Mimicry from Literary Criticism's Perspective

Among the important issues in literary criticism are the determination of limits of imitation and the expression of their difference with adoption. This paper aims to determine the limits of imitation, to specify related factors and consequences, less noticed in Persian literature, and to recognize creative arts from non-creatives ones. Therefore, in this paper, an introduction about imitation in ancient Greek criticism and its equivalent meanings in Islamic translation including mimic and representation is offered. Then a survey of the relationship between imitation and originality is presented and its limits in modern criticism and formalist criticism is discussed, more over two parts are devoted to the relationship between imitation and imagery and the mutual relationship between imitation and language, as well as, the relationship between intellectual degeneration with lingual degeneration and development of imitation works are dealt with, the last part is devoted to surveying backgrounds and factors in imitative works in Persian literature.