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Introduction
Semiology is one of the first steps of literary text analysis. Linguistic signs are in close connection with their referents and serve as signifiers for the poetry creation signified, and make linguistics distinct from connotation. For this reason, today, “semiology as a method to study the phenomena, can create a system for itself in the investigation of any phenomenon, by which it transfers the concepts that their meaning has changed in that phenomenon to the context of denotation, and achieve explicit meanings" (Kupal, 2007, p.47). Literary work is actually a phenomenon. In literary works semiology is involved with linguistic signifiers and signified. According to Saussure, signifier and signified are mental images that belong to the language system; “Saussure calls the link between them as linguistic sign”. Signifier and signified are mental, hence the link is mental as well. Obviously each signifier signifies something other than itself which is called its signified, and therefore, language can be considered as a semiotic system. Language signs have an optional essence; this means that each signifier could be connected with another signified. One of the goals of the literary work is the capability of one signifier to signify the maximum signified. The more the poet is familiar with subtleties of linguistic significations and the wider the scientific, literary and cultural knowledge of the poet, the greater the possibility to observe the circle of signifier’s signification in his poetry, and higher is the activity of any signifier in the requirement of his companion to expand signification. At this point the amount of poet’s ability in creating a lasting work, and the extent of effect of poetry is determined; in this field Shafiei Kadkani should be considered as a prominent poet. In the poetry of Shafiei Kadkani the signifier has signified in at least three level or scopes. The first scope is encyclopedic signification of sign, i.e. each word is a sign and directly signifies its lexical meaning. The second scope is the signifier’s signification, or second meanings of expression in literary domain, that the mind of the addressee is guided to that way by the famous and familiar tools of the literary industry, and signification of the sign is supposedly figurative and indirect. The third scope is hypertextual signification, and only those understand the implicit and implied intentions of the poet who are acquainted with historical, cultural codes and literary traditions of the poet’s birthplace, and in this field literary figures ofintimation and allusion are the most frequent.
Development
The first poem we have chosen for semiotic analysis is “Noohe Jadid” by Shafiei Kadkani composed in 1974 selected from his collection of “Khati Ze Deltangi”. The title of this poem is "Noohe Jadid" (New Noah). This title, for the addressee familiar with the religious codes of the poet, opens a door to the previous religious texts, and creates an intertextuality in which "Noah" is one of the main personalities of the Abrahamic religions and his story is mentioned in the Torah, the Gospel as well as the Qur'an. Change in the reference information circle of the addressee who shares the cultural, religious, and historical codes with the poet is one of the ways that Shafiei Kadkani uses for defamiliarization and implantation of the desired meaning. The poet deliberately confuses the presupposition of addressee about the mythical, religious, and other symbols, and forces the mind of the addressee to struggle and compare in order to get the meaning. In this poem as the title indicates, the poet creates a new Noah who is in opposition to the religious teachings of the addressee. The New Noah is a savior of mice and snakes, and his ship is not a safe haven. "Religious mythology can be interpreted as a kind of psychological treatment for human suffering and concerns such as hunger, war, disease, aging and death; for instance, the myth of worldly hero always refers to a strong man or divine being who defeats evil which in the form of dragons, vipers, giants, devils and so on, and liberates its people from ruin and death. Explanation or repletion of holy and religious texts and poems... makes the person feel the same with the hero” (Jung,1973, p. 118).In the poetry of Shafiei Kadkani this resemblance with hero is replaced with reflection and comparison. The poet brings mythology from the depths of history to the world of today in order to induce his ideas, and, by making changes in the actions of myths imposes the addressee, who knows that the era of miracles is over, to reflect and think.
The new Noah standing by the door of ship,
His ship full of mice and snakes,
But in it there is no room for pigeon,
And there is no room for canary.
