Constitutional poetry is characterized by its motivational function and seeks to inspire people to revolution by instilling an epic spirit in society. In this revolutionary context, poetry, and particularly its linguistic element, played a highly influential role in fostering an epic spirit among the people. The present article employs a descriptive-analytical method based on library research to examine the epic components of language in the poetry of Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, Farrokhi Yazdi, and Aref Qazvini, drawing on a model for analyzing epic language. The study seeks to answer the question of what the most important linguistic characteristics and features of these poets' works are and what position they occupy within the epic poetry of the Constitutional Era. The findings show that the aforementioned poets paid particular attention to the characteristics and elements of epic language. Despite the transformations that occurred in the linguistic elements of epic poetry, national values retained their position. Epic is one of the oldest poetic genres, and its composition requires an epic spirit and language. Factors that contribute to making language epic include an epic spirit, syntactic and lexical archaism, the musical quality of letters and words, which, when combined, convey particular concepts to the reader, and exaggeration, which is inherent in epic poetry.
Introduction
The Constitutional poets, as the voice of the nation, followed a difficult path. Criticism, exposure of injustice, and pointing an accusing finger at the Qajar government were among the most prominent characteristics of the poetry of these poets. They sometimes protested directly and sometimes through symbols against the domestic situation and the presence of foreigners in the country, fighting oppression and tyranny with the weapon of poetry. Bahar, Farrokhi Yazdi, and Aref paved the way for the emergence of new poetry in the subsequent period. They rose against the injustices and tyranny of their time through their poetry. What is referred to in this study as the epic language of Constitutional poetry primarily encompasses national sentiment and a sense of national pride, whether expressed in martial poetry or in the form of a cry, a cry that ultimately concerns the vitality and well-being of society and the shared ideals and aspirations of the masses. The aforementioned poets, as influential Constitutional poets, have consistently attracted the attention of scholars. Numerous studies have examined the poetry of each of them; however, despite these extensive and commendable efforts, many aspects of their poetry remain unexplained.
Research Questions
The present study seeks to answer the following question: What are the most important linguistic characteristics and features of the poetry of these poets, and what is their position within the epic poetry of the Constitutional Era?
Literature Review
To date, no independent study has been conducted specifically on the epic elements in the poetry of Bahar, Farrokhi, and Aref. However, some researchers have made brief and scattered references to certain elements in parts of their studies:
· Taslimi (2013), in his thesis on the themes of the poetry of Iraj Mirza, Bahar, Farrokhi, concluded that Iraj, through satire, opposed religious superstitions and became a herald of renewal and transformation. Aref expressed patriotic sentiments in his ghazals. In terms of language and thought, Bahar used the qasida as a vehicle for poetic concepts of the period, such as freedom and homeland, while Farrokhi made a tendency toward workers' literature the foundation of his political struggles.
· Bahmani Motlaq and Pourzarifi (2012) sought to demonstrate the similarities and differences between the ideas of Farrokhi Yazdi and Aref concerning such topics as freedom, homeland, criticism of the functioning of government institutions, love, and myth.
· Yousefian Darani and Khorasani (2015) maintained that Aref's social ghazals were composed with particular attention to the social developments of the Constitutional Era and that only a small number of his ghazals make no reference to the events of the Constitutional Era. These ghazals address such topics as freedom, homeland, criticism, tyranny, women, and education, although the degree of attention Aref devoted to each concept varies.
Methodology
The present study employs a descriptive-analytical method based on library research. It seeks to explain and describe the indicators of epic language in the poetry of the three aforementioned Constitutional poets by applying a specific analytical model and demonstrating that the epic genre, with its distinctive characteristics, creates particular patterns and forms of prominence in language. By applying valid scholarly criteria, these forms of linguistic prominence can be identified and described, and the epic language in the poetry of the aforementioned poets can then be examined on the basis of these indicators.
Findings
The findings show that the aforementioned poets paid particular attention to the characteristics and elements of epic language. Despite the transformations that occurred, national values retained their position within the linguistic elements of epic poetry. Epic is one of the oldest poetic genres, and its composition requires an epic spirit and language. Factors that contribute to making language epic include an epic spirit, syntactic and lexical archaism, the musical quality of letters and words, which, when combined, convey particular concepts to the reader, and exaggeration, which is inherent in epic poetry.
Conclusion
In this study, using the model of epic language, the indicators of epic language were identified at four levels: phonetic, lexical-syntactic, rhetorical, and thematic. These indicators were then examined through textual evidence from the works of the aforementioned poets. The findings show that the poets paid particular attention to the indicators and elements of epic language in their collected works. Despite the changes that occurred, national values maintained their position among the linguistic elements of the Constitutional Era. Moreover, the conventions and structural features of epic language were employed even in their ghazals. Based on the model of epic language and the premise that epic language possesses distinctive indicators at different levels, which can be used to determine, to a certain extent, whether a work is epic in nature, the study ultimately concludes that Bahar, Aref Qazvini, and Farrokhi Yazdi achieved considerable success in employing epic language.