A Structural Analysis of the Common and Innovative Meters in Persian Poetry

Abstract

This article examines the structure of commonly used and innovative meters in Persian poetry, both classical and contemporary. Moreover, it introduces a new classification for meters of all types. A study of meter variations and subcategories has also been conducted. Meters have traditionally been divided into two or three types. However, in the most recent division, they have been divided into five types: “Muttahid -al- arkan” (Unified feet), “Muttafuq -al- arkan” (Allied feet), “Mutanaveb -al- arkan” (Alternating feet), “Mutashabih -al- arkan” (Similar feet), “Mukhtalif -al- arkan” (Different feet). Nevertheless, there are new meters that do not fall into any of these categories. As an example, consider the meter "‒ / U ‒ ‒ ‖ ‒ / ‒ U ‒ / U ‒ ‒ / U ‒ ‒" in Simin Behbahani's poem. The article refers to these meters as "Mustazad al-Arkan", the sixth category of Persian poetry. A discussion of the techniques creative poets have used throughout history is presented in the first part of this article. As demonstrated in this study, new meters of the Persian poetic tradition are derived from the same well-known meters, using the following eight approaches: 1. Reduction 2. Increase 3. Repetition 4. Transition 5. Change 6. Integration 7. Innovation 8. Combination. In the second part, six Persian poetry meters were formulated (X, x, Y, y, Ẍ, Ȳ, Z, z, M) based on the results obtained in the first part, which focused on the accuracy of metrical structure.

Keywords

• prosody
• prosodic foot
• innovative meters
• structure of meters
• category of meters