Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 19، number In Volume 8، November 2026 ، issue Number 126

Stylistics of Poetic Imagery in Onsori Similes

Asiyeh Ghavami , Mahdi Rezaei (Author in Charge)

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: As one of the most prominent representatives of the Khorasani style in the fourth century AH, Onsori Balkhi is a poet whose poetry is formed at the intersection of three fundamental elements: linguistic power, visual imagination, and structural coherence, and simile, especially in its complex and extensive forms, plays a pivotal role in organizing his poetic world. The present study, with a stylistic and analytical approach, examines the mechanisms of poetic imagery in the similes of Ensri"s odes. The main issue of this study is that similes in Ensri poetry are not simply tools of linguistic arrangement or rhetorical decoration, but rather act as a dynamic mechanism in producing meaning, creating visual movement, and inducing transformations in nature, history, and political power.

METHODOLOGY: This study, relying on the descriptive-analytical method and utilizing the principles of literary stylistics, examines the methods of imagery in Onsori similes. And it shows how the poet, by using compound similes, creates a world full of dynamism and transformation by giving life to the elements of nature and linking natural movement with human action.

FINDINGS: Similes in Onsori poetry operate based on the connection of images through sensory elements (color, smell, movement, force). These similes are not isolated units, but form a coherent system at the level of verse and ode.

CONCLUSION: Simile in Onsori poetry has the basic functions of guiding meaning, creating visual dynamism, transforming abstract concepts into sensory ones, and naturalizing the authority of the praised. These similes play a decisive role in the formation of the semantic architecture of the poem, visual coherence, and the consolidation of the discourse of praise, and are considered one of the most important components of his stylistic identity.

Keyword
Onsori , Khorasani style , poetic imagery , simile , ode.