The poem begins with a report on the position of “New Noah” who is “standing by the door of the ship”. Beyond this report there is a pre-text of “Noah’s religious myth”, and a hypertext of “the poet’s criticism and dissatisfaction of the performance of the present saviors”. "Myths produce signs and codes, and signs and codes, in turn, serve as preservers of myths. The public knows as myth the beliefs which are not true, but semiotician do not necessarily use this term in this meaning. Myth can be considered an expanded metaphor. Myths, like metaphors, help us to give meaning to our experiences within a culture”. (Likoff & Johnson, 2015, pp. 185-186). The sign of “Noohe Jadid” is made of a proper noun and an adjective. "Noah" in the circle of conceptual significations, and in the history and religious culture of Muslims, is the name of one of the Ulul Azm Prophets, of the generation of Adam. Noah has a historical, mythical, and religious pre-text for readers, and is not solelya name. This term, like other words before its presence in the context of poetry, has had a stable character and special and conventional function, but with the change of character and transformation of its meaning in poetry, it is revived and found many novel meanings and readings. Noah's myth, used by the poet to express his intended ideas, is a sign that leads the addressee of the text to the meanings, and like metaphor and metonymy expands the discourse and contributes to the reader's new attitude. Regarding the context of the text, and other combinations and expressions (the circle of communicative significations), "Noohe Jadid" is the one who though like Noah the Prophet has a ship, but filed it with insidious and harmful animals. The significance of this key sign of the poem belongs to its signified in reference signification circle. In our religious codes, "Noah was the first prophet that in his time suffering descended, and after centuries of call, as his sinful people despised him and did not believe in him, Noah was commanded to build the ship" (Yahaghi, 2010, p. 828). "when the ship was built, the signs and verses of God's punishment became apparent, a flooding rain started ... Noah and his companions boarded on one class of the ship and assigned two other classes to animals and birds, the Noah's ship went on the water, and those who refused to accept Noah's invitation and stayed out of the ship were completely sunk” (Dehkhoda, 1931). Without familiarity with this story, the interpretation of this poem is impossible for the addressee, since the meaningfulness of the work is possible due to previous texts. In other words, the addressees this poem are those familiar with the story of Noah. In this text, the reference signification circle is formed of the religious and mythical mentality of the addressee. The poet has created New Noah in opposition to Noah the Prophet to describe the current status of the society and modern saviors of mankind. To achieve this mythical purpose, he proposes Noah with a new subject in its original form. Clearly, instead of Noah, any other mythology focusing on human salvation could have been replaced; for example, religious myths like Moses, Jesus ... national and patriotic like Jamshid, and even the mythology of other nations, such as Gilgamesh or Greek Prometheus. The only thing to remember is to avoid the intended action of the addressee which is saving humanity and building a better world, and also the tools used in the main narrative to help the hero lose their function.
The "new" adjective is in opposition to the presuppositions of the addressee because it implies that, with all possible similarities, this Noah is not the one in our mind and is the Prophet of another world, the possible world the poet has created in this poem.
In the next three hemistiches the poet describes the features of the new Noah's ship. The "ship" of Noah, in the circle of conceptual signification, “was the ship that Noah sat down in the famous storm of his time, and this ship later landed in a place” (Dehkhoda, 1931). Although in our cultural and mythological codes (reference signification circle), "the ship (Noah's ship) is often a manifestation of salvation and a deliverance" (Yahaghi, 2007, p. 829), in this context (the circle of communicative signification) and according to other combinations and symbolic terms of poetry, this sign not only does not represent salvation, but instead of pigeon and canary, the savior is a "mouse and snake". The poet produces an artistic creation by breaking down the addressee's presupposition (defamiliarization).
"Mouse" is a "small mammal from rodents’ family" (Dehkhoda, 1931). The New Noah’s ship, like the Prophet Noah's Ship, is full of mice. It is stated in narratives that "the men of the ship complained of mice to Noah, that it eats their food supply and provender which is stored for a period of one year." Noah prayed and Gabriel came to him and said: Noah, bring the lion, and the lion sneezed and a cat fall out of his nose among the mice" (Shamisa, 2007, p. 665). But the residents the new Noah's ship, unlike the Noah Prophet, does not do anything to kill the mice, because there is no place for the dignity and beauty, with the existence of mouse and the snake.
The rat in this text which id mentioned along with the "snake" is "a pestilent animal and a symbol of death, corruption, and corruption" (Cooper, 2013, p. 377). "In the Greek-Roman literature, the mouse was believed to be voluptuous and greedy... Rats seem to be of little importance, but with their quick movements and insatiable appetite, they evoke evil or destructive forces. In the West, rat is generally an invasive animal and often brings to mind annihilation and death” (Ravana & Shefard, 2014, p. 191). By using this sign, the poet induces all these negative concepts. Being in opposition with pigeon and canary, the mouse has a doubled negative meaning, and it also brings to mind the themes of war and ugliness.
