Please join us, Thursday, May 13, at 5:00 pm CST for a join program with the University of Michigan! This week, we will have a talk by Dr. Mohammadamir Jalali. Dr. Jalali is an assistant professor of Persian Language and Literature at Allameh Tabataba'i University in Tehran, Iran. His research areas include Persian manuscripts, prosody of the Persian poetry and Saadi's works.
His speech is titled, "New Poetic Meters: A Discussion on the Capabilities of the Persian Prosodical System." The number of poetic meters in Persian poetry is increasing: while about 30 meters have been recognized in Rudaki's work, 120 meters are found in Simin Behbahani's poetry. More than 300 meters exist in Persian poetry currently, and that number is on the rise. Due to this, some have called Persian poetic meter the most fecund poetic meter system in the world today. Dr. Jalali will examine the potency of meter, as well as the processes by which new meters are constructed. He will also address some meters in classical and modern poetry that do not fit any traditional classification.