The intellectual Simile in Tarikh-e-Vassaf

Simile, which appears in different modes, is one of the major subjects of a branch of rhetoric called Bayan. Some of these modes, such as intellectual-intellectual and sensible-intellectual are not in harmony with the illuminating role of simile; therefor, the books on Bayanhardlyhave positive attitudes towards these modes of simile, but contrary to this attitude, such similes appear with a high frequency in some literary ages and some Persian texts. By critiquing and analyzing the intellectual similes in Tarikh-e-Vassaf, this article tries to study the reason why these similes were widely used. This research shows that Vassaf’s tendency for this mode of simile was because of his penchant for breaking with tradition and departing from the literary norms, widespread desire for innovation, the limitations of creating simile’s by the restricted views of ancients, general inclination for circumlocution, and a tendency to use the exaggerated forms of imageries. By using artistic elegances,the author of Tarikh-e-Vassaf has tried to elude the negative consequences of these similes, yet he has not been successful in all his efforts. Moreover, one of the important reasonswhy the text is abstruse and obscure, is the high frequency of intellectual similesin this text.