فصلنامه متن پژوهی ادبی
پیاپی 57 (پاییز 1392)

Traditional rhetoric studies the esthetics of literary works only in three areas, namely the science of rhetoric, expression and meanings. This traditional view sees the esthetic value of each poem or literary text in its being filled with devices and arts mentioned in the above said three areas. However, new rhetoric seeks the criterion of esthetics of a literary work in other indices and components too which lead to the integration of the text. Some of the new criteria and tools that should be studied in the rhetoric of a literary text are linguistic configuration, theme, space, suitability of the imaginations with the theme and form of the text, etc. Another point is that any literary genre whether poem, prose, epic, drama, story, novel, ghazal, ruba’i, etc. has its own esthetic criteria and rhetoric. Thus, the esthetic aspects of each genre should be evaluated against its special rhetoric criterion. To prove this hypothesis, this paper studies the rhetoric of the ruba’i genre based on the new rhetoric criteria. It is shown that the quality of the criteria and indices that lead to the beauty of the ruba’i is different from other genres.

Asha can be seen in a major part of previous moral and social texts and it is not possible to explain its genesis and continuity without referring to psychological findings. The current research aims at exploring the psychological base of this concept using the scientific endeavors. This paper first investigates the presence of Asha in Persian literature and then attempts to explore and explain them using the psychological findings. Asha is found to be in accordance with the low level of moral development called pre-conventional and concrete operational level of cognitive development. At the same time, there is a contradiction between the low level moral judgments in Persian literature and the developed statements of moral judgments. Furthermore, the pre-conventional explanation of Asha can just explain the form of Asha and its complete explanation needs including its functional and emotive aspects. In conclusion, it appears that despite the pre-moral nature of Asha, it is a necessary factor in developing individual and social morality. It reminds the parallel development of individual and human kind. At the same time, this study indicates the reciprocal need of literature and psychology, one of which considers a high part of human inventions and the other one aims at a scientific study of human mind and its products.

By analyzing the writer’s expression style, one can understand the character, expression ability and the structure governing the literary work. Thus, understanding the expression style of the writer is an introduction to his/her particular aesthetics. Fih-i Ma Fih is the most beautiful work among the prose texts in Persian literature ruled by order and unity in which the maturity of Molavi’s expression style is evident. This study describes the ideas of researchers about Fih-i Ma Fih and analyzes Molavi’s expression style and its esthetic aspects.

Shams is the undeniable hero of Molavi’s ghazals to the extent that his great book is named after Shams. But shams has a weaker presence in Masnavi and that is because it was composed at the suggestion of Hesamuddin who also wrote down his father’s poetry in this book. He does not like Shams’s presence to be dominant in this work. Although Molavi is well aware of his son’s intention, he respects his son’s suggestion. At any rate, he praises shams (twice) in the beginning of the first chapter and (once) in the second chapter. In other chapters, he mentions Shams but only to refer to its meaning (sun) in a symbolic way. Although the absence of Shams in Masnavi is a conscious and deliberate act, he is present in Molavi’s unconscious. So wherever he talks of Hesamuddin, the sun and the sunlight, he reminds himself of Shams as well.

Examining the viewpoints of Nezami about the source of inspiration, finding their mythical root and analyzing them based on the psychology of art is useful in knowing the mysterious phenomenon of inspiration. Nezami is a good choice for analysis in this regard as he gradually put forth these myths during 30 years. Autobiographical references, introductions and descriptions about the motivation for writing masnavis, especially the motivation for change in the narrative point of view help us know the poet’s mentality and find the root of his source of inspiration. His latest references to the source of inspiration in the end of his artistic life are more explicitly mentioned in Eqbalnameh. Gathering Nezami’s motivations for writing masnavi and analyzing them provides the ground for knowing his source of inspiration. This paper presents a part of viewpoints in Khamseh which, according to the researcher, are consciously described by Nezami to teach how to search for his autobiography.

Ferdowsi and Mutanabbi, the great epic poets of Persian and Arabic literatures have created novel images of massive attacks by army troops which can be scrutinized from various perspectives. Similarities in topics and patterns and Mutanabbi’s influence on Ferdowsi have led to the creation of similar epic images of fighting in the works of these great scholars. However, they have differences as well. Due to the sociopolitical circumstances of his time, Ferdowsi sides with his people and creates clear and emotional images of the massive attacks to boost people’s morale, while Mutanabbi is after pleasing the ruler, Seifuddowleh, and in competition with other court poets, he employs various types of metaphors, hyperboles, and complex similes. The present paper attempts to compare imagery of troops created by these two poets.

The architectural style in each era reflects the prevailing thoughts and discourse in that time, and man occurs to have different thoughts and views as a result of social and cultural developments. The prevailing discourse in each era requires a different view and interpretation. One of the issues need to be addressed from a different point of view in the time of Hafiz is architecture in his poetry. Architectural terminology has widespread range in Divan of Hafiz. Interestingly enough, the terminology is used along with mystic and ambiguous words, which opens the way to a new perspective towards the art of Hafiz that has been unexplored. By studying the said terminology, one can get to know the aspects of sciences in the above mentioned eras such as anthropology, sociology, architecture, etc. and bring to the surface the aspects which remained ambiguous. Obviously, it cannot be asserted that Hafiz has used these words together consciously or unconsciously. Among the geometric figures including square, triangle, circle, etc. in architecture, Hafiz is mostly inclined towards circle. This paper seeks to find the reason why Hafiz prefers circle over other figures in his Divan.