The Influences of the Transformation of the Urban Space and Social Ambience of Safavid Isfahan on Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī’s Ghazals

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Mojde Mokhlesi

PhD Graduate, Comparative and Analytical History of Islamic Art, Faculty of Theoretical Sciences and Higher Art Studies, University of Art, Tehran, Iran

10.22067/jhistory.2025.92278.1366

Abstract

Isfahan and the transformations it underwent in the Safavid era presented a new definition of city and urbanism and depicted a different lifeworld for artists. The Isfahan school of poetry, with Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī as its most prominent representative, displays a significant departure from the norms of Persian poetry. Can a relationship be established between the transformation of Isfahan and the poet’s outlook, and can we discuss the influence of dwelling in this different lifeworld on Ṣāʾib’s poetry? The present article, using grounded theory as its research methodology, aims to answer these questions by seeking and examining the effects of the transformation of Isfahan’s urban space and social ambience on the ghazals of the poet laureate of the Safavid court. This study has found the Safavid capital to be influential in different aspects of Ṣāʾib’s artistic creation: on the one hand, this special city and its newly constructed elements play roles in Ṣāʾib’s poetry for generating poetic concepts and symbols; and on the other, the new ambience of the city brings about changes in the poet’s mindset and his poetry exhibits a different sense of urbanism. The results underline the fact that Ṣāʾib’s outlook has been influenced by the revolutionized city of Isfahan and the findings indicate a kind of social change and bespeak the advent of modern urban culture in eleventh-(A.H.)/seventeenth(A.D.)-century Iran.

Keywords

Ṣāʾib Tabrīzī

City

Urbanism

Isfahan

Isfahan school of Poetry (Indian Style)

Safavid Era

Subjects

• History of Islamic Arts

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