Document Type : scientific-research
Authors
1 Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
2 . Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.
3 PhD student in Persian Language and Literature, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
Abstract
Classical Persian poetry, with its distinctive meter and musicality, stands as one of the most striking expressions of Iranian and Persian cultural identity. The study of Persian poetic meter has long been a central focus of Orientalist scholarship and can be chronologically divided into two main phases: the pre-Islamic and postIslamic periods. Research into the former—focused on the nature and structure of poetic meter in Middle Iranian languages—is notable for its originality and innovation. By contrast, post-Islamic studies often involve a reiteration of traditional Persian prosody (‘arūz) without significant theoretical advancement.. Given the diversity of goals pursued by Orientalists in their efforts to present and teach Persian prosody, their work may be classified into four general categories. The first group merely translated prosodic treatises into their own languages. The second group undertook both translation and critical editing of manuscripts. The third group examined the origins of Persian poetry and analyzed its metrical structure in depth. The fourth group engaged in comparative studies between Persian prosody and metrical systems in other cultural traditions.. As the st century is widely regarded as an age of theorization, some contemporary Orientalists have explored quantitative metrical systems in living languages and have attempted to compare their features with traditional Persian prosody.. This study concludes that among the Orientalists who have explored the meter of classical Persian poetry, Elwell-Sutton and Blochmann have adopted more rigorous and focused methodologies, grounding their work in detailed analysis of metrical structures. In contrast, many other Orientalists have approached meter as a subordinate component of literary studies, combining it with rhetoric and rhyme in unified treatises—an approach that has sometimes led to confusion for readers. Moreover, the structure of Middle Iranian poetic meter remains largely ambiguous. Although the theoretical groundwork laid by Henning has gained acceptance among most modern scholars of Persian prosody, the exact nature of syllable quantity in Middle Iranian poetry continues to elude precise definit.
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