Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 18، number In Volume 11، February 2026 ، issue Number 117

The Function of Rhetorical Techniques in Selected Ghazals by a Lesser-Known Poet in Iran: Seyyed Karukhi Heravi

Fazal Ahmad A'alami , Abbas Mohammadian (Author in Charge), Mahyar Alavi Moghadam , Ali Tasnimi

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Sayyidā-ye Karokhī, one of the prominent Sufi poets of the thirteenth century AH from the cultural sphere of Herat (present-day Afghanistan), has remained relatively unknown in Iran despite his reputation in Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. The majority of his works consist of mystical and romantic ghazals characterized by a rich diversity of rhetorical elements. The present study aims to examine and analyze the rhetorical strategies and stylistic features in a selected corpus of Sayyidā’s ghazals through a systematic approach grounded in principles of stylistics, in order to elucidate the imagistic and syntactic structure of his poetic language.

METHODOLOGY: This research is based on library sources, and the collected data are analyzed using a combined qualitative–quantitative method. The reasoning proceeds inductively, moving from particular observations to general conclusions. Four major categories of figurative language—simile, metaphor, metonymy, and allusion—are studied with respect to their frequency, semantic function, and aesthetic contribution, so that the rhetorical system of Sayyidā’s poetry may be represented through measurable stylistic indicators.

FINDINGS: The findings reveal that Sayyidā employs a deliberate and extensive use of figurative devices to construct a vivid, dynamic, and rhetorically charged imagistic structure. Among similes, implicit, indirect, and especially genitive (iḍāfa-based) similes display the highest frequency. In the domain of metaphor, personification and implied metaphor appear more prominently than explicit metaphor. Additionally, the poet enhances poetic defamiliarization by combining similarity-based metonymies with various types of figurative displacement, and in the realm of allusion, he predominantly favors near allusions. Lexical innovation, phonetic patterning, verb ellipsis by contextual indication, syntactic inversion, and the concretization of abstract concepts constitute further salient techniques. The three principles of coherence, harmony, and brilliance—central to formalism and structuralism—are distinctly reflected in his poetic style.

CONCLUSION: The results show that the expressive structure of Seyyed"s ghazals is the result of a conscious and systematic approach; an approach that has strengthened the rhetorical capacities of his poetry and led to the formation of his personal style. The dominance of Persian words, the high frequency of compound adjectives, the use of the adjective as an adjective, and the abundance of metaphorical, allegorical, and simile additions are among the prominent components of his poetic language. These features indicate that Seyyed"s poetry has a coherent rhetorical system and is worthy of further research in the field of stylistics.

Keyword
Seyyidā-ye Kurukhī , Rhetoric of Imagery , Figures of Speech , Rhetorical Criticism , Afghan Poetry , South Asia