Lyric Insert in the Persian Verse Romance of XI–XIII Centuries: Genesis and Genre Functions

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analyses of different types of lyric incorporations to narration in Persian classic Romance of XI–XIV centuries, to its genesis and functions both in form and content of narrative texts. Main attention is paid to the early period of development of genre (XI c.) when such poets as Unsuri, Ayyuqi and Gurgani composed first love stories in Persian poetry. The article shows how such coryphaeus of this genre Nizami used the literary experience of his predecessors in his famous romances Khsraw and Shirin and Layli and Majnun. The article contains analyses of three types of lyric incorporations in narrative text named “letters” (nama), “songs” (surud) and “love poems” (shi‘r or qhazal). The author retraced all changes in functioning of the three types of non-subject elements and showed how the border-line between them was gradually obliterated. In the end the author comes to the conclusion that lyric incorporations in Persian classic Romance act as one of the key markers of genre.