Among those who have researched on Shāhnāmeh, Alī Hasūrī and after him Ahmad Shāmlū, believe that Ẕahāk, in order to construct a communist classless society, kills Jam who, according to Avestā, has taken the properties of  Dīvs(devils, who Hasūrī believes stand for common people) and has built a hierarchal society. However, Firīdūn, with the help of Kāvih, revitalizes the old system by killing Ẕahāk. The writer of this article believes that according to Gāhān, Dīv is a creature that does no farming and agriculture; therefore, Jam has not taken away the properties of the common people, but the accumulated wealth of figures like Ẕahāk, who had killed his own father, Ᾱbtīn the farmer, and Barmāyih Cow, and had ruined agricultural landscapes; Jam has in fact infringed upon the properties of those who were against agriculture and farming. However, this infringement by no means leads to the formation of a classless society. The clergy and the military-- two powerful classes of the time —were empowered during the reign of Ẕahāk and helped reinforce his kingdom. It means that before Jam’s fall, Artishtārān (military class) goes to Ẕahāk and the clergymen make an entry to his court after his nightmare, and are warmly received. Due to Ẕahāk’s anti-production policies, only the two classes of farmers and industrialists have been destroyed. These two classes are epitomized in the figures of Firīdūn and Kāvih. Although he is a king in Shāhnāmeh, Firīdūn, according to Dinkard, comes from a family of farmers and his father, Ᾱbtīn, in Avestā, is a water-sharer. This proves his agrarian background and reveals him to be the purveyor of agriculture in semi-historical texts.     Key Words:Ẕahāk, Dīv, Farmer, Firīdūn, Kāvih.

Imagery helps the poet to successfully bring his mental concepts home to his readers with the help of various rhetorical techniques; therefore, there are many similarities between literary and rhetorical tropes, and the techniques used in logical reasoning. Such features can be found in different literary periods and various literary styles; however, in some historical eras, due to some specific social considerations, rhetorics took precedence over other poetic styles; school of Āzirbayjān can be cited as an example of rhetorical excellence.  Great poets of this school—Khāqānī Shirvānī, Nizāmī Ganjavī, Mujīrudīn Baylaqānī, Falakī Shirvānī, Mahastī Ganjavī—made a good use of  simile, metaphor, personification, allegories and allusions in order to put across their claims more effectively. This article briefly explores the theories of Stephen Toulmin  about persuasive reasoning as the stylistic feature typical of Āzirbayjān School of poetry; the theories will then be elucidated with ample textual evidence taken from poems of Āzirbayjān School. Our analytic approach draws on the three principles Toulmin has put forth: making a claim, providing support and contextualization. The researcher proceeds to examine the effect of logical reasoning upon the stylistic grid of Āzirbayjān School of poetry. Key words:Āzirbayjān School, Methods of Reasoning, Stephen Toulmin,  

In order to express their view of different phenomena, authors of literary texts occasionally expand upon the meaning of signs to the extent that their meanings would undergo a transformation. These signs would then function as keywords the meanings of which sound hard to grasp. Today, a semantic study and an examination of the conceptual relationship between words and sentences make possible the objective analysis of the processes involved in the semantic expansion and metamorphosis of the signs; having studied the conceptual relationship between the signs, the researcher could then easily comprehend the attitude and outlook of the author of the text. From among conceptual relationships, Hyponymy and contrast are specifically efficient in the semantic analysis of linguistic signs within a text. In order to highlight the role of conceptual relationships in the process of semantic expansion and metamorphosis of linguistic signs, semiotics of "need" in Hāfiz poetry has been examined.  Based on researches in this domain, conceptual relationships between words and sentences and the semantic affinity between "piety" and "self centeredness", "pride", "vanity", "deceitfulness" and "hypocrisy" expand the meaning of piety to an extent that it overlaps with "hypocrisy", thence the phrase "hypocrite piety." The contextual meanings of such keywords as "piety", "hypocrisy" and "need" indicate that Hāfiz, apart from his social and individual pathology of the concept of "piety," creates a complicated network of references, connotations and associations based upon the contrast between "need" and "piety." Thus, he not only expands the meaning of "need" but also creates a Hāfiz-specific concept of piety based on the semantic overlap between the concept of "need" and "ascetic poverty." Key words: Conceptual Relations, Sign, Semantic Change, Semantic Development, Hāfiz Poetry

