سورن ستارزاده

The issue of the “subject” is the most important factor in the distinction between classical and modern literature. The word “I” is often general and abstract in classical literature, while in contemporary literature, following modern philosophy, it is an individualized and concrete “I” or, in other words, an active subject. Perhaps the most obvious manifestation of this paradigm shift - especially in poetry - can be seen in the type of encounter with the “subject”. Contemporary poetry, from its most superficial romantic facet to its most complex philosophical aspect, expresses a self-sufficient subject whose origin is human centrality. Ahmad Shamlou is one of the poets whose poetry subject is “I”. This research deals with the hermeneutics of “self/subject” in his poetry using qualitative content analysis and critical reading of the collection of Shamlou's poems along with selecting indicative examples. Since this “I/self/subject” has been subjected to turmoil and transformations during his six decades of writing poetry, the theoretical framework of the discussion is also based on these developments and deals with both the philosophical subject which emphasizes individual thought and consciousness and to a subject that is a social construct. Hence, the theoretical framework of the study is based on a triangulation of Michel Foucault’s discussions about the hermeneutics of the self and governing oneself and others; the theory of symbolic interactionism, which deals with the individual and social “self”; existentialism that focuses on freedom, choice, and responsibility; and ultimately Althusser’s perspective on the subject i.e., subject with s (small letter) and subject with S (capital letter). "I" in Shamlou's political poetry is an ideological pseudo-subject (subject) due to his attachment to the Toudeh party, whereas in his philosophical poetry, it is the result of knowledge and awareness based on his own lived experience, and reflection on existence, human, life, and death, as the supreme subject (Subject).