Persian Poetry Between Language and Music

Persian Poetry between Language and Music
Dr. Amir Artaban Sedaghat

Abstract: A comparative semiotic analysis of poetry and music in the Persianate underlines a unique structural interdependence. On the one hand, the quantitative (chronemic) meter of the Persian classical versification, called ‘aruz, as well as its extraordinarily heavy use of rhyme display a formal structure that evokes that of a musical phrase. On the other hand, the dependence of the structure of the Iranian musical system upon the rhythmic structure of classical poetry suggests a unique character of which few examples exist. This interdependence manifests itself particularly in the mystic (Sufi) poetry of the medieval period, specifically in the work of such renowned poets like Rumi, Sa‘di Shirāzi, and Hāfez, who are among the best-known in the West. With examples of their lyric works, we shall demonstrate how Iranian classical music and Persian medieval poetry, taken as separate semiotic systems, form together, in specific contexts, a single hybrid semiotic system with overlapping structural features and shared aesthetic principles.

Bio: Amir Artaban Sedaghat holds a doctorate degree in Science du langage [linguistics] from the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3. He currently works as a sessional lecturer at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto, teaching courses in translation as well as French language and culture.