A study of persuasive methods in Indian-style sonnets based on Logos theory with an emphasis on Sāeb's poetry

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD in Persian Language and Literature, Bu-Ali Sina University of Hamadan, Hamadan, Iran (Corresponding author)

2 Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran.

10.22075/jlrs.2024.31395.2319

Abstract

As a critical method, persuasion has been the focus of experts' attention since ancient times, but Persian poetry is less criticized from this point of view. One of the outstanding features of ancient poetry in most form, especially the sonnet, is its potential to prove and persuade. In studying ancient Persian poetry, we find that poets use various rhetorical and non-rhetorical methods to convince the audience to accept or reject an assertion. Among the models of persuasion, the way presented by Aristotle in Rhetoric has received the attention of critics more than other models. Aristotle determined that persuasion comprises a combination of three modes: logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos is the process of logical reasoning, pathos is the result of arousing the audience's feelings, and ethos is the result of the fame of the writer of the work. In this research, we work on logos. The poetic discourse in the Indian style has become somewhat different due to the many relationships of the poets in a new way with the past of Persian poetry. The poets have tried to share new types of poetic, intellectual, cultural, emotional and life experiences with the audience, and this has caused them to create new methods and capacities. The poetry of this era has a positive and persuasive nature. It means that poets have tried to prove many issues and convince the audience in this way. For this reason, they have used many methods and techniques.Using rhetorical techniques with argumentative and allegorical backgrounds is one of these methods. These methods have established a logical-artistic discourse in the poetry of this period. In this research, the authors have attempted to study logos-related persuasive forms of Indian-style sonnet in Sāeb’s poetry, using a descriptive-analytical method. The analysis of logos in this study on Indian-style poetry falls into the two categories of argumentation and referential.  In the first category, the poet attempts to persuade the audience by utilizing allegory, etiology, proverbs, and rhetorical discourses that have a basis in reasoning. The second category, which is based on referential and intertextual relations, allusion and quotation are used more than other persuasive devices.

Keywords


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