary community’s understanding, introduction, and reevaluation of this ancient and valuable work. One source unavailable to previous editors is the Safīnah-yi Tabrīz manuscript (dated 723 AH), which contains 730 couplets from Vis and Ramin’s Dah-Nāmah, composed by Abu’lMajd Tabrizi. Considering the linguistic and historical significance of Vis and Ramin and its precedence over other extant manuscripts, the present study first introduces six newly identified poems in this romance, then reports 182 newly found couplets, and finally proposes revisions to ten couplets based on these new variant readings. The researchers hope that the findings of this study will contribute to a more refined and reliable text of Vis and Ramin. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21302.html Attar's Manteq al Tayr is one of the most important mystical works of Persian literature; the existence of numerous manuscripts, the multiple revisions of this book, and its translation into different languages all indicate its special importance. The two Corrections of Manteq al Tayr, one by the capable hand of Professor Shafi'i Kadkani, which is accompanied by detailed annotations, and the other by Professors Abedi and Purnamdarian, and their explanations of the verses, have resolved many of the book's ambiguities and difficulties. Despite the valuable commentaries in these two books, as well as some other studies that have addressed the difficulties of the verses of Manteq al Tayr, the meaning presented for some verses is not very convincing, and it seems that there is still room for discussion about them. In the following article, a number of these verses, which the authors believe require further scrutiny, have been reviewed and criticized. Accordingly, an attempt has been made to first explain the inaccuracy or inadequacy of the explanations of these verses and then to present a more precise meaning for them with the help of evidence from Attar himself and other Persian literary texts. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21304.html Glossaries are primarily used as reference sources and are seldom subjected to critical analysis. Examining such works provides a basis for improving lexicographical methodologies and enhancing the quality of subsequent compilations. This study, employing an analytical, critical, and descriptive approach, focuses on Šarh-e Estelāhāt-e Tasawuf by Sadeq Goharin. The objective is to analyze the content of the work in terms of its system of references, definitions, and poetic citations, as well as to evaluate its formal structure-particularly entry selection, phonetic transcription, and editorial issues-based on both quantitative and qualitative data. To this end, more than one thousand entries from the ten volumes of the glossary were examined with precise statistical analysis. The findings indicate accuracy in citations and the use of diverse sources across various fields of knowledge. Nevertheless, the absence of a bibliography, incomplete references, obscure sources, and typographical errors in entry titles are evident. Despite a reduction in irrelevant entries, redundancy, inconsistent ordering, and unnecessary entry-making persist. The definitions are generally elaborate, citation-based, and supported by multiple examples; however, they are sometimes devoid of mystical interpretation, ambiguous, difficult to follow, and lacking clear boundaries between technical and non-technical terms. The poetic evidence is extensive yet predominantly reliant on Rumi, with limited diversity. In addition, certain inconsistencies in phonetic transcription and editorial flaws are observed. Therefore, although Goharin’s glossary of Sufism possesses numerous merits, it requires revision in several respects. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21306.html The poetic anthology numbered FY587, held in the Istanbul University Library, has been identified as a selection of Persian poems from the work of Abdolaziz Kashi, titled Rouzat al-Nāẓir wa Nuzhat al-Khāṭir. A detailed examination of the content of this anthology confirms the accuracy of this attribution. Although this manuscript differs from the original Rouzat al-Nāẓir in aspects such as the number of verses and the attribution of some poems, its foundation and structure are entirely based on that book; to the extent that its chapter and section divisions correspond exactly with the aforementioned work. No specific transcription date is recorded for this anthology; however, since it was copied during the author's lifetime, its approximate date can be attributed to the first half of the 8th century AH (14th century CE). The orthographic features of the manuscript also confirm this dating. This anthology contains poems by 104 poets, with the highest number of verses belonging to Sa'di, Kamal al-Din Esmail, Sanai Ghaznawi, and Abdolaziz Kashi (the author). The present research, using a descriptive-analytical method, comprehensively examines this anthology and its correspondence with Rouzat al-Nāẓir wa Nuzhat al-Khāṭir. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21318.html Fath-ʿAli Xān Sabā Kāšāni was a pioneering court poet of the Qājār era, and his legacy—beyond his panegyrics—finds its fullest manifestation in two extensive epic poems: Šāhanšāhnāme and Xodāvandnāme, which hold a distinctive place among Qājār epics. Nevertheless, what has made an exact understanding of Sabā difficult is the disagreement regarding the date of his birth and the time of the composition of these two epics—an issue that has remained unresolved in literary and historical research. Therefore, the study of this subject gains both importance and necessity, for beyond determining the year of Sabā’s birth and the dates of the epics’ composition, it reveals the process of their development. It can also move beyond the one-dimensional perspective of earlier studies—which have been confined merely to poems or biographical anthologies—and open new horizons of inquiry. The present study has been conducted through a descriptive-analytical method, and data have been collected using library-based research. The collected evidence has then been evaluated within a comparative framework; thus, it may be said that this research adopts an integrative approach. By examining textual evidence alongside external accounts-such as the reports of contemporaries and biographers-together with codicological clues and the political and military events of the time, a more precise estimation of Sabā’s year of birth and the approximate chronology of the epics’ composition has been achieved. In addition, the hypothesis has been proposed that Šāhanšāhnāme underwent revision and reorganization, while Xodāvandnāme remained unfinished. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21335.html Nezami Ganjavi's epic Khosrow and Shirin, despite its historical and lyrical structure, contains hidden layers of mythological elements. This article employs a descriptive-analytical method to examine the mythological substructure of the story of Khosrow and Shirin, proposing a hypothesis that this narrative derives from the ancient archetype of the marriage between the peri (fairy) and the hero. In this framework, Shirin is analyzed as a manifestation of the peri in mythology, with attributes such as supernatural beauty, enchantment, connection with water, shape-shifting, a desire for fertility through heroes, and possession of treasure and many servants being attributed to her. Similarly, symbols like Shirin’s connection with lions, horses, and remote palaces further emphasize her peri-like qualities. This mythological interpretation adds internal coherence to the elements of the story and offers a deeper understanding of the text. The present paper argues that the enduring appeal of the Khosrow and Shirin narrative lies not only in Nezami’s storytelling prowess but also in its unconscious connection to mythological structures embedded in Iranian culture. This research also addresses questions about how archetypal motifs continue to persist in classical Persian literature. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21530.html When dealing with a literary text, what is assumed and strengthens the original value of the text is its literary features, but being lyrical is a matter of content, and the lyrical text increases its quality by resorting to the features of the literary language. Despite this, lyrical texts without literary features are more or less ignored. Among the types of lyrical words, complaint requires the closest proximity to reality, and basically, a complaint whose subject is a complaint about an imaginary matter, will not have any meaning from the point of view of being a complaint for the audience. This judgment is more stable in the case of political complaints. Based on this, it seems that in order to open the chapter of research in the field of non-literary language of lyrical texts or what is called referential language, research into complaint is a suitable choice. In this research, a political complaint has been selected from the text of Rāwandi's Rāhat al-Sodur and the quality of the retention of the referential aspect of the language of this text has been examined. Studies show that the prose format is more favorable than poetry in adopting the reference language for complaints, but we think that the principle in advancing this approach is the realistic identity of the complaint. This realistic identity has caused Ravandi to ignore the original elements of rhetoric and to limit the expressive elements to only a few and more important ones, which are weak and ineffective, and to pay more attention to direct and one-to-one word and meaning. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21541.html Identity crisis is a fundamental and complex psychological issue that holds particular significance during psychosocial development, especially in adolescence. Erik H. Erikson’s eight-stage theory, emphasizing the interaction between biological and social factors, provides a theoretical framework for understanding this crisis. This study analyzes the identity crisis in two prominent novels: Drunkard Morning by Fataneh Haj Seyed Javadi and The Frozen Woman by Annie Ernaux. Although these works are set in two distinct cultural-historical contexts, both depict the identity challenges faced by women confronting social structures. The findings reveal that the main characters in both novels are situated in the fifth stage of Erikson’s theory, “Identity vs. Role Confusion,” and encounter multiple internal and external conflicts on their path toward forming their identity. This study highlights the crucial role of family, society, and culture in the identity formation process and demonstrates how literature can reflect individual and social psychological crises. The results contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of individual and social identity across diverse cultural contexts and provide a foundation for future interdisciplinary research. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21542.html In the view of classical literary scholars, meter has traditionally been regarded as the distinctive feature that separates poetry from prose. In his interviews, Shahriar explicitly affirmed this perspective, maintaining that a text devoid of meter cannot be considered true poetry. This study seeks to address three essential questions concerning the prosodic characteristics of Shahriar’s verse. The first question concerns the overall frequency and distribution of metrical patterns both across his entire Diwan and within individual poetic genres. The findings reveal a considerable diversity of metrical forms in his works. Excluding Shahriar’s free verse poetry—which lies beyond the scope of this study—he employs thirty‑eight distinct classical meters. The highest number of these meters appears in his ghazals, whereas the lowest occurs in his masnavis. The second question investigates the extent of metrical variation within each genre. Shahriar’s choice of meter in each genre reflects genre-specific considerations: certain meters are more frequently used due to thematic and structural appropriateness, while others appear less often. Each genre is examined individually to reveal its metrical tendencies. The third question explores whether there is an intrinsic relationship between meter, theme, and genre—specifically, whether particular meters or genres are inherently suited to express certain themes. Our analysis demonstrates that such intrinsic correlation does not exist; rather, it is poets themselves who, through creative exploration and discovery, actualize the latent emotional and semantic potentialities of various meters. The art of poetry thus lies in revealing and realizing these capacities. Based on his diverse poetic experience, Shahriar proves to be a remarkable discoverer of such metrical possibilities. This article aims to highlight and substantiate Shahriar’s distinctive ability in this regard. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21543.html One of the rhetorical devices in classical Persian poetry is “clarification after ambiguity”-a technique by which the poet first creates a deliberate obscurity, thereby stimulating the reader’s reflection, and then gradually elucidates the intended meaning, thus deepening the expressive and persuasive power of the verse. Khāqānī ye Sharvānī, one of the foremost figures of the Azerbaijani style, demonstrates an exceptional mastery in employing this device. His Dīvān provides ample ground for the manifestation of such technique, for the inherent complexity and density of his style-particularly the frequent use of numerical symbolism-calls for a gradual process of explication to convey multilayered concepts.The neglect of this rhetorical characteristic by some commentators has led to interpretive inaccuracies in explaining certain verses of Khāqānī. Adopting an inductive and analytical approach, the present study aims to show that understanding this technique can play a pivotal role in the interpretation, commentary, and teaching of intricate classical texts. Specifically, in the study and exegesis of Khāqānī’s poetry, recognition of this device facilitates a more accurate comprehension, prevents superficial or erroneous readings, and enables a more transparent perception of the poet’s depth of meaning and rhetorical craftsmanship. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21618.html In the early years following the passing away of the Prophet of Islam, Muslims generally devoted their efforts to the comprehensive preservation of the Qur’an, particularly its outward form. However, a number of factors rendered this endeavor only partially successful. Among the most significant of these factors were differences in Qur’anic readings (qirāʾāt) employed to justify interpretation, attempts to harmonize the text with the grammatical rules of the Arabic language, efforts to enhance the rhetorical and miraculous aspects of the Qur’an, and the absence of vowel signs, diacritical marks, and consonantal differentiation in early Arabic script. The emergence of the fourteen canonical Qur’anic readings may be regarded as one indication of the incomplete realization of this objective. Since no text remains entirely immune from change and intervention over the course of time, certain modifications to the Qur’anic text, supported by specific rationales, occurred among particular intellectual and ideological groups. Mystics and Sufis constitute one such group. Among their prominent figures isʿAyn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī, whose unconventional engagement with the Qur’anic text is grounded not only in intellectual and spiritual foundations of which taʾwīl (esoteric interpretation) forms an integral part but also in aesthetic, intuitive, and rhetorical considerations. In his interpretive practice and his extraction of semantic layers from the Qur’an, he advances to the point of employing various forms of defamiliarization, and in his use of Qur’anic verses, he at times intervenes even in their apparent wording. Adopting a descriptive–analytical method, based on library research, this article seeks to examine the types of Qur’anic interventions and the underlying reasons for them in the Persian works of ʿAyn al-Quḍāt. The findings indicate the interventions applied by this mystic to Qur’anic verses are rooted in his mystical worldview and are largely directed toward achieving rhetorical objectives. Furthermore, it appears that in numerous cases, reliance on memory has contributed to discrepancies between his citations and the canonical Qur’anic text. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21658.html This study examines how contemporary Persian-Dari poetry reflects political, social, and cultural developments in Afghanistan between the 1960s and the 1990s. It argues that poets responded divergently to these transformations according to their ideological positions: while some aligned with state-sponsored discourse and contributed to the reproduction of official ideology, others articulated resistance through symbolic and multi-layered poetic language. Beyond its aesthetic function, poetry in this period emerged as a significant medium of socio-political engagement and a repository of collective memory. It was also instrumentalized for political propaganda through the translation of Russian literary works and the institutional activities of the Writers’ Union of the People's Democratic Party, whereas independent and dissident poets voiced protest and resistance against dominant power structures. Adopting a historical-analytical approach and drawing on a systematic study of poetic texts alongside relevant historical sources, this study offers a comprehensive and comparatively novel analysis of the representation of political and social events in contemporary Afghan poetry. It advances the field by integrating discursive, linguistic, and socio-historical perspectives within a unified analytical framework, thereby providing a nuanced understanding of the dynamic interplay between poetry, ideology, and historical experience across multiple poetic currents. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21699.html Elaine Showalter's four-dimensional model is a woman-centered approach based on examining women's lived experience in four domains: biological, linguistic, psychological, and cultural. Showalter has coined the term "gynocriticism" for this critique. Shahrbanoo's Maheasal, the third work in Mahshid Amirshahi's Mothers and Daughters quartet, is very suitable for reading with this approach, as it deals with various aspects of women's lives. Shahrbanoo's Honeymoon, in this research, is criticized using qualitative analysis and library and document studies to extract and examine its noteworthy features regarding women. The results of the research show that in the biological model, the female body is the starting point of many crises that cross the cultural corridor. The linguistic model in this work is stylistically decisive and the language of each character is his signature. In the psychological model, the author reveals the hidden suffering of women by constantly referring to their psyche. The cultural model has the highest frequency, which narrates the social and historical context of domination over women. Shahrbanoo's Honeymoon is a narrative of women who live at the intersection of body, mind, culture, and language. Amirshahi shows that women's lives are not accidental, but the product of a network of social relationships. The novel's impact lies in the simultaneity of four latent patterns that together create a multilayered image of Iranian women. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21659.html This article adopts a cultural semiotic approach to examine the position of Shahriar’s Divan in relation to the Iranian semiosphere. The Divan of Shahriar ranks among Iran’s most sign‑rich texts. His interaction with the Iranian semiosphere takes two forms: (a) the use of canonical, pre‑existing signs that are already consolidated and possess cultural and identity‑marking characteristics; and (b) bringing marginal or unknown signs into the text and drawing them into Iran’s cultural semiosphere. After explaining what constitutes an Iranian sign and the semiosphere, the article analyzes the process of textualization (i.e., culturalization) of signs in the long poem Sahandiyya, demonstrating the semiotic density and Shahriar’s approach to textualizing the signs of his own time. To support its claims, the article also refers to other poems in Shahriar’s Divan. The study finds that although Shahriar has a clear advantage in textualizing the contemporary signs of his era, he remains committed to preserving the stable order of the Iranian semiosphere. He links local and national signs, transforming his Divan into a space for multicultural convergence across a long historical span and a vast geographical expanse. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21678.html Rostam's battle with Div-e Sapid (the White Demon) is the most prominent confrontation between the hero of the Iranian national epic and demons. However, based on the mythological nature of the epic's literary genre and the evidence that has cast a shadow on various aspects of this battle, it seems that the Haft Ḵᵛān-e Rostam was reported and depicted based on the context and characteristics of an older behavioral pattern. The present study believes that from a mythological perspective and by focusing on the Mythological Motif of the Mihr's Bull-Slaying, it is possible to shed light on the context and functions of Rostam's conflict with Div-e Sapid, and to provide a more meaningful interpretation of it compared to Freud's psychoanalytic approach in Mahmoud Omidsālār's recent analysis. By providing other explicit evidence of Mihr's Bull-Slaying manifestations in epic texts, the hypothesis of the reflection of the mythological depiction of "the war between Mihr and Bull" in the Šāh-Nāma can be justified and even proven. The present article is inductive and organized in three parts: introduction, theoretical foundations, and main discussion. The results of the research, while confirming the hypotheses of the article, indicate that the pattern of Mihr's functions as a symbol of light, goodness, and courage has been transferred to heroes and Ayyār, and the evil, darkness, and fear of the mythical Bull, whose sacrifice is a source of salvation and renewal, has been transferred to the Div -Bull and witches of the epic. The presence of guides and enlightenment and blessing from the meat or blood of the sacrificial bull is also among the other notable manifestations of the evidence under discussion. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21679.html The Kitāb al-Tārīkh al-Ghiyāthī is an Arabic-language historical work written by Ghiyāth al-Dīn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Fatḥ Allāh al-Baghdādī al-Falakī al-Kātib (alive in the early 10th century AH), which occupies a distinguished place among the historiographical writings of the ninth and early tenth centuries AH. The author, possessing strong command of Persian, drew upon historical sources in that language and cited a considerable number of Persian verses -either of historical value or employed as proverbial expressions- throughout his book. Al-Baghdādī most likely composed his work in the late ninth century AH, at a time when several literati and bureaucrats in Baghdad were familiar with both Persian and Turkish. A preliminary comparison shows that this scholar and historian referred to Turkish-language materials in only two or three instances, which reflects the dominance of Persian in Baghdad during that period. The printed edition of the Tārīkh al-Ghiyāthī published in Baghdad, however, contains numerous inaccuracies and defects in the transcription of the Persian verses. In the present study, all such verses have been first extracted and classified into two groups — the “historical section” and the “proverbial section.” Subsequently, these poems have been corrected based on a transcript made approximately eight decades ago from the manuscript preserved in the Baghdad Museum, revised by the distinguished scholar Muḥammad Qazvīnī, and further verified with reference to several additional sources. In making these emendations, priority has been given to sources which were likely among al-Baghdādī’s own references for the composition of this work. https://perlit.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_21680.html The emergence of Islamic mysticism and Sufism in the early centuries of the Hijri calendar was accompanied by the formation of a set of mystical terms that Sufis and mystics used to express their specific teachings. These terms were gradually codified over time, and many mystics provided interpretations of them. Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani (d. 525 AH) is among the prominent thinkers and mystics who, in addition to employing the common mystical terminology, contributed innovative concepts to this field. A close examination of his works reveals that, in order to articulate his profound and novel mystical ideas, he coined and introduced new terms such as “pir-parasti” (devotion to the spiritual master), “ʿādat-parasti” (habit worship) including sub-concepts like “ḥijāb-e ʿādat” (veil of habit) and “sharīʿat-e ʿādat” (sharia of habit), “spiritual incarnation” and “virtual incarnation,” “ṣād,” “alchemy,” and “sharīʿat-e ʿishq” (sharia of love). This article identifies, analyzes, and explains the most significant innovative mystical terms introduced by Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani and clarifies their place within his intellectual system. The findings of the study show that his novel terminology stems from his effort to present mystical concepts beyond the framework of the conventional terms of his time and plays a key role in expressing his unique mystical ideas.