Structure and Content Analysis of Sharaf al Din Ali Yazdi’s Inscriptions

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Salman Farsi University of Kazerun, Kazerun, Iran

2 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Salman Farsi University of Kazerun, Kazerun, Iran

10.29252/kavosh.2026.23634.3759

Abstract

Sharaf al‑Din Ali Yazdi was a poet from Yazd during the Timurid era. Although he is mainly known for his book Zafarnama, a collection of his poems consisting of odes and praises of Ibrahim Sultan has also remained. The major portion of this collection is composed of inscriptions (kitabehs) the examining of which from a structural perspective reveals Yazdi’s poetic skill, enabling an assessment of the poetic standards of his time. A content analysis of these inscriptions also reflects the dominant historical‑political discourse of that era. The structural analysis adopted for purpose includes prosodic and rhetorical evaluations. Within them, there are detailed references to astrological charts, cups, chess, tombs, windcatchers, and architecture, which are details rarely described so meticulously in other texts of the same period. These inscriptions are fluent and in the forms of masnavi, qit‘a, rubai, mufradat, and mukhammas. Their predominant meters are mutaqarib, hazaj, and ramal. Critical discourse analysis has been done for content exploration. Four main discourses dominate the texts, including political, religious, artistic, and mystical discourses. The first three stem from the political and cultural atmosphere of the time, forming a triadic discourse of politics–religion–art prevalent in Shahrokh’s territory. The mystical discourse, however, derives from the poet’s own belief.
 

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References

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