Description and Theoretical Origin of the Khorasani Style

One of the important periods in Persian poetry is the Khorasani style. The poetry of the Khorasani style is renowned for its simplicity of description and precise depictions. This kind of description, contrary to the opinion of stylisticians, has a theoretical origin that is manifested in the poetic theory of Avicenna (Ibn Sina). The influence of Greek rhetoric and the understanding of Aristotle's art of poetry within the Syriac and Iranian-Islamic traditions play a role in the comprehension of the issue of description during this period. On the other hand, familiarity with and influence of the poetics of Arabic qasidas and rhetorical sciences in the fourth century put forward another reading of the subject of description. The relationship between truthful speech and precise depiction in the poetry of this period, through a rereading of the poetic treatises of Farabi and Avicenna, indicates that false speech has its roots in the interpretations of Alexandrian philosophers, which entered the tradition of Islamic rhetoric through Farabi. This study reveals the origin of description in the Khorasani style within the poetic theory of Avicenna. This article re-examines the depiction of nature in the Khorasani style, which until now was limited to natural phenomena, considering nature in the meaning of the Greek phosis and analyzes its manifestation in two realms: the natural and the political, within the Khorasani style.
The Khorasani style—spanning from the second half of the 9th century to the end of the 11th century—was renowned for its simple and realistic descriptions. This stylistic feature appears in both the poetry and prose of the period. In the early centuries of Persian poetry, descriptions were often extended; that is, the poet would depict a single object—usually drawn from nature—across several verses. However, from the late 11th century onward, this method underwent a transformation, largely due to the increased use of metaphor and a shift in poets’ worldview and modes of thinking. Therefore, it is first necessary to clarify the concept and nature of nature-description in the Khorasani style and to revisit it through a historical and stylistic lens.
Description in the Khorasani style manifests in diverse forms. Poets and writers of this period occasionally depicted their visual experiences in the manner they perceived them. In other words, there exists a correspondence between visual experience and verbal depiction. This correspondence is not necessarily literal or one-to-one; rather, it is rooted in sensory and perceptual engagement. Such visual correspondence may be termed visual mimesis. Conversely, the perceived image may express itself through actions and behaviors—what may be called behavioral mimesis—in which a behavior, most often a human one, is transferred onto the object being described.
 
Methodology
The methodology of this article is to reassess and reread previous assumptions about description in the Khorasani style, with careful attention to both the Greek rhetorical tradition and the Iranian-Islamic rhetorical heritage. In essence, the article advances three central claims: first, the influence of Greek rhetoric on Islamic rhetoric; second, the impact of rhetorical sciences of the time on poets; and finally, the presence of a classical poetics within the Arabic qasida tradition.
 
Theoretical Framework
What requires a critical rereading is the fact that mimesis should not be conflated with the theory of representation. This fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of mimesis has led stylisticians to regard the Khorasani style as objectivist. However, in mimesis, the reference is to phosis—nature—and this nature is not merely external or objective. Physis, as will be shown, can also refer to human nature. As is evident in the Poetics, Aristotle’s notion of mimesis is, in fact, mimesis of action (Aristotle, Poetics, 1448a: 4).
In fact, poetry in the view of poets of the Khorasani style appears as an inquiry into truth. Therefore, the description of nature (phosis) in Khorasani poetry can be examined on two levels: one is the depiction of the natural, and the other is the depiction of the political.
A significant portion of the Islamic rhetorical tradition is undoubtedly derived from and influenced by the Greek rhetorical tradition, and many Greek rhetorical theories can be traced within Islamic rhetoric. Beyond the familiarity of Khorasani-style poets with rhetorical sciences, it is clear to all scholars that the Persian qasida is a continuation of the Arabic qasida. Therefore, elaborating on this point would be a mere repetition of the obvious and redundant, which we shall omit. Here, it suffices to note that poets of this period—such as Manuchehri, who famously stated, “I have memorized many collections of Arabic poetry”—were well acquainted with the genres of the Arabic qasida and were influenced by the classical poetics of Arabic poetry. This influence was not limited to the structure of the qasida but also extended to modes of description.
The issue of description in the early centuries of Persian poetry has a relation to the idea of mimesis in the Greek tradition. Mimesis is one of the key terms in the earliest translations of Aristotle’s Poetics. Consequently, in engaging with the Iranian-Islamic rhetorical tradition, one encounters a spectrum of terms such as imagination (takhayyul), imitation (taqlid), mimesis, and even tangible similes (comparisons from sense to sense).
 
Conclusion
The issue of description in the Khorasani style is not limited to a perspective such as the underdevelopment of rhetorical sciences. Rather, we have demonstrated that description, as the ‘amud al-shi‘r in the Khorasani style, has a theoretical foundation upon which Avicenna develops his poetic theory in the Art of Poetry section of The Healing. This viewpoint partially aligns with the theories of Arab and Greek theorists. The theory of Ahsan al-Shi‘r (the Best Poetry) constitutes one of the intersections in the longstanding debate over truth and falsehood in poetry, a dispute that has endured among scholars of rhetoric and philosophers. The rhetoricians’ interpretation of mimsin (imitation) and the imaginative quality of poetry is linked to the issue of poetic truth and falsehood, which remains a subject of discussion to this day. Although the weight of Ahsan al-Shi‘r as false poetry is stronger, the question of truthfulness in poetry has been a matter of concern among many rhetoricians and philosophers.
For poets of the Khorasani style, the truthful expression of the object as it holds great significance. A superficial perspective and analysis of nature in Khorasani poetry limit deeper investigations into the qasida of this period. Nature in this style bears a deeper meaning than what is commonly understood as the mere description of natural phenomena. Nature in Khorasani poetry was examined in two dimensions: the natural realm and the political realm.
On the other hand, the influence of the classical poetics of Arabic poetry on this period’s poetry reflects the penetration of poets’ and rhetoricians’ ideas into the modes of expression of Khorasani poets. Furthermore, we examined the influence of Greek rhetoric and the relation between ekphrasis and description in the Khorasani style, highlighting its similarities with the issue of description in Khorasani poetry and reinterpreting it as one of the origins of the problem of description in this poetic style.