The Mission of Poetry and the Poet from Anvari's Perspective

Anvari holds significant views on poetry and poetics that are valuable in literary criticism. One area he addresses is the mission of poetry and the poet. This descriptive-analytical study examines Anvari's Divan, including his odes, quatrains, lyrics, and robaiyat, to extract and categorize his insights on the subject. The findings are organized into three main categories, twelve primary branches, seven secondary sub-branches, and four minor sub-branches, totaling twenty-six branches. The first category addresses the mission of poetry and the poet in relation to others, including the ruler (e.g., avoiding greed and begging through poetry, using poetry for propaganda), the people (e.g., engaging the educated through multiple narrators, appealing to the middle class by emphasizing the poet's socio-political role and employing accessible language), fellow poets (e.g., avoiding plagiarism, reviving the traditions of past poets), and the beloved. The second category focuses on the mission of poetry and the poet toward themselves, including addressing material needs and refining poetic sensibility. The third category concerns the mission of poetry and the poet toward poetry itself, encompassing the poet's labor in composition, emphasizing meaning and wisdom, attention to diction, creating harmony with existence, mastering literary genres, and denying poetic identity to revive poetry (Anvari's unique mission). In conclusion, classical poetry is rich with insights that can be regarded as early poetic theories. Anvari is among those who articulated the purpose of poetry in their works, despite potential discrepancies between their theories and personal practices. This study aims to introduce, examine, and analyze Anvari's poetic theory through twenty-six primary and subsidiary branches derived from his poetry.
Introduction:
Anvari, a preeminent poet of the 6th century AH, espoused numerous critical viewpoints on the nature of poetry that hold significant importance within the field of literary criticism. A central theme in his poetic philosophy is the mission of poetry and the poet. This article, employing a descriptive-analytical methodology, conducts a meticulous examination of Anvari's Divan, encompassing his odes, fragments, lyric poems, and quatrains. All relevant passages elucidating the poet's mission have been extracted, classified, and systematically organized into a tripartite taxonomy consisting of three principal categories, twelve main branches, seven secondary sub-branches, and four minor sub-branches, totaling twenty-six distinct facets of the poetic mission. The first category, the mission in relation to the the ruler (encompassing panegyric and the injunctions against avarice and mendicancy through poetry, alongside poetry's propagandistic function), the populace (including the intelligentsia, characterized by a multiplicity of qualified transmitters), and the common stratum, reflecting the poet's awareness of their socio-political role and the imperative of intelligibility), fellow poets (addressing the proscription of literary plagiarism and the revival of ancestral poetic traditions), and the beloved. The second category pertains to the poet's mission toward the self, involving attention to material necessities and the cultivation of poetic faculties. The third category concerns the mission toward poetry itself, encompassing the poet's labor in composition, an emphasis on meaning, venturing along the path of wisdom, attention to diction, the establishment of harmony with existence, mastery of literary genres, and the repudiation of poetry to revitalize it (Anvari's distinctive mission). The findings indicate that the poetry of classical masters is rich with perspectives and directives that, in contemporary discourse, may be interpreted as indigenous theories of poetics. Anvari is among the rhetoricians who articulated the purpose of poetry within their verses, regardless of any potential dissonance between his theoretical assertions and his biographical practice. This research aims to introduce, examine, and analyze his poetic theory through twenty-six primary and secondary branches derived from the essence of his poetry.
Materials and Methods:
This study adopts a descriptive-analytical research design. The primary source material, the complete Divan of Anvari, was subjected to a systematic close reading. All couplets containing explicit statements or implicit allusions to the purpose, value, and responsibilities of the poet and poetry were identified and extracted. A process of qualitative content analysis was then applied to these excerpts to identify core themes and concepts related to the central research focus: the mission of poetry. The emergent themes were subsequently organized into a hierarchical classification system. This systematic coding resulted in a structured taxonomy of three overarching meta-categories, which are further delineated into 12 core themes, 7 secondary sub-themes, and 4 tertiary sub-themes, culminating in a comprehensive framework of 26 analytical units. This method ensures a replicable and structured examination of Anvari's implicit poetic theory.
Results and Discussion:
The analytical findings are organized according to the three identified meta-categories of poetic mission:
The Mission in Relation to the 'Other'
This category delineates the poet's duties towards external constituencies.
The Ruler/Patron
Within the dominant panegyric tradition of his era, Anvari acknowledges its socio-economic function but mandates that it be executed with dignity, eschewing avarice and poetic mendicancy. Concurrently, he emphasizes poetry's propagandistic efficacy in securing the patron's renown.
The Populace
The poet bears responsibility towards different social strata.
The Intelligentsia
A key metric of poetic excellence is a multitude of qualified transmitters capable of expertly reciting and disseminating the work.
The Common Stratum
The poet must embrace their socio-political agency and commit to linguistic accessibility ("speaking understandably"), ensuring poetic discourse remains inclusive without sacrificing artistic integrity.
Fellow Poets
Ethical engagement with the poetic community necessitates the strict avoidance of literary plagiarism and a duty to revive and honor the traditions of past masters through practices like conscious citation.
The Beloved
In his lyric poetry, Anvari frames the poet's mission as the authentic and complete embodiment of amorous experience, a total submission to and depiction of the beloved.
The Mission Towards the Poet's Self
This category addresses the poet's obligations towards their own personhood.
Addressing Material Necessities
Anvari advances a radical, socio-economic critique, arguing for the legitimacy of fulfilling the poet's material needs. He interrogates the poet's ambiguous status within the professional hierarchy and posits that financial security is a prerequisite for unhindered creativity.
Cultivation of the Poetic Faculty
The poet is obligated to refine and educate their innate poetic disposition. A virtuous character and a disciplined intellect are presented as foundational to producing significant poetry.
The Mission Towards Poetry Itself
This category encompasses intrinsic responsibilities to the art form's integrity.
The Poet's Toil
Superior poetry is born of immense intellectual labor and suffering; it is a product of meticulous craft rather than effortless inspiration.
Primacy of Meaning