Sanāyī’s Sīr al-Ibād Ila al-Ma’ād  and Attār’s Musībat Nāmih are among the most important spiritual travelogues. There are similarities and differences between these two works.  The differences are rooted in Sanāyī’s life and thought and the impact of unspiritual poems upon him. Indeed, Sanāyī is the poet of Taqhīq genre of poetry and Sīr al-Ibād is not completely mystical either. Additionally, Sanāyī is a pioneer in this domain, therefore, in the course of time, mystical language and thought have developed and have reached the acme of their growth in Attār’s travel account. In this article a general view of spiritual journey and its motivations and challenges are presented by providing an overview of similarities and differences between these two works. The differences are: 1. Structural differences, 2. Dual symbolism, 3. Different spaces. The similarities are: 1.Stages of creation, 2.Complaining about the world, 3.Return to the origin, 4.The wayfarer and the old sage, 5.The style of conversation, 6.The destination of the journey. The review of the similarities between spiritual journeys represents the general specifications of such works and puts them forth as motifs in mystical literature. Key words: Sīr al-Ibād Ila al-Ma’ād, Musībat Nāmih, Sanāyī, Attār, Spiritual Journey.

Persian literature is a rich resource for investigating not only the customs, traditions, and Persian lifestyle, but also the cultures close to Persia a long time ago. Although the data of such research carry invaluable inherent worth, it is obvious to those who understand Persian literature that a thorough awareness of such issues is inseparable from a thorough and correct understanding of the poetry and prose of a nation. Regarding this requirement, some literary works written in this context have been compiled and since we need references as vast as Persian literary history in order to investigate this issue completely and accurately, these works are invaluable regardless of their shortcomings. To meet the demands of this research, we investigate the glasses according to the oldest evidence obtained, that is, the works produced through the ninth to the twelfth centuries (A. H.). Firstly, we try to reconstruct the structure and materials of the glasses and then briefly describe the way they emerge and reemerge in literature based on the vocabulary, imagery, etc. Key words: The Glasses; History of Culture, Persian Texts, Literary History, Imagery; Vocabularies

Romanticism is a social, economic and political school shaped in various communities after a period of relative peace, leaving a profound influence upon literature and art. The most significant change brought about by this school is that it moved man's intellectual orientation out of the holy and the objective, into the unholy and the subjective.In this research, the writers study the status of individualism in  Vahshī Bāfqī's lyric poetry as manifested in Nāzir and Manzūr. Researches indicate that the poet, due to his lived experience of poverty, destitution and unrequited love that had forced him into seclusion, isolation and an antisocial disposition, departed from his predecessors not only in the content, but also in the structural and linguistic scope of his work. In line with such experiences, he creates vivid natural imagery to represent his own emotions and thence, he can be considered the pioneer of romanticism in Persian literature and the forefather of such Romantics as Nīmā Yūshīj.  Key Words: Vahshī Bāfqī, Literal Romanticism, Lyric Genre, Imagination.

The most ancient literary theory held by man has been the theory of inspiration. This theory, in its earliest forms, can be traced in myths where inspiration was attributed to gods and angels; and in its most recent forms, the unconscious human mind is said to be the source of inspiration. In this paper, after reviewing the evolution of theories and models of inspiration in the West, we study the models of inspiration prevalent in the ancient Persian culture and those common in Persian Poetry of the Islamic period. The sources of inspiration in the Islamic Persian Poetry are mainly divided into: continuation of the ancient cult of inspiration and belief in the inspirational role of Surūsh; influence of pre-Islamic Arab traditions, expansion of Islamic beliefs and Quran and Hadith culture and Prophetic Tradition; and finally the development of mystical and intuitive beliefs about the originality of the unconscious, intoxication, intuition and angelic mediation. Such beliefs held that the inspiration lies in an external agency, but according to the mystical outlook, inspiration is an internal matter and can be attributed to the unconscious of the one who is inspired. Accordingly, the concept of inspiration can be analyzed with regard to modern psychological western models. Key words: Inspiration, Goddess of Inspiration, Unconscious, Theory of Inspiration (Poetics of Inspiration).    

Narration is one of the most important elements in story, epic, and myth; and is considered the foundation of any statement. All linguistic references rely upon narration to convey their messages to the reader in the best way possible. One of the significant issues in narratology is the examination of character; therefore, in this article different approaches to character—the structuralist approach in particular-- will be elucidated. The next step is the examination of characters in epic and lyric stories of Shāhnāmi to propose a new paradigm based on their actions. The new paradigm will be used to explain for the structures that underlie the narratives. Three types of character can be found in narrative and war-centered epic stories: the helper, the helped, and the opponent. The archetypal paradigm of such characterization is derived from the myth of genesis. The one that is helped is Ūrmazd, the opponent is Ahrīman and the helper refers to creatures in general and human beings in particular. Narrative and lyric stories center around four characters: the lover, the beloved (the helped), the helper and the opponent and their archetypal paradigm is that of the myth of mentoring.  The beloved stands for God, the lover for man, the helper for the prophet and the opponent for Satan. Key words: Epic, Story, Narrative, Structure, Character