The "snake" in the circle of conceptual signification is "a long reptile, which has no hand or foot" (Dehkhoda, 1931). Although snake is a very complex and multiple symbol, and it can be positive or negative, but in this context (the circle of communicative signification), this sign is in opposition to "pigeon" and "canary", and a negative symbol. "The snake is known to be a symbol of distress, depression, revenge, malignancy, messaging, indolence, cunning, death, temptation” (Yahaghi, 2007, p. 737). Jung (1973), says: "Snake is one of the vertebrate animals, whose mental incarnation is low, dark and tenebrous"(Chevalier & Gheerbrant, 2008, p.58). Likewise, "because snake moves without any foot or wing, is manifestation of the penetrating spirit in all things, and because it flows into the abyss, embodies the inner nature of mankind and awareness and the hidden manifestation of malicious forces, such as witches, or fortunetellers and demonstration of the evil and bad side of nature”. (Cooper, 2013, p. 348)
In our cultural codes (referencesignification circle) “an aspect of the Ahriman or Angar Mainyu is a dark and liar snake; the Iranian snake is Azidhak (strangler) and an enemy of the sun”. (Cooper, 2013, p. 350)
This animal is in various forms in myths of different nations and folks “in the story of the advent of fire, Ahriman created the snake, which has the same root of death, and Ahura Mazda against it and to confront it, created the fire and thus it became sacred. Also, two snakes grew on his shoulder of Zahhak and blackened his time by eating the young man’s brain, and the old traditions called him a triple-head dragon. In the narratives of the Islamic era, sometimes influenced by the origins of Jewish culture, snake was a beautiful animal with four legs like a camel, and was considered to be a treasurer of paradise, but because it worked together with Iblis in temptation of Adam and entered him into heaven, God dismissed him from heaven as a punishment ... In the Torah, the sinful role of the snake is more evident than the Islamic narratives, because here the snake is itself a tempter. In Persian poetry sometimes snake and peacock have are referred to as "Demon’s assistants" because of their uncelebrated role in Adam's story". (Yahaghi, 2007, pp. 737-738)
The poet initially accompanies the mental background of addressee of what they know of religious myths, but suddenly the word "But" breaks down the mental link and bond between the addressee and the poem. With this kind of but suddenly the word "Lick" breaks down the link and the bond between the addressee and the poet. By creating such a disconformity, the sense of aesthetics is raised in the reader and therefore encouraged to continue reading.
The "pigeon" in the conceptual signification circle "is a bird with long wings and small, thin legs and weak beak" (Dehkhoda, 1931); it is also one of the units of the sign system of the birds because besides being a pigeon it signifies peace, lettering, hope, and so forth. In this text (the circle of communicative signification), the "Noah's New" on his ship, unlike Noah the prophet, has no "pigeon". "The earliest narratives about pigeon go back to the time of Noah. When Noah's ark came to Mount Judi ... Noah sent the raven to see how much water remained on the ground. The raven scavenged and did not return and Noah sent the pigeon. The pigeon came and sat down on the ground and set foot in the water ... The pigeon came to Noah and said, "Water has remained a bit on earth. "Noah prayed for the pigeon ... Maybe under the influence of the duty given to pigeon in the Noah’s story, the existence of the pigeon as a courier and letterer is mentioned in many cultures, including the Iranian culture. The ancient myths show that the pigeons were also called "courtyard couriers". (Yahaghi, 2007, p. 661)
This sign is "the symbol of purity, simplicity and even when the branch of olive is brought to Noah's Ark, was the symbol of regained peace, harmony, hope and happiness ... Pigeon is a highly social bird, that positive values of its symbolism has always been emphasized”.(Chevalier & Gheerbrant, 2006, p. 527)
"Canary" in the circle of conceptual signification is"a beautiful bird and a singer from the family of lightweight birds belonging to the group of sparrows" (Dehkhoda, 1931). Due to its features, such as beauty and beautiful sound, the canary is a symbol of happiness, and because in this text (the circle of communicative signification) is associated with the pigeon, and in opposition to the "rat and snake", is a positive symbol like the pigeon. Here we can see the bird as a symbol of beauty, charm, inoffensiveness, and tranquility. In the New Noah's ship, the place of this bird's is also empty.
