The image of the swan in contemporary Persian poetry (“The Swan” by N. Yushij and “The Death of the Swan” by M. Hamidi Shirazi)

UDC 821.22-1:81`42
DOI 10.20339/PhS.4-26.038

Yahyapour Marzieh,

Candidate of Philology, Professor of the Russian Language and

Literature Department

University of Tehran (Tehran, Iran);

Head of the Russian World Center

University of Tehran;

Editor-in-Chief of the Scientific Peer-Reviewed Journal

“Research Journal of Russian Language and Literature”

e-mail: myahya@ut.ac.ir

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8195-6909

Karimi-Motahhar Janolah,

Candidate of Philology,

Professor of the Russian Language and Literature Department,

Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature

University of Tehran (Tehran, Iran);

Chairman of the Iranian Association of Russian Language and Literature;

Member of the Presidium of the MAPRYAL

e-mail: jkarimi@ut.ac.ir

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6072-5797

 

This article examines ornithological imagery in classical and contemporary Iranian poetry. It is established that in classical poetry, bird images were most often used for didactic purposes, and the set of these images and their characteristic features are determined. As a result of transcultural communication, the range of bird images used for artistic purposes in literature has expanded. One such avian image, which came to Iranian literature from outside in the 20th century, is the swan. The semantics of this image in Russian and European cultures suggest such qualities as poetic immortality, fidelity, purity, love of freedom, and beauty. For Iranian poetry, this image was new. The article analyzes the results of this image’s application in two well-known poems: “The Swan” (1941) by Nima Yushij and “The Death of the Swan” (1954) by Medi Hamidi Shirazi. Nima Yushij’s poem “The Swan” is a striking example of pictorial-symbolic poetry. It turns out that Yushij’s poem is philosophical in nature. The swan in Nima’s poem is a symbol of the poet or a free and independent person, conveying a message of independence, individuality, and unity with nature and truth. The poet’s main idea in this poem is to show the soul of a thinking and introspective person who has distanced himself from the bustle of the world and finds peace in the depths of his own consciousness. Hamidi Shirazi’s poem is more traditional and more intimate. The form of Hamidi Shirazi’s poem is classical — it consists of 8 bayts (couples). The swan here also symbolizes the poet (the soul), but signifies other qualities — beauty and love, which are inseparable from death. In both poets, the image of the swan is associated with the sea, but the symbolism of the sea is also different. In Yushij, the sea is a symbol of peace and existence. In Hamidi Shirazi’s poem, the sea is a symbol of the lover, a haven — a safe haven and a source of existence.

Keywords: ornithological images in poetry, swan, N. Yushij, M. Hamidi Shirazi, contemporary Iranian poetry

 

References

1. Akramii, Mir-Dzh., Dekhgan, M. Kriticheskii analiz vliianiia zapadnoi poezii na stikhotvorenie «Smert’ lebedia» Khamidi Shirazi. Teberan: Tebrizskii un-t, 2014. S. 23–41.
2. Volkov, S.A. Kontseptual’nyi ob”ekt «ptitsa» v odnoimennom stikhotvorenii I. Bunina i koranicheskom tekste. Tegeran: issledovatel’skii zhurnal russkogo iazyka i literatury, 2021. S. 91–110. https://doi.org/10.52547/iarll.18.91
3. Gobadi, Kh.-A., Salarvand, A. Analiz transformatsii mifa o Simurge v obraz lebedia pri perekhode ot liricheskoi literatury k romantizmu. Tegeran: Issledovatel’skii zhurnal liricheskoi literatury, 2025. S. 193–208.
4. Dekhkhoda, A.-A. Slovar’ (Lugat-name). Tegeran: Izdatel’stvo Tegeranskogo un-ta, 1998. URL: https://avayedel.com/vocabs (11.12.2025)
5. Moin, M. Persidskii slovar’ Moina: v 6 t. Tegeran: Amir Kabir, 1998. 12-e izd.
6. Poplavskaia, I. Perevod V.A. Zhukovskogo «Rustem i Zorab» kak iavlenie transkul’turnoi kommunikatsii». Tegeran: Issledovatel’skii zhurnal russkogo iazyka i literatury, 2025. S. 89–109. https://doi.org/10.61186/iarll.25.5
7. Purnamdarian, T. Moi dom dushi, okutannyi oblakami. Tegeran: Surush, 2002. 401 s.
8. Fotukhi Rudmaʿdzhani, M. Ritorika obraza. Tegeran: Sokhan, 2010. 461 s.
9. Khamidi Shirazi, M. Slezy vozliublennoi. Shiraz: Izdatel’stvo Navid-e Shiraz, 2008. 640 s.
10. Shafii Kadkani, M.-R. Periody persidskoi poezii. Tegeran: Sokhan, 2001. 176 s.
11. Iushidzh, N. Pis’ma. Tegeran: Negakh, 2014. 758 s.
12. Iushidzh, N. Polnoe sobranie stikhotvorenii Nimy Iushidzha. Tegeran: Negakh, 1991. 843 s.
13. Iakhagi, M.-Dzh., Senchuli, A. Simvol i ego istoki v poezii Nimy Iushidzha. Tegeran: Zhurnal issledovanii persidskogo iazyka i literatury (Gohar Goya), 2011. T. 5. No. 2 (18). S. 43–64.
14. Iakh’iapur, M., Karimi-Motakhkhar, Dzh., Ponomarev, E.R. Saadi i Bunin pod ten’iu Khumaia // Kritika i semiotika. 2024. No. 1. S. 158–180. https://doi.org/10.25205/2307-1753 2024-1-158-180