Nizami

The certain components of rhythmic and musical features in poetry are on the focus of this study. Nizami Ganjavi (died 608 AH/1387AD) is the author of the melodic romantic and lyrical poems in Khosrow and Shirin poem collection in Persian Literature. To create this distinctive and prominent work, he masterfully and carefully used all the elements and techniques of poetical music. Many of the poems in this collection owe their unique harmony and attraction to this quality. In the present study, an inductive approach is adopted to analyze each of the musical components of poetry and the related components including the side music (including rhyme, refrain, and repetition), exterior music (metrics and prosody), spiritual music (the taxis and contradiction literary devices), and interior music (alliteration and repetition of consonants and vowels) to study the quality of these components in Khosrow and Shirin poem collection. For each component in the poetical music category, the related definitions and descriptions are presented based on the ancient and classical books of traditional rhetoric in Persian literature and the general knowledge of phonology. In this research, I have transcribed the verses in using the international phonetic alphabet to make it easier for foreigners to read the verses for obtaining the specific findings of this study.

In works revolving around the life of Alexander, the characterization of Alexander is marked by exaggerations and contradictions, as if we are faced with two distinct Alexanders; a wise, just, and prophet-like figure, and a detested, tyrannical oppressor. Conducted by the library method, the present study investigates the description and qualitative content analysis of famous Persian Alexander Epic (Iskandarnāme). While briefly introducing existing Alexander Epics, the study explores the characterization of Alexander besides comparing various texts of the same genre. The analysis reveals that in most of these works, Alexander assumes a mythical, legendary, and sacred persona. In some works, such as Nizami’s Iskandarnāme, Alexander is identified with Dhu al-Qarnayn, while in the mystical works of Jami and Amir Khosrow, he takes on an orphic character. In some works, like Darab Nameh, references to Alexander’s weaknesses are more or less hinted at. Nevertheless, overall, he is depicted as a just and wise monarch, and in some instances, a prophetic figure. Regarding Alexander’s ethnicity, there is no consensus in these works. Among these, two narratives are more noteworthy: some, like Nizami, consider him of Iranian descent, while others view him as from the lineage of the Greek hero Philip.