Abstract

In the restoration period of Persian literature, poets turned back to copy the styles prevalent in Khorasani and Iragi styles. Restoration lyricist, for instance, began to follow Saadi and Hafiz in rhyme and rhythm. The isostylistic poems thus created are considerable for their inlets of initial line (Matla). This is because the inlet, as in Saadi and Hafiz, would set the tone, rhyme and rhythm of the whole lyric. Looking through the inlet line of Saadi and Hafiz, one comes across melodious words that are auspicious enough to be given a due consideration in this research. There are also certain rhetorical elements like emphasis, statements, and denial. Interrogatives as well as affective sentences are found to be one of the methods employed by restoration poets to highlight the inlet line of their lyrics. Some inlets, however, are organized in a narrative manner in which discourse plays an important part. The present study focuses on the inlets (initial lines) devised by ten restoration poets and compares them with those upon which they are modeled. It seeks to shed light on, among other things, how successfully these poets have imitated their role models.