The Study and Analysis of a Classicist-Based Orientation of Identity in Akhavan’s Poetry

Re-reading is a targeted and oriented reading by a reader and interpreter who attempts to analyze and re-read a text or message in the light of a concept or a specific theory. Since the mind and language in Akhavan Sales’s poetry opened a bright window to the past of Iran with all of its historical, political and cultural rise and fall, the present research is primarily concerned with the concept of national identity as one of elements of Classicism and its representation in his poetry. Identity means one’s or a group’s definition of self and whoness of self in contrast to “other” and a sense of belonging to a material and spiritual collection whose elements have already been shaped. National identity, which is the most prevalent and legitimate level of identity in social system, is defined as the sense of responsibility and dependency to a society. System of beliefs, values, norms and such cultural institutions as language, religion, traditions and literature, are included in this definition. The author’s main concern in broaching such a subject is the examination of Akhavan’s unique role in shaping the concept of national identity in Iran’s contemporary poetry. Akhavan’s poetry in Pahlavi I and II eras was in accordance with current policies of the ruling class as well as majority of the intellectuals of the time who in one form or another pretended a devotion to Iranian and national identity; for this reason, according to values and norms of those years his poetry stresses such concepts as myths, nationalism, archaism, nostalgia, protection of national and cultural borders, Iranian ethnicity, and fighting against enemies’ destructive invasions.