Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 18، number In Volume 12، March 2026 ، issue Number 118

Examination of Amir Khosrow Dehlavi's "Shirin and Khosrow" Epic Using Jeffries' Critical Stylistics Approach

Seyed Ali Sohrabi , Tahereh Ishani (Author in Charge), Zahra Parsapour

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Critical stylistics combines the powerful aspects of two methods—stylistics and critical discourse analysis to uncover ideology within the deep structure of everyday writings and speeches. This approach, through the integration of "linguistics" and "critical discourse analysis," seeks to examine how power discourses are reproduced by rereading the hidden ideology in literary texts.

METHODOLOGY: This research employs descriptive-analytical and statistical methods, utilizing Jeffries" ten tools to analyze linguistic structures, actions, and power relations in the work, demonstrating how language and literature can represent hidden ideologies and social values.

FINDINGS: Among the components of critical stylistics, "representing actions, events, and attributional processes" stands out as the most prominent stylistic feature of this work, with the highest usage. This not only indicates the linguistic dynamism of Amir Khosrow"s poetry but also reflects its narrative-driven structure, focus on characters" agency, and emphasis on their psychological and social states. Representing time, place, and society ranks second. The high frequency of this tool in the epic is linked to emotions or emotional events; it represents power structures, centrality, cultural boundary-setting, and depictions of social hierarchies and absolute authority, serving as a means to stabilize class order and its acceptance. The prioritization tool is also employed in Dehlavi"s epic at a high percentage, indicating Dehlavi"s inclination toward establishing a hierarchical and oppositional value system. The stylistic analysis of the Shirin and Khosrow epic from the perspective of the "implicit meanings, assumptions, and implications" tool reveals that the poet, through conscious arrangement of vocabulary, precedence and succession of sentence elements, omission of agents, and focused meaning, has successfully conveyed subtle and meaningful messages indirectly to the audience. This tool has had notable application, particularly in creating emotional atmospheres, inducing ideological messages, or reinforcing characters" positions.

CONCLUSION: The research results indicate that the poet has utilized language to create his own specific discourses. With a more polyphonic approach, he employs tools such as diverse dialogues, deep emotional descriptions, and human actions to craft a more complex and realistic space. He places characters in multidimensional situations and addresses the representation of human emotions and actions.

Keyword
Critical stylistics , Lesley Jeffries , ideology , Shirin and Khosrow epic , Amir Khosrow Dehlavi