Romanticism individuality in ''Harfhaye Hamsaye'' by Nima Yushij: A Critical Stylistic Approach

This article aims at investigating a characteristic feature of romanticism, namely, romantic individualism, in a letter composed by Nīmā Yūshīj (1897-1960). According to contemporary poet and literary critic Shafi'ī Kadkanī (1939- ), the poetry of Nīmā reflects traces of European romanticism, particularly French romanticism. In this respect, we can see manifestations of what is called individual and social romanticism in his writing. Therefore, we attempt to examine representations of romantic individualist belief in a letter composed by Nīmā, using critical stylistic approach. Critical stylistics is an approach proposed by Lesley Jeffries to distinguish it from literary stylistics. This approach, using textual-conceptual functions, manages to reveal and show implicit and explicit ideologies of texts. It is in focusing on text that critical stylistics comes nearest to current mainstream stylistics. But since it has its structures and functions for analyzing text, differences can be seen between the two. The present article, using critical stylistic approach, investigates a text by Nīmā in order to reveal the poet's beliefs in romantic individuality in hidden layers of his text. Findings suggest that this particular text by Nīmā manifests some aspects of romantic individualism, but it is still not clear whether we are allowed to link the poetry of Nīmā to Romanticism as practiced in Europe. Literary movements have their own philosophical and social origins that are particular to their own time. Finding these origins in Iran and attributing them to the poetry of Nīmā need further social, historical and philosophical evidences and argumentations.