Rhetorics of Modality in the Panegyrical Poetry of the Ghaznavid Court

Literature is constructed by language. Therefore, we can use linguistic theories in literary studies. Among these theories, functionalism is more appropriate for rhetorical studies because, in addition to particular clauses and the text as a whole, functionalists pay special attention to the context in which the text was written — and this is the fundamental of rhetoric. To functionalists, every clause has three basic roles called metafunctions. One of these metafunctions is establishing an interaction between the utterer and the addressee. This metafunction has various components including modality. Modality refers to a collection of the speaker’s judgments regarding what they say and the uncertainty which they apply to the clauses. A significant part of Persian literature is panegyric poetry. The Ghaznavid Court was one of the most important supporters of the panegyrists. The main components of the context, in panegyric poetry, are the poet, the person who is being praised, and the position which the praised person holds. This study aims at analyzing the influence of these components on the usage of modality in Ghaznavid panegyric poetry in order to find out any possible patterns and rules in the extant poems of this period. Furthermore, the poems which do not follow the aforesaid rules are analyzed according to their historical context. The article argues that the promotion of the praised person, from “prince” to “king” (sultan), cause changes in the poet’s rhetorical and poetical approach in using modality. In more accurate words, as a result of the promotion of the praised person the poet uses less modal elements in his panegyrics. In addition, although changes in the position of the poet or the praised person mostly do not lead to significant alterations in the quantity of the modal components, such alterations do occur in some circumstances such as rivalries for achieving political dominance.