Comparative critical study of riming prose in Persian and Arabic Rhetoric

Abstract
Riming prose which is a Figure of speech based on array of words, has been
discussed in most rhetorical works of Persian and Arabic. The purpose of this article
is the evolution of this figure of speech critically and comparatively from early days
of writing rhetoric books to the contemporary time. For this purpose, the historical
development of this figure of speech has been investigated based on the time and
language of writing these rhetorical works. Different definitions about this figure of
speech are presented in these works, some of which have been translated and
narrated from previous works. Altogether, equality of end and rhythm of words are
the main criterions of riming prose but each of the authors has expressed this equality
and harmony in various ways and presented different views on it.
In this article, for better understand and ease of work, types of riming prose and
related figures of speech to it have been categorized and criticized differently.
Riming prose for observance the principles and rules of equality, and its position at
the end of the dialects has been divided into parallel, symmetrical and lop- sided
types. For this reason, we recall these types main that are located in their main place;
at the end of spoken parts and phrases. Riming prose for the length of the rimed
prose sentences and the number of these words are divided in the form of Short,
medium and long. Given the main position of riming prose, if this figure of speech is
used in most of the words of the spoken parts and sentences or in the middle terms of
them, some of other forms of figures of speech are created which inlaying,
Parallelism and Guaranteed Portmanteau are the most important ones. And if the
main types of riming prose are used in the poem or more precisely, in the parts and
sections of hemistiches and verses, other figures of speech are created such as tashtir,
tasmit, and tajziye. Some of the types that rