Literature is a kind of written creative works that have high value and durability. persian poetry and its types in literature is one of the common forms of literature that presents a point to the audience. Of course, to write this form of literature, having enough skills is required. Poetry uses descriptive language as literary devices.
However, poetry has a unique writing, characteristics, goals and structure, the use of which doubles the beauty of a text. In this article, the intention is to provide an overview of the definitions; The components and types of poetry will be discussed.
What is poetry ?
In the literal sense, poetry refers to the knowledge and understanding of perception, which is also called chameh, song, speech, and chakameh, and it is actually one of the oldest literary types and a branch of art. Poetry is a rhythmic word that is used to share ideas, express feelings and create an image; It is written artistically. Through the structure of the words and the rhyme that binds the readers with it, the poem stimulates the imagination of the readers.
With all these interpretations, a complete and comprehensive definition of poetry is a very difficult task, so it can be acknowledged that many poets and elders have called it indefinable. Therefore, it is not possible to give a uniform definition for it, but to know the opinions of poets and writers about the definition of poetry; It was deemed necessary to mention some of these comments here:
- Plato persian poetry
“Poetry is not science because it cannot be acquired by learning, nor can it be taught to others, because it is a divine command and one of the secrets of the gods.”
- Ibn Sina
“Poetry is an imaginary word that is made of balanced and balanced words”.
- Dr. Mohammadreza Shafiei Kodkani
“Poetry is an event that happens in language, and in fact, the speaker of the poem performs an action in language with his poem that the reader feels a difference between his poetic language and everyday and normal language”.
- Mahdi Akhavan Sales
“Poetry is the product of Adam’s impatience in the moments when the consciousness of prophecy shines on him. The result of impatience in the moments when one is in an aura of prophetic consciousness. Without any doubt, a poet must be crazy and have an unusual life, and these stupid and normal lives that we often have are not poetic lives. It should be all life, existence, intelligence, effort, all Khan and Man, and in short, completeness and absence of existence.
- Reza Brahni writes in the book “Gold in Copper”
“Defining poetry is a very difficult task, it is basically one of the most difficult tasks in this field, perhaps it can be said that poetry is the most indefinable thing that exists”.
Elements of persian poetry
Poetry in literature has the following components:
- bit
- stanza
- Rhyme
- Row
In the following, we will explain all these components by bringing a poem from “Shabestri (Golshan Raz)”.
In the name of the one who taught you to think , the lamp of the heart was lit with the light of life
By his grace, both worlds became bright. By his grace, Adam’s soil became bright
The world, the sentence, the light of the right person, the right person, is hidden
There is no wisdom, the ray of its light, turn away from him, the eyes of another atmosphere
Whatever they say, they have more or less indicated their vision
To him whose life is in manifestation, all the universe of the Book is the Almighty
1- bit
The smallest unit of a poem is a stanza. For example, the above poem consists of six lines, and each of these lines is referred to as a stanza.
2- Stanza
Each verse consists of two parts, each of these parts is called a stanza. The least amount of rhyming speech is one stanza. For example, the poem above contains 12 stanzas.
3- Rhyme
The last words of verses whose last main letter is the same are called rhymes. In fact, words that have a melody. The following words rhyme in the mentioned poem:
Learned/ Illuminated/ Illuminated/ Hidden
On/ Joy Bish/ Self Manifestation/ Transcendence
4- Row
At the end of each stanza or verse, if the word or words with the same meaning are repeated after the rhyme; These words are called rows. For example: In the above poem, in the last stanza, the words ist and ist are rows.
Note 1: In the verse where there is a row, the rhyme occurs before the row.
Note 2: Bringing rhyme in the poem is mandatory, but the row is optional.
Division of persian poetry
Poetry in Persian literature can be divided into two categories:
1- Classical or ancient poetry
2- New poetry
Below are explanations for the division.
1- Classical or ancient persian poetry
Classical or ancient poetry has a history of more than a thousand years. This type of poetry is completely rhythmic, the weight of which is based on a structure called prosody. These prosodic weights are based on the length of the syllables and each stanza is divided into formats in which the syllables must be placed in those formats.
