An Analysis of the System of Binary Oppositions in Mohammad-Reza Shafi‘i Kadkani’s Resistance Poetry Based on Structuralist Theory

Abstract

From a structuralist perspective, meaning in a literary text emerges from a network of differential relations among signs, and binary oppositions constitute one of the most fundamental mechanisms through which these relations are organized. Mohammad-Reza Shafi‘i Kadkani’s poetry similarly draws upon a system of semantic oppositions to create a multilayered structure of social, historical, and emotional significations, which, in many instances, is closely connected with the discourse of resistance in contemporary Persian poetry. The present study aimed to examine the functions of binary oppositions in Shafi‘i Kadkani’s poetry and to explain their role in organizing the underlying semantic structure of his poems. The study employed a descriptive-analytical method grounded in the theoretical principles of structuralism and literary semiotics. Its theoretical framework was based on the views of Ferdinand de Saussure, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and prominent theorists of structuralist criticism. The research corpus was purposively selected from the poetry collections In the Garden Alleys of Nishapur, On Being and Singing, and The Second Millennium of the Mountain Gazelle. Signifying units at the lexical, imagistic, and discursive levels were identified and analyzed. The findings indicate that the semantic system of these poems is structured around a series of central oppositions, including movement/stagnation, freedom/captivity, hope/despair, light/darkness, voice/silence, and life/decay. By creating a network of signifying relations, these oppositions transform natural elements and poetic images into ideological signs within the discourse of resistance and generate the semantic dynamism of the text through the tension between opposing poles. Consequently, binary oppositions in Shafi‘i Kadkani’s poetry should not be regarded merely as rhetorical devices; rather, they function as structural mechanisms for producing meaning and representing historical and social experience within the framework of resistance discourse.