An Analysis of Religious Implications in Forough Farrokhzad’s Poetry in Light of Peirce’s Semiotic Theory

Abstract

There is an underlying connection between classical Persian poetry and religion. Despite religion being one of the main origins of poetry, it appears that the connection has lost some of its strength in contemporary poetry. Presented here is a study of the religious implications of Forough Farrokhzad's poetry, considered one of Iran's greatest modern poets. For this purpose, we begin by introducing and discussing Charles Sanders Peirce's theory of signs. Our next step is to analyze her poems based on this theory. Until now, little attention has been paid to this aspect of her poetry. In Farrokhzad's poetry, there is an abundance of religious significance. Although she draws on both Islamic and Christian elements, the implications she chooses and the manner in which she applies them differ according to the religious preferences of each group. Early on in her poetry, religious implications, primarily Islamic, are incorporated into her poems through classical literature and, therefore, tend to be abstract. Nevertheless, as her poetry matures, the manner in which she applies religious elements changes. Christian implications derived from the Gospel become more prominent in her poetry as she progresses through this phase. It was during this period that Farrokhzad's poetry was influenced more by her environment than by literary works. The implications are therefore objective, tangible, and related to folk religion.

Keywords

• forough farrokhzad
• persian poetry
• religious implications
• peirce’s theory of signs