Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 18، number In Volume 6، September 2025 ، issue Number 112

The Role of Spiritual Music in Enhancing the Critical Tone of Constitutional Poetry: A Case Study of Mirzadeh Eshghi's Poems

Mahboobeh Safarpour , Asghar Rezapourian (Author in Charge), Mohammad Hakim Azar

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Constitutional poetry, as a literary reflection of Iran’s socio-political and intellectual transformations during the modern era, served as a fertile ground for articulating a critical and mission-oriented tone. Within this context, semantic music—one of the four dimensions of poetic music as theorized by Mohammad-Reza Shafiei Kadkani—plays a pivotal role in reinforcing thematic coherence, intensifying protest-oriented tones, and enriching the critical discourse of poetry. This study aims to analyze the function of semantic music in shaping and deepening the critical tone of Constitutional poetry, with a focus on the works of Mirzadeh Eshghi.

METHODOLOGY: Employing a descriptive-analytical method grounded in stylistic analysis, this research draws on textual data from Eshghi’s Divan. The investigation centers on rhetorical-semantic devices such as allusion, ambiguity (īhām), antithesis, semantic repetition, synesthesia, paradox, and parallelism (morā‘āt al-naẓīr), exploring how these elements contribute to the construction of semantic music. The theoretical framework is based on Shafiei Kadkani’s theory of poetic music (2012).

FINDINGS: The findings demonstrate that Eshghi’s creative use of rhetorical devices establishes a web of semantic harmony and interrelated meanings that enhances the critical tone of his verse. Semantic music, by generating conceptual symmetries, semantic tensions, and intertextual resonances, transforms his poetry into a medium for socio-political protest, critique, and awareness-raising.

CONCLUSION: In Eshghi’s poetry, semantic music serves not merely as an aesthetic feature but as a discursive and ideological apparatus. In close interaction with rhetorical structures, it facilitates the organization of the critical tone and the articulation of Constitutionalist messages. As such, semantic music may be viewed as a central mechanism in the formation of oppositional poetic voice within Constitutional-era literature.

Keyword
Semantic Music , Critical Tone , Constitutional Poetry , Mirzadeh Eshghi , Rhetorical Devices , Stylistics , Mohammad-Reza Shafiei Kadkani.

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