Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 18، number In Volume 11، February 2026 ، issue Number 117

Stylistics of Lati Poetry in the Contemporary Period (1300-1357 AH)

Saeed Bayat Shahbazi , Mohsen Izadyar (Author in Charge), Ali Eskandari , Fatemeh Ghahremani

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Lati poetry, as a significant yet neglected subgenre of folk literature in the contemporary period (1300-1357 AH), reflects the voice and worldview of the urban subaltern and marginalized classes. This literary movement is considered a living document of the cultural and social tensions of its time. The primary objective of this research is a comprehensive stylistic analysis of Lati poetry across three levels—linguistic, literary, and ideological—to reveal its embedded social functions, value system, and mechanisms of cultural resistance.

METHODOLOGY: This study employs a descriptive-analytical approach based on the theoretical framework of stylistics. The research corpus comprises a collection of prominent examples of Lati poetry, with a special focus on poems gathered from the “Dictionary of Lati Vocabulary, Idioms, and Proverbs,” as well as popular kuchabazari (street market) songs and films of the era. In this process, the salient features at each of the three levels (linguistic, literary, and ideological) were identified, categorized, and analyzed.

FINDINGS: The findings indicate that the stylistic layers of this poetry function in an organic relationship with one another. At the linguistic level, the deviation from standard language and the extensive use of argot, street slang, and colloquial syntax constitute a conscious act of identity formation and demarcation from the official culture. This language creates a world with dichotomous moral structures (e.g., mard/namard [manly/unmanly], rafiq/narafiq [friend/false friend]). At the literary level, figures of speech and rhetorical devices serve an instrumental and communicative function; sensory similes, concrete metaphors (such as the world as a deceitful bride), and the frequent use of irony render abstract concepts like injustice, betrayal, and poverty tangible and comprehensible for the common audience. These two levels form the foundation for the ideological level, which consists of a complex worldview: fatalism and lamentation against “fate” (falak), class consciousness in its explicit critique of economic disparity and the corruption of power, and a reliance on the ethos of Futuwwah (chivalry) as an alternative value system.

CONCLUSION: Lati poetry is a style of resistance that, through its stylistic features, becomes a tool for collective identity formation and indirect social critique. These poems not only possess literary value but are also considered a significant sociological document for understanding the voice of a segment of Iranian society during one of its critical historical periods.

Keyword
Stylistics , Lati Poetry , Folk Literature , Social Critique , Contemporary Period.