An Analysis of “Nomination” in Seyyed Ashrafuddin Gilani’s Poetry, based on van Leeuwen’s Model of the Representation of Social Actors

Nomination is a discourse-oriented structure rooted in the ideology of the speaker, showing his/her orientation towards different social actors, and sometimes helping to induce his/her thoughts. This study is conducted to examine and analyze this structure in Seyyed Ashrafuddin Gilani’s poetry, based on van Leeuwen’s (1996) model of the representation of social actors. The paper seeks to answer the following questions: 1. Which social actors are represented in his poems, using the discourse-oriented component of nomination? 2. What factors have influenced his application of this discourse-oriented structure to social actors? 3. What emotions and thoughts are induced by nomination in his poems? According to the findings, the poet represents contemporary and historical social actors (religious and national) using direct and indirect naming. Some of the factors affecting the application of this discourse-oriented structure to the above actors are Seyyed Ashrafuddin’s main audience, the general public, his religious worldview, and the social conditions of the time, which necessitated a reminder of Iran’s glorious past. Nasim-e Shomal uses a variety of names in his poetry to arouse the religious and national emotions of the people, express the attitude and orientation of the speaker towards the relevant actors, inform the people about Iran’s great past, and pay homage to the agents, among others.
 
Extended Abstract
1.Introduction
As a core component of culture, literature cannot be disconnected from the socio-political situations that affect it in different ways. The Iranian Constitutional Revolution had a remarkable influence on Iranian literature, making it reflect important socio-political aspects of the period. The present article seeks to study the socio-political aspects of the poetry of Seyyed Ashrafuddin Gilani, an important literary figure of the Constitutional era, based on van Leeuwen’s idea of the representation of social actors. Attempt is made to identify the social actors represented in his poetry through nomination, the factors influencing the poet in applying this discourse-centered structure to social actors, and the ideas and emotions evoked in his poetry through nomination.
 
2.Theoretical Framework
The present article adopts van Leeuwen’s semantic-sociological approach, in which the depiction of social actors is influenced by the social/intellectual views and the power relations governing society. Nomination, as one of the discursive structures in van Leeuwen’s theory, is focused on in the analysis of Ashrafuddin Gilani’s poetry.
 
3.Methodology
Critical discourse analysis is a text-based analysis of the qualitative type which deals with the study of language in social interactions, the relationship between ideology and language and how meaning is produced in discourse. In the present article, the quantitative method is used to examine nomination in the poetry of Ashrafuddin Gilani. Then the qualitative method is applied to the analysis of the data.
 
4.Discussion and Analysis
In Seyyed Ashrafuddin Gilani’s poetry both direct nomination and indirect nomination have been used. The social actors represented through nomination in his poetry can be divided into two groups: contemporary social actors, including the poet himself, ordinary people and social and political figures, and historical social actors, including religious social actors and national social actors. Ordinary people play a greater role in his poetry as he has mostly addressed the common people. Of the historical social figure, religious social actors play a greater part, which is due to the religious worldview the poet has adopted in dealing with social and political topics.
 
5.Conclusion
As can be concluded from the analysis of the data, Ashrafuddin Gilani has used direct and indirect nomination to represent contemporary social actors and historical social actors. The main audiences of the poet were the general public, which made him pay more attention to them in his poetry. And because of his religious beliefs and the social situation of the time, religious social actors attracted more attention in his poetry. Different types of nomination have been used in his poetry to encourage the religious and national emotions of his audiences and make them aware of their glorious past.
 
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