Journal of Literary Criticism and Rhetoric
Journal of Literary Criticism and Rhetoric

The Oldest Newly Found Heteromeric Poem by Nima Yušij

Document Type : scientific-research

Author

Mahdi Olyaei Moghaddam

Corresponding Author; Assistant Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22059/jlcr.2024.371740.1976
Abstract
The oldest example of free verse in Nimā Yušij's literary output is commonly assumed to be the poem "Phoenix" (Qoqnus), which is dated 1316 Š. /1937. This poem was published in the Music Magazine (Majalla-ye Musiqi), a literary and cultural journal edited by Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Minbāšiān, in 1319 Š. /1940. The year before, in 1317 Š. /1938, the poem "Raven" (Ghorāb) was also published in the same magazine. Despite the historical importance of these two poems, Nimā's articles and notes do not explicitly mention them. In his writings, Nimā only refers to the period in which he published his innovative poems in the Music Magazine and gives examples of his creative poems, leaving them open to everyone's judgment. However, among Nimā's documents in the archive of the Persian Language and Literature Academy, there is an unpublished poem from Nimā's manuscripts called "Unknown Light" (Rowšanāei-ye Majhul), which carries great historical significance. This poem, dated 1310 Š. /1931, shows that Nima had already experimented with heteromeric lines in his poems six years before writing "Phoenix", the oldest poem in his work  that has been found so far. However, the rhyme system in the poem is a mixture of the Mathnavi and the Čahārpāra scheme, which is far from the "rhyme bell" (Zang-e Qāfiye) theory that he later adopted in creating his innovative poetic form. Considering the starting point of Nimā's free verse his diverse experiences in the form of Mostzād, of which many examples have recently been published, the poem "Unknown Light" marks the boundary between these experiences and the poems of the "Phoenix" type. Accordingly, it can be assumed that Nimā's  free verse is the result of an evolutionary process that gradually moved away from the tradition of Mostzād towards free verse, starting from the beginning of the second decade of the 14th Š. / 20th century.

Keywords

Nimā Yušij
Mostzād
Nimaic free verse
Phoenix (Qoqnus)
"Raven" (Ghorāb)
Unknown Light (Rowšanāei-ye Majhul
References
Tondar-e kīyā, Šams-Al-Dīn (1956). “ šāhīn” (Warning literary movement). farmān political newspaper, Tehrān. (in Persian)
OlyaeiMoghaddam, Mahdi (2019). “Mostazādhā-ye Nima va azmāyeš-e hazf-e qāfīya” (Nima's Mostazāds and Efforts to remove the rhyme). Adab-e fārsī, 9, No. 24, pp. 2139. (in Persian)
----------------------- (2022). Šeʿr-e sapīd, Pažuhešī taṭbīqī dar bāb-e šeʿr-e bī qāfīya (Blank verse, A comparative research on non-rhyme form) nāmak, Tehrān. (in Persian)
Yušij, Nimā a (1939). “Ṣadā-ye čang” (The sound of the harp), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine),  1, No. 8,  pp. 16. (in Persian)
--------------- b (1939).  “Ghorāb” (Raven) , Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine), 1, No. 9, pp. 29-30. (in Persian)
--------------- c (1939). “Qu” (Swan), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine),  1, No. 10,  pp. 14-16. (in Persian)
--------------- d, (1939). “ Šamʿ-e karaǰī” (Boat candle), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine),  1, No. 11-12, pp. 28-30. (in Persian)
------------, (1940). “Gol-e mahtāb” (Moon flower), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine),  2, No. 1,  pp. 18-21. (in Persian)
------------ b, (1940). “Qoqnūs”( Phoenix), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine), 2, No. 2, pp. 23-25. (in Persian)
------------ c, (1940). “Morq-e qam” (The bird of sadness), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine), 2, No. 4, pp. 29-30. (in Persian)
------------ d, (1940). “Parīyān” (Fairies), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine), 2, No. 5, pp. 26-33. (in Persian)
------------ e, (1940). “ʿAbdallāh-e Ṭāher va kanīzak” (ʿAbdallāh-e Ṭāher and his maid), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine) 2, No. 6-7, pp. 39-40. (in Persian)
------------ f, (1940). “Fazā-ye bīčun” (Indescribable space), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine)  2, No. 8, pp. 37. (in Persian)
------------ g, (1940). “Ṭufān” (Storm), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine) 2, No. 9, pp. 28-32. (in Persian)
------------ h, (1940). “Anduhnāk-e šab” (The sadness of night), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine) 2, No. 10, pp. 24-28. (in Persian)
------------ i, (1940). “Ey šab” (Oh night), Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine) 2, No. 11-12, pp. 17-18. (in Persian)
------------, (1941). “ḵanda-ye sard”, Majalla-ye Musīqī (Music Magazine) 3, No. 3, pp. 29-30. (in Persian)
------------, (1955). Sarāyanda-ye pīšgām (A pioneer poet), in Nimā, Zandagī va Āṯār (His life and works), By Dr. Jannatī ʿAṭāʿī, Ṣafī ʿAlī Šāh, Tehrān. (in Persian)
-----------, (1989). Ḥarfhā-ye hamsā-ye, darbāra-ye Šeʿr va Šāʿerī (Neighbor's words, on poetry and poetry), ed. by Sīrus-e Ṭāhbāz, daftarhā-ye zamāna, Tehrān. (in Persian)
-----------, (1996). Majmuʿa-ye kāmel-e ʿAšʿĀr-e Nimā Yušij, fāesī va Tabarī (Complete collection of persain and tabarian poems by Nima Yoshij), ed. by Sīrus-e Ṭāhbāz, Negāh, Tehrān. (in Persian)
Morier, Henri, (1989), Dictionnaire de Poétique et de Rhétorique, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris.

  • Receive Date 27 January 2024
  • Revise Date 12 February 2025
  • Accept Date 27 February 2024

Home

Contact Us