Document Type : Research Paper

Author

• Zohreh Parsian

Department of Persian Language and Literature, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The ghazal is a poetic form that carries no expectation of eventfulness, and narrative is generally absent from the classical ghazal. In describing amorous or mystical states, the poet does not ordinarily engage in storytelling, yet occasionally recounts a narrative consonant with the mood of the poem. This article aims to analyze classical ghazals with a narrative structure on the basis of Todorov's theory of narrative, and to demonstrate narrative structure in the narrative ghazals of poets of the Khorasani (Sabk-e Khorāsānī) and Iraqi (Sabk-e ʿErāqī) styles. The study employs an analytical-descriptive method. The findings indicate that a classical ghazal with a narrative structure contains at least three narrative propositions linked by a shared sequence. The first proposition presents the initial situation governing the narrative. In the second, this initial situation is disrupted, or an event occurs. The third proposition reports either the establishment of a new situation, through a change in the preceding two propositions and the occurrence of an event, or the absence of change, that is, persistence in the situation established by the first two propositions, with no event or action taking place. The study concludes that what distinguishes the narrative ghazal from other classical ghazals is the shared sequence among its narrative propositions, since propositions lacking a shared sequence are found in all classical ghazals. A further finding is that most narrative ghazals display a low level of narrativity, containing only three narrative propositions with a shared sequence, while a small number exhibit a higher degree of narrativity.

Keywords

• Sequence
• Todorov
• Narrativity
• Ghazal
• Narrative ghazal
• Proposition

Main Subjects

• نقد