Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 18، number In Volume 9، December 2025 ، issue Number 115

Structural and Content Analysis of the Letters of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh

Omid Majd (Author in Charge), Maryam Fathalipour Salovee , Mohammad Fathalipour Salovee

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to conduct a detailed and systematic study of written letters in Ferdowsi"s Shahnameh. Letters in Shahnameh are part of the narrative structure and a means of shaping the relationships between characters, expressing the perspective of power, and reflecting moral and cultural values. Although this part of the text makes a significant contribution to advancing the story, few studies have analyzed all the letters in an integrated manner, and usually only a few famous letters have been examined. Hence, the need for a comprehensive study that analyzes both the structure and content of the letters is felt.

METHODOLOGY: This research was conducted based on the descriptive-analytical method and used qualitative and quantitative content analysis simultaneously. In the first stage, by referring to the critical text of Shahnameh (published by Jalal Khaleghi Motlaq), 74 written letters were extracted along with all their structural and narrative features. Then, for each letter, information such as the pattern of the beginning, body and end, type of content, tone, length, social relationship between the sender and the receiver and its position in the narrative were recorded. After coding, the data were analyzed in the form of the three axes of structure, content and function.

FINDINGS: The findings of the study show that most of the letters follow the three-fold pattern of beginning, body, and end, which indicates the roots of a writing tradition in the Shahnameh text. The study of tones also indicates the dominance of two tones: threatening and soft, which shows that power relations and moral relations together organize the narrative. In terms of narrative role, some letters initiate main events, some create new tension and crisis, and others lead to unraveling and organizing the ending of the narrative. This indicates that letters play an active role in constructing the plot of the Shahnameh and are not the only means of conveying the message.

CONCLUSION: The results of the research show that Ferdowsi used the letter format to express his moral, political, and humanistic views, and that letters in the Shahnameh have a place beyond a simple communication tool. Their coherent structure reflects the poet"s mastery of the formal letter-writing methods and the secretarial tradition of ancient Iran, and the diversity of themes, tones, and relationships between characters shows that letters are a serious part of the narrative architecture of the Shahnameh.

Keyword
Shahnameh , Ferdowsi , epistolary writing , structural analysis , content analysis , narrative function