A Methodological Critique of “The Imagist Historian or Formalist Poet”

In any scientific research, the research method is the main factor in obtaining accurate and correct results. Therefore, researchers in various fields of science try to conduct their research within the framework of methods defined in their discipline. “The Imagist Historian or Formalist Poet” is a book in which the author intends to study the poems of MohammadReza Shafi'i Kadkani by using three methods of historical, sociological and formalist criticism. The present article, in order to measure the accuracy of the approaches in this book, first examines its name, which represents the author's view of the work under study and then he has examined the quality of the author's use of approaches. After reviewing, it is clear that the author has made a mistake in applying all three main approaches of the book. In the end, such a conclusion is reached that the author does not have comprehensive knowledge of the methods he has chosen as research approach, and the book is devoid of any method that leads to accurate and scientific results.