an analysis of the rhetorical and anecdotal structure of the nezami's eulogy poem about the holy prophet, in the makhzan al- asrar

Abstract Nezami is one of the most eminent poets who has an special position within the realm of Persian poems. Nezami's devotion to the Holy Prophet of Islam (S.A.) is the main theme of his eulogy-poems which in particular in his long sonnet form poet in makhzan al-asrar. His first eulogy in Makhzan al-asrar which has 23 verses is distinguished in its subject. In this eulogy-poem, Nezami presents in the battlefield of Uhud, while in his pervious poem he explains a spiritual ascension. Through de familiarization of the battle, he tries to narrate a renewal historical event and changes it to a new anecdotal work. Linear setting of the poem is in complete coordination with the Prophet's eulogy of Nezami. In order to analyze this poem we divide it to four parts: 1 to 4th verses are devoted to the eulogy of the Prophet of Islam (S.A.). The fifth verse is a prologue to the main narration of the poem. Verses 6 to 20 are narrating the body of the tale. Verses 21th to the end, which are devoted to the conclusion and a return to the beginning eulogy. What gives the story a certain glory is its nice musical tone which is the fast rhythm of the poetic form called (Bahre Sari'). This form is very interesting and has a very special pomposity. The pleasing rhythm of this poem is similar to the festive rhythm, called (Bazmi), and is very important factor that reduce the bitterness of the tragedy in the main body of the tale. Nezami, by using special linguistic tricks, such as repetition, phonological and semantic fit in the vertical and horizontal order of verse, nice selectivity of the words in succession and literary composition, and so on, gives a kind of de familiarization to the historical event he wants to tale, so that the reader reviews this narration intensively. In this story, the narrative logical sequence in the usual traditional narratives, with clear beginning and middle and end, not been met. Rather, Nezami begins his narration from the middle of the story, with node and suspension, very similar to the modern tale narrators. He stars by a question: why the stone broke his gem? The offender of this story is present in the scene and has to answer to the narrator's questions. Seemingly some symbols used in this story are not attractive and pleasant, such as stone, heavy gem, teeth, shells, flag, daggers, battlefield, armies, and anger, to wound, and so on. Stone is the symbol of oppression and hardness, and flag and dagger are symbols of war. However, the arrangement of these words in the Nezami's artistic hands, are in a way that they lose their roughness in meaning and serve to the aim of poet. These rough symbols beside the words like "thanks", "victory", and nice face and so on, change poet style to a soft tone and light expression. Thus, the audience of this message is not face with a harsh and sad tone. Unlike the main subject of this poem, two important factors change the main theme to a calm and emotional case: The first is the above-mentioned musical rhythm of the poem. The next is the main subject matter of the poem that is "the submission" and "acceptance". In this narration we see the Nezami's own view which is the result of his spiritual training. The main offender in his story is a wicked and angry stone. Nezami give life to a stone I order to not complain against destiny; not to condemn God's predestination, because the God who is merciful, is always good writer. Because the ruling think in this work is thankfulness and submission, the tone of the story, develops from bitterness to sweetness and talking about the Holy Prophet transforms any rough to soft and any thistle to nice flower. Since the main theme of the story focuses on a special event, its characterization, like minimal stories, is restricted and interesting. But unlike the minimal stories the role of narrator in this story is very colorful, because the presence of the wise or omniscient narrator in this work is very important. After the Holy Prophet who is the main personage of the story, the "stone" and the "victory" are playing the major and minor roles respectively. The stable plot of this story should not be ignored. Also the emotional aspect of the Nezami's poem which is playing very important role by offering questions of a vey dynamic mind is very apparent. In Nezami’s poem, it is possible to see the coherence in language, phonological aspects, syntax, vocabulary and semantic level. He is to seek a structure which is able to add to literary dimension. The audience of Nezami’s poem knows that in many versed, to detect the direct message is impossible and he must go through the maze of figures of speech and artistic images and he must comprehend the proportions of word and meaning to understand the poem’s message.