In fact, syllabic poetry differs from prosaic poetry due to having the same formats. In this way, the syllabic poem is not placed in a format and is created based on the syllables of the stanza.
Types of classical or ancient poetry in Persian literature
In classical Persian literature, the types of poetry are divided into eleven types based on weight, which are:
Masnavi
Masnavi literally means double. Masnavi is a poem in which two rhymes are used in each verse, which is different from the rhyme of other verses. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Nizami’s Khamsa, Al-Tir Attar’s Logic, and Saadi’s Garden are among the most famous Masnavis. Example:
Listen to Ney because he complains about separations
They have taken me away from nothing, men and women have not been found
I will describe the pain of parting to describe the pain of longing
Anyone who is far away from his origin will seek his past
Quartet
It has four stanzas in which the first, second and fourth stanzas have the same rhyme and the poet is free to choose the third rhyme. Among the most famous quatrain poets are Rudaki, Khayyam, Attar; Molavi and Abu Saeed Abul Khair pointed out. The following quatrain is from Khayyam:
Your day is not within the reach of tomorrow, and the thought of tomorrow is nothing but soda
Don’t waste this time, your heart is not crazy, it is not worth the rest of your life
ghazal
In Ghazal, the first stanza and couplets have the same rhyme, and the number of verses is usually between 5 and 12 verses. The following beautiful ghazal is from Molvi:
This is my thought during the day and this is my speech every night, why am I unaware of my own heart condition?
Where did I come from? What was the purpose of my coming? Where am I going? Don’t show me my homeland
I am left wondering why he made me or what he meant by making me
The chickens in the garden of my kingdom, half of the earth, have made a cage out of my body for a few days
What is from the Alevi world, I call it my garment, and I will throw it there
an ode
This type of poetry in literature is similar to Ghazal and its only main difference is the number of verses. The number of verses in an ode is at least 16, and the maximum is at the poet’s discretion. The following beautiful ode is written by Saadi Saadi:
In the morning, no matter what, it was nice to be at the edge of the desert and watching the spring
Sufi from the monastery, pitch a tent on Gulzar, since it’s not long since you slept at home idle
The nightingales came at the time of the flower, and they are no less drunk with joy than the nightingale, O alert nightingale
The creation of all the punishments of God does not have a heart that does not confess to God
All these wonderful pictures on the door and wall, no matter what you think, there were pictures on the wall
The mountains, the sea and the trees are all in the rosary, not everyone should understand these secrets
Do you know that dawn birds say that you are sleeping, wake up from the sleep of ignorance
addicted
Masmet is another type of poetry that comes from different disciplines. The rhymes of the strings are different from each other and in each string all the stanzas have the same rhyme except the last stanza. Each section is referred to as a string, and the final stanza of each string is called a stanza, while all stanzas rhyme. Mesmet is similar to an ode in terms of structure. Pay attention to the following message from Manochehri:
Get up and dry your hair, because it is autumn, the cool wind is heavy from Khorezm
That bright leaf on which there is a horn is as if it is dyed like a shirt
The farmer is surprised to see that there are no flowers left in the lawn or garden
Mastzad
This form of poetry is such that a word or phrases are added to the end of each stanza. In fact, these added words or phrases complete the meaning of the previous and subsequent stanzas. Pay attention to the following poem in this format by Mohammad Taghi Bahar:
OK, Iran’s freedom of speech is a mistake, Iran’s business is with God
The Shahneshe religion of Iran is separate, Iran’s business is with God
Clause preference
This form of poetry in Daradbiat has a structure similar to Ghazal, with the difference that after every few verses, a verse is repeated, which is called a stanza or a verse that can rhyme with other verses. In general, this type of poetry consists of several pieces of poetry, which have both weight and rhyme, and at the end of each line of poetry, a verse with a separate rhyme is repeated. The following persian poems by Saadi is an example of regressive clause:
One day, read Saadi’s Hadith, may he learn from you
Good luck, my life has passed, and then I will be on my head for a while
I sit and wait
I will follow my work
Love came and the custom of reason took over, joy came and patience took over
In no time has a mother been born to Jamal like you are a child
The wind is the advice of friends and the sadness of parting, Mount Alvand
It’s not me, it’s someone else who is happy to remember a friend
How long are we going to wait like this?