Considering the original narrative in which the Noah's Ark is the savior of humans and animals, the process of transformation of indices replaces the feature of “being full of rats and snakes” and “there is no place in it for pigeon and canary” with the ideal form of lifesaving ship of Noah the prophet. The two final hemistiches of the above mentioned stanza are signs of changing the safe ship of Noah to an insecure place; that is, the systematic transformation of the lifesaving ark signification into codes that have opposite signifier. The absence of a place for the pigeon and canary, which is unlike the reader's presupposition, leads him to the other layers of the text. The poet, by using these signs, conveys the concept of the evil overcoming the good in the present day.
He says: “that torment of infidelity and ruination!
The one who is not in my ship, is not
Safe from raising wrath wave of Divine.”
The second stanza of poem is quoted from “New Noah” and addresses those who are not in the ship.
that is a word to refer something far, including place or time (Dehkhoda, 1931). New Noah, like Noah the Prophet, warns his people from "torment of infidelity and ruination ". The poet has used the word "آنک" to show that the New Noah is still in the stage of preaching and that the punishment of God has not been revealed yet.
"Torment" in the circle of conceptual signification means "anguish and misfortune" (Dehkhoda, 1931). In this text and according to the chain of words before and after that, torment is divine torment which comes for those that due to infidelity and ruination do not get on New Noah's ark, but in this ship, there is nobody except "rat and Snake". The poet knows "New Noah" as the only savior of snakes and rats (the circle of communicative signification). With the help of the reduction process (metonymy) in the companionship, the poet has used the "raising wave" adjective instead of both noun and adjective. "Raising wrath wave of Divine" refers to the divine wrath on the people of Noah, which was revealed in the form of a massive and devastating flood upon the disbelievers.
The New Noah has orders on the door of the ship,
Staring at the cloud which is not in all skies.
Says: “Woe to your time,
As the lightening will come with a flint in hand!”
The term "the cloud which is not in all skies" indicates that the storm and flood in the New Noah's narrative, unlike the traditional narrative, are not universal and occur only in a particular region. Although the cloud is often a positive symbol because of being pluvial, in this text (the circle of communicative signification), due to its presence among phrases such as torment, anger, lightning, flint and ..., is a negative symbol and a frustrating sign of the promise of torment occurrence.
The last two hemistiches of this stanza are also expressed by the New Noah with a tone full of intimidation. "VAYA", which is another form of "woe", is a cry of distress that involves hesitation and regret and in this text is warning.
"Lightning" is a sign of strength and power, and it represents a balancing force “the connection of lightning to rain, seen as a seed of heaven, is seen almost anywhere in the world. Lightning forms two facets of a symbol that relies on the duality of fire-water, and in its fertility state, its positive or negative aspects. Meanwhile, lightning is a heavenly punishment, and destroys humanity by fire or flooding rain” (Chevalier & Gheerbrant, 2005, p.94)."Showing the lightning from the ancient tribes was due to their belief that lightning was a destructive weapon of a heavenly God ... in the East, lightning was in fact the weapon of Indra, this great god bringing rain".(Hall, 20141, p.200)
In the phrase “As the lightening will come with a flint in hand!", the poet has foregrounded the language of poem with animism. This semantic deviation caused the language to have a secondary function and exceed the limits of logical and indicative predications. "Flint" in the circle of conceptual signification is "the stone or an iron piece that is knocked on the other stone and fire is made" (Dehkhoda, 1931). In this text (the circle of communicative signification), the in paradigmatic axis the "flint" metaphorically replaces the electricity that comes of lightning. "In ancient mythology, Indra has a wand that the lightning is inside it, and with that wand it over comes the devil of darkness and drought".(Yahaghi, 2007, p. 399)
The cloud of torment has come, and the ship is full,
The sharpness of lightening has made things difficult.
Typhoon, is a real blowing typhoon,
His ship, a paper among storm.
In the last stanza, the torment eventually comes down in the forms of a deadly storm, but unlike the addressee's presupposition, the New Noah's ship is fragile and unstable like the "a paper among storm".
