The verbal and spiritual functions of poetry in the tales of a thousand and one nights

Document Type : مروری

Abstract

One Thousand and One Nights with prose mixed with verse is a narrative work in the field of fiction literature. Despite the fact that the main burden of narration in this work is on prose, the combination of verse and prose in the narrative structure of this work gives special importance to the role and position of poetry in the stories of this collection. Reflecting on the verbal and spiritual functions of poetry in the prose narrative of the Thousand and One Nights opens the way to understanding the overall structure of the narrative and the methods of narration in this work and similar works. Contrary to the public's perception, who consider poetry - like the entertaining theme of One Thousand and One Nights - as a means of amusement and leisure, and because of its major role in description, it can be removed; In the stories of this collection, poetry not only takes on the role of description and makes the narration pleasant by embellishing the words and phrases, but in a coherent connection with the prose, it moves the narrative trajectory of the story and by using techniques such as: Space creation, unraveling and making changes in the process of the story, it advances the events of the story. In this article, after examining the verbal and spiritual functions of poetry in One Thousand and One Nights, the authors have carefully examined the quality of the relationship between poetry and prose in the narrative and the role of poetry in the formation of the stories of this collection, and have investigated the use and place of poetry in the narrative process of the stories. The findings of the research show that poetry plays an active role in 41% of the stories of One Thousand and One Nights and moves the story forward, and in 59% of the stories, it does not play a role in the narrative trajectory of the story and is only used for embellishment.

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