Like a chicken is trapped by greed of grain, like a wolf is trapped by the smell of tail
I fell, and it was expedient not to take admonitions freely
It is necessary for this and more than this that the people are wise
I will sit and be patient
I will follow my work
compound
It is the same as the rhyming clause, but here the clauses are not repeated, but again, they rhyme. For example, the following composition is from Bafaghi’s Wild:
Friends, listen to the description of my distress, listen to the story of my secret sadness
Listen to my chaotic story, listen to my conversation and my surprise
The description of this tragic story is not telling Taki?
I burned, I burned, is this the secret of hiding a vine?
Once upon a time, Wedel and I lived in a cave
We were lost in religion and heart, we were crazy about the appearance, we were tied to the dynasty of the dynasty
There was no one in that dynasty except me and Del Band
There was no such thing as a catch
piece
Another type of poetry in literature is the piece, which has at least two verses, and only the even stanzas have the same rhyme. The following poem by Rudaki is an example of the piece:
Zamane Pandi freed me, look at Zamane, it is all pand
He said to the good people’s day: the saddest of all those who wish for your day
two bit
It is a poem that consists of two verses or four stanzas. The first, second and fourth stanzas in this type have the same rhyme and the poet is free to choose the rhyme in the third stanza. As you know, Baba Taher’s couplets are very famous. As:
If you don’t drink, why don’t you? If you don’t help me, why do you come to me?
You don’t balm my beard, why do you sprinkle salt on my beard?
Singular
A singular poem is a single line where the poet explains his meaning in the same line. In the singular, two stanzas may or may not rhyme. You can see an example of a singular poem by Saeb Tabrizi below:
You can’t afford the expensiveness of the great ones, you can’t afford the gems of the wrong ones
New Persian poetry
At the beginning of the 14th century, some poets thought to abandon the observance of equal weight and rhyme order in poetry and write poems that do not follow these principles. In this way, these written poems had a completely different format and shape from the previous poems.
The inventor of this style and form of poetry is considered to be Nimayoshij, for this reason, this type of poetry; A new poem is said. New poetry itself is divided into three categories, which include:
half format
Nimai is one of the types of poetry with prosaic weight, with the difference that in such poems, the rhyme is not placed in a specific and fixed place. Among the poets who have studied this style of poetry are Nimayoshij, Forough Farrokhzad; The Third Brotherhood and Sohrab Sepehri pointed out. The following poem is an example of Nimai format by Sohrab Sepehri:
You remember me or not
Believe it or not
nothing to say
But I can’t breathe
In the air that is not your breath
- Free or white poetry
In this type of poetry, the verses have weight and melody, but they are not prosaic and the rhyme is not placed in a fixed and specific place. Most of Shamlu’s poems follow this style of poetry.
I look at your stars from the windows of my heart
Because every star is a sun
I believe in the sun
I believe in the sea
And your eyes are the source of the seas
Man is the source of the seas.
New wave persian poetry
This type of literary poetry does not have a prosaic weight; In addition, the song does not have specific music and rhyme. This type of poetry persian is similar to prose and its only difference is its meaning. The following poem by Ahmadreza Ahmadi is an example of a New Wave poem:
Your heart warmed the air
in hot weather
Our love was complimentary and
Contentment to look in the water well
last word
Poetry is one of the common forms of literary works. Poetry in literature is full of imaginative literary and verbal arrays. The criterion of poetry is the musical effect and the association of the meanings of the words, and the purpose is not only to convey the message, but also to enjoy and the verbal effect that is achieved after reading the poem.
Poetry in literature is written in the form of verses with an aesthetic, inspiring and imaginative style, which has a unique pattern such as being melodious and having rhyme and weight. This writing style in literature is necessary in order to convey a message to the reader and involve his soul, feelings and emotions, and it has an important and decisive position in Persian literature.
