Journal of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies

Journal of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies

Meta-analysis of Tazriq Poetry in Contemporary Research

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Reyhaneh Askari 1
GholamHossein GholamHosseinzade 2
1 PhD Graduate in Persian Language and Literature, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran: (Corresponding Author)
10.22075/jlrs.2025.37456.2641
Abstract
One of the lesser known, yet creative, poetic styles that was relatively widespread in the 11th and 12th centuries AH (16th and 17th centuries CE) is the Tazriq style. This style has attracted the attention of some researchers because of its striking features such as linguistic and rhetorical stylistic deviance, unconventional compounds, and its apparent meaninglessness. Due to its departure from conventional poetic norms, many scholars have regarded Tazrīq as light, unpleasant, and nonsensical, describing it as a form of humor, literary playfulness, or parody. This study aims to categorize and analyze the contemporary researches and evaluate whether they are consistent with historical-literary sources and with the corpus of Tazriq poems. In addition, it offers a re-definition of the concepts of meaningfulness and meaninglessness in Tazriq poetry. The findings indicate that the Tazriq poems neither necessarily exhibit correct syntactic structure nor merely aim at playfulness. Furthermore, despite its frequent stylistic deviances – which leads to the assumption of meaninglessness – Tazriq poetry can largely make sense in relation to certain norms within its contemporary historical and cultural contexts.
Keywords
meaninglessness
meta-analysis
Safavid period
Tazriq poetry
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Journal of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies
Volume 17, Issue 44
In progress
Summer 2026
Pages 113-150