An Analysis of Binary Oppositions of Optimism and Pessimism in ‛Abd al-wahhāb al-Bayātī and Mohammad Reza Shafi’i Kadkani's poems

Binary oppositions are concepts that, although they have a long history, were first coined by structuralist linguists who sought a coherent and practical way to achieve a semantic relationship between two opposing concepts. One of these Binary oppositions is the optimism and pessimism. There is an opposing relation between these tow concepts which springs from their symmetry and their interaction. This contrast, which plays a significant role in the beauty and structural coherence of literary texts, is particularly evident in the poems of ‛Abd al-Wahhāb al-Bayātī (1999- 1926) and Mohammad Reza shafi’i Kadkani (1939). This study, raising the question of what binary oppositions both poets have used to express optimism and pessimism and what are the similarities and differences between them, analyzes similar and prominent examples and highlights the binary opppositions of optimism and pessimism and their connotations in the poems of the two poets, based on descriptive-analytical method. This artistic device is manifested in the form of words with positive and negative connotations such as a pair of words of light and darkness, freedom and captivty, spring and winter, birth and death in the poems of two poets. The main underpinnings of all these pairs of words are social and political concerns that have deeply intertwined with the poems of two poets. These concerns have led these two poets use words and phrase that imply disappointment and sadness in addition to use use words and phrase that imply hope and happiness.