تندیwhich means “sharpness” in Persian language, is the result of verbal noun which, in addition to its dictionary meaning in the conceptual signification circle, implies the meaning of anger and change in this text. The poet has foregrounded the language of poem by animism and attributing "sharpness" to the lightening. Besides, pun (tondie tondar) and repetition (typhoon) have added to the harmony and music of this stanza.
In the third hemistich, the poet utilizes “a real blowing typhoon” sign to indicate the terrible conditions. This is made of central core “typhoon”, and two adjectives. “real” means actual and is in opposition with the New Noah and his paper like ship. The adjective “blowing” is used in its old meaning of “raging and angry”.
"Paper" in the conceptual signification circle means "a thin, flexible, flat sheet that is usually made of vegetable fiber paste and often something is written or printed on it" (Moein Dictionary: under the word "paper"). The paper in this text (the circle of communicative signification) besides its dictionary meaning, implies fragility, thinness and worthlessness. The final hemistich shows that since the New Noah's Ark is fragile like paper, even if it is not "full of mice and snakes", it is not a good shelter to escape from the "cloud of torment." Since the poet has used lexical archaism to depict the mythical events of lexical antagonism, the use of the word paper in a circle that all its signifiers are mythological has foregrounded this term.
The contemporary Syrian poet Adunis (1930) also has a poem entitled "New Noah," in which he "reverses the notion of Noah, and, as the title of his poetry indicates, creates a new Noah that instead of being thankful to God for this grace and gratitude of his salvation, has questions from God and is very distressed and disturbed by going to a new birthplace". (Najafi Yuki, Rasoulnia & Aghajani, 2015, p. 364)
The second poem chosen from Shafiei Kadkani for semiotic analysis is the poem "Mojezeh"(Miracle) from the "Khati Az Deltangi" book.
Mojezeh (Shafiei Kadkani, 1997)
O God
From these wonders
My heart blooded, my heart blooded.
The "God" in the conceptual signification circle is "the name of the essence of sublimation" (Dehkhoda, 1931).It is sound image and signifier, and its signified is not clear, and everyone has a conceptual and mental conception of it. The poet addresses it, and without any explanation summons all those mental concepts in the minds of the addressee. God in the circle of communicative signification is vocative and addressed, but it has no role other than being vocative, and it is understood from the relations of poetry sections that every addressee must somehow seek refuge in God from all these wonders and in order to be safe from such deceitful transmutations. To explain the text, there is no need for other concepts of this term in the reference circle.
The signified of "wonders" in the conceptual signification circle is clear. In the communicative signification circle, the poet has mentioned a wonder, but has used it in plural form so the signified find importance to the number of addressees and their amount of wondering. There is no clear signified for this wonder in reference signification circle, but can be expanded and exemplified diversely by the number of addressees and the range of their knowledge and experiences, and each addressee seek new referents for it. In this way, the poet is lost in his poetry and multiplied by the number of addressees, and poetry enters the realm of deconstruction.
The metonymic phrase “my heart blooded”, while can be examined in the semiotics world, is also entered the semantics world, because in every sign, besides that any signifier has a signified in the linguistics system at the level of the vocabulary, the whole sentence refers to a meaning other than its own meaning. The blooding of hearts for Persian speakers also means regret a painful and unbearable pain. "The linguistic sign in its physical fulfillment can be a word or a chain of words whose meaning is not the result of the sum of their constituent units. In Corse de Linguistique generale (1916), Saussure has always used words to explain the "linguistic sign”, and for this reason, commentators of Saussure's opinions believe that he considers the word as the constituent unit of the linguistics system (Safavi, 2013).While, according to experts in the field of semantics, sentences such as "my heart blooded" should be considered as a conceptual cliché and a linguistic sign. The same is also considered among cognitive semanticists. According to this group, human beings gain some experiences from the outside world and store them in their minds in the form of concepts. These concepts could be used in communication, so they should be conventional. They consider unit of meaning explicitly the same as Saussure's language sign, with the difference that have extended the same interpretation to larger units up to the level of sentence. Therefore, "linguistic sign is not something that signifies something else other than itself. In other words, signifier cannot be regarded as a sign, and cannot claim that it refer to the "signified". Accordingly, the "sign of language" is essentially different from what is commonly referred to as "sign". “The relation between signifier and signified is two-sided, i.e., the signifier does not exist without signified, and the signified is not independent of signifier”. (Safavi, 2013, p.218)
Siavash went in fire, and
From other side a pig came out.
