Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale

Rivista | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale
Fascicolo | 57 | 2021
Articolo | Notes on Musical Imagery in the Poetry of Jāmi

Notes on Musical Imagery in the Poetry of Jāmi

Abstract

The poet Nur-al-Din ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān Jāmi (1414-92) is known to have been proficient in music theory; he also wrote a Resāla-ye musiqi (Treatise on Music Theory). In his poems he displayed an extensive and precise use of musical terms. To probe further into the elements of musical imagery, I scanned through his maṯnavis Haft awrang (The Seven Thrones) in search of lines dedicated to musical modes, instruments, and performers. Considering that musical imagery had a long-established tradition before his time, I pursued a comparative investigation and commented on some lines by way of examples. Finally, I argue that literary conventions shaped Jāmi’s poetry more than his expertise in music theory did.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Presentato: 13 Agosto 2020 | Accettato: 17 Settembre 2020 | Pubblicato 30 Giugno 2021 | Lingua: en

Keywords Nur-al-Din ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān JāmiPersian poetryMusical instrumentsPoetic imageryResāla-ye musiqi


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