Combinatorial Artifacts in the Imagery of Volume Poetry: A Case Study of the Imagery in Yadollah Royaei’s Poetry

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

10.29252/kavosh.2026.23406.3730

Abstract

Volume poetry, with Yadollah Royaei standing at its peak, represents one of the most prominent trends in the contemporary Persian poetry, possessing its own distinctive poetics and audience. The poetic image is a crucial element that Royaei consistently emphasizes and theorizes. Among the techniques of generating and expanding poetic imagery, composite artistic figures are of particular significance. These stylistic devices, which reached their peak of sophistication in the Indian Style and declined during the Neoclassical (Bāzgasht) period, are revived in modern Persian poetry, most remarkably in the works of Royaei. Employing a descriptive–analytical approach and through a systematic examination of a corpus of Royaei’s poems, this study explores both the occurrence and the aesthetic function of composite artistic figures in his poetic imagery, namely metaphorical-punning kenning, metaphorical kenning, and metaphorical-punning–simile kenning. The findings indicate that, in Royaei’s poetry, these figures are not merely ornamental or the residual elements of classical tradition; rather, they function as active semiotic instruments that reconstruct the relationship between language and mental perception. The deliberate use of such devices results in a greater structural complexity of imagery, the expansion of the imaginative field, semantic multi-layeredness, and the reader’s active participation in the process of forming and extending poetic meaning. Thus, composite artistic figures in his poems assume a modern and philosophical role, operating as creative structures that guide the reader toward a participatory experience of imagination and the discovery of the hidden layers of poetic imagery.

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References

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