The second and final stanzas of this poem are a short, shocking narrative that disrupts presuppositions and beliefs of the addressee and by defamiliarizing a historical myth, passes through automatic language and reaches literary language. "The semiotic analysis of cultural myths attempts, through deconstruction of the ways in which the codes function in particular popular texts or genres, to demonstrate how some values, attitudes and beliefs are supported, and declared as transcended, and how others are suppressed". (Sujudi, 2014, p. 86)
"Siavash" in conceptual signification circle is son of Kay Kavus, one of the characters of Shahnameh stories. In the circle of communicative signification, and according to the context, he is the one who enters the fire, but transmutes in an ugly way. The significance of this key term of the poem belongs to its signified in the reference signification circle. In our cultural and mythological codes, Siavosh is a popular hero in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. Without familiarity with this story, the interpretation of this poem impossible for the addressee. In other words, the addressees of this poem are those who had read this story in Shahnameh, and thus the addressee circle is very tight. The referencesignification circle is formed of the epic-literary mentality of Iranian people.
Siavash accepted to pass through the fire to exonerate himself from Sudabeh’s accusation, and he came out of fire healthy. Passage through the fire, which was common for the proof of faith or innocence of someone, is the theme of a number of myths. In the book of Vis and Ramin it is stated that Vis to prove his innocence passed through the fire in front of city officials. "What happened to Abraham and to justify his rightfulness the fire changed to a garden for him, is also a reminder of a kind of tradition that is not unprecedented in Iranian culture" (Yahaghi, 2007, p. 854).The same ritual has also existed among the Hindus: "In Ramayana, we read: Sita, Rama's wife, who was a captive of Ahriman for a while, got in the fire to prove her purity"(Rastgar Fasai, 2009, p. 128). Also, the story of Siavash, referred to it in allusion, apparently shows that this kind of trial by ordeal was prevalent in ancient Iranian culture (Ferdowsi, 2005).
"Studying myths as a set of signs allows us to compare the narratives of different societies from their justifications and to discover the aspects of their differentiation and similarities. These kinds of research are changed to literature semiotics when the representation of these signs in the literary context are analyzed” (Safavi, 2014, p. 216)."Siavash, in his mythical conception, represents destruction and resurrection, and embodies the spring and the fall of the plant in his life and death, and in this sense is similar to the Dumuzid of Babylonia and the Egyptian Osiris, and the Greek and Phoenician Adunis, that all three of them are god of growth and fertility and their legend is a metonymy of periodicity of life and death, and their death and resurrection was held annually with mourning and celebration".(Islami Nadushan, 1991, p. 199)
In conceptual signification circle, “fire” is the flame and heat that comes from the burning of objects. In the circle of communicative signification, each sign has a new definition of itself according to the context. This should be seen in the context of discourse and in relation to discursive action, and not in isolation from discourse. Passing through the fire with the presence of signification of Siavash reminds trial by ordeal. In this circle, fire is the symbol of test and evaluation of any kind of it. That is, the one who was clean and self-giving and high-minded in the beginning, was in fact unclean and ungenerous.
In the reference signification circle, fire is the symbol of "transformation, purification, life-saving force and sun-generating, life-renewing, passing from one stage to another and so forth. "Both the fire and the flame represent the heart, both in the divine or the devilish senses are considered creator or devastator. They are a means for swallowing all created objects to restore them to the first unity. Both fire and flame are considered to be truth and knowledge and destroyer of the lie and ignorance, illusion and death and burner of impurities”(Cooper, 2013, p. 18)."Fire is the keeper of the life of animals, and the earthly fire is purifying and burner of filth and sin. Therefore, in Iran, it was believed that, at the end of the world, all human beings should pass through the lava which is like fire, and the good and bad ones find peace. Trial by ordeal that Siavash and others have been tested of itis related to this type of duties of fire".(Yahaghi, 2007, p. 18)
In this poem that the poet speaks of trans shape of a symbol of purity (Siavash) to a symbol of evil (pig), it can be concluded that from the poet's view that the fire has also lost its purity and is in fact transshaped. Because the element of evil in its mythical narrative should be burned by fire, and if it were as before, it should be written like this: the Siavash went in fire and became ashes. Therefore, not only fire does not turn into a garden, and Siavash does not come out gloriously, but the way to purify and recognize the real clean and unclean is also lost.
