In the Search of Secret Meaning: the Role of “Inner Commentary” in Nasir-i Khusraw’s Poetic Works (11th Century)

Abstract

The research is devoted to the function of inner commentary in the Nasir-i Khusraw’s poetic works. Being the outstanding religious philosopher and Ismaili Teacher, he had reformed the artistic language of Persian Classic Poetry with the help of strategy of allegorical commentary ta’wil, which was firstly used only on the Quran’s text. He used the traditional form of qasida for didactic aim. Сonventional poetic motifs and standard beginnings served as the basis for creating allegories of varying degrees of complexity. The objects of this article are some examples of allegories based on traditional poetic motifs and standard beginnings of Nasir-i Khusraw’s qasida, his interpretations of term ta’wil and author’s discourse upon form and meaning of Word. The article also deals with different kinds of inner commentary in Nasir-i Khusraw’s three spring qasida. The analysis shows that on the first stage of formation of mystic poetry’s language commentary, giving secret meaning of text was the sphere of author’s individual initiative. At the stage of fixing the created connotations in the canon, they become stable and to a lesser extent depended on the presence of the author’s commentary, thus the allegorical ambiguity of the text becomes the generally accepted norm.

Keywords

• nasir-i khusraw
• allegory
• connotation
• allegorical commentary on the quran
• qasida
• inner commentary