"Go" is an intransitive verb that was emphasized and made central by the poet in the above mentioned poem, "and thus prepared the addressee for a contradiction. In other words, through this foregrounding, the poet implies the addressee that this kind of “going” is not a heroic, honorable, and impassioned going of Siavash of Shahnameh, which is ultimately pure and proud. The result of this “going” is merely ruin and destruction". (Hosseini & Farajpour, 2015, p. 35)
The pig in the circle of conceptual signification is "a mammal from the ungulate family" (Dehkhoda, 1931). “In the circle communicative signification, metamorphosis of human being to a pig is illustrated, indicates trans shape of humans into inferiority. In reference signification circle, "this animal symbolizes lust, filth, inferiority and concupiscence. Other features of it are gluttony, lust, eating and sleeping, out-of-control feelings and uncleanness" (Hall, 2014, p. 48). "In Buddhism, it is the symbol of ignorance and one of the three main sins" (Jobs, 2016, p. 41). Hence, Siavash, who, in Aristotle's wisdom, is manifestation of a wise man, turns into a pig that represents lust.
If the poet did not use the referential or references signification circle data of the words he had selected, he could not provide much meaning in few words, and the addressees’ understanding of this work is as much as their familiarity with data of this circle. It is in such cases that the amount of knowledge of the artist and addressee is determined, which is one of the benefits of semiotics and semantics, because studies such as structuralism, formalism, and realism all interfere in this kind of interpretation of the text, and none can interpret the entire text by itself.
"Transmutation of human into pigs is also rooted in myths. In Greek mythology, Circe, the daughter of Helios and a great witch of the companions of Odyssey transforms peopletopigs ”(Grimal, 1980, p. 93). The title of poetry, which is “Mojezeh”, refers to the subject of transmutation as well. Transformation of the human or animal's face into another form is an extraordinary matter, and is classified in the trans shape category. "Maskh (transshape) is also referred in Holy Qur'an, in Ayah 166 of Surah A'raf, and Ayah 60 of Maedeh surah, which mentions to a narrative of a group of the Israelites who were opposed to the command of God and who were subject to punishment of Trans shape. Some interpreters who are in minority believe that trans shape means "spiritual trans shape" and the trans shape of moral traits, meaning that appearance of traits such as those of monkeys or pigs in rebellious humans, is the result their following the manifest features of the two animals, i.e. blind imitation and lechery". (Makarome Shirazi, 2015)
Units of any system can be used instead of each other according to a kind of similarity. Any sign, despite being opposed with other signs, can, according to its similarity or contiguity, transmit its value to one sign or signs.
Since the basis of this narrative is "purity / impurity," the poet, in terms of similarity, chooses and confronts the couple of "Siavash / pig" as a sign of "purity / impurity".
On the other hand, by using “graphological deviation”, the outer arrangement of signs is drawn in such a way that indicates passage from one side to another, and accordingly, we reach double understanding of meaning from surface of signs.
Conclusions
Shafiei Kadkani is one of the few Iranian contemporary poets whose poetry cannot be easily translated into other languages, because his poetry co-occur with a wide range of secondary meanings and diverse significations of signifiers and cultural and historical codes. His poetry is deeply connected with Iranian history and culture, especially the history and culture of the ancient Khorasan and the mysticism of the Khorasan School; reading or translation of such a poem is very arduous without elaboration of the mentioned links for an addressee who is unfamiliar with historical, conceptual and cultural backgrounds, unless the translator disregards transmission of secondary intentions, specifically the nostalgic intentions of the poet.
In most of his poems, signifiers mostly signify the cultural and historical concepts and meanings of native backgrounds and psychological emotions of poet more signifying the dictionary or even literary signified. Therefore, in order to understand his poems, using semiotics methods could be one of the effective ways so to investigate thoroughly the layers and levels of signification of the signifiers, and to show the extent of the influence of culture, wisdom, interestand the knowledge of the language of the poet to a large extent. This is equalized by style and literary criticism, is considered as good and bad of contemporary poetry, even a small part. If we neglect semiotics for analyzing these kinds of poems, we have lost at least one of the ways of methodical investigating Shere No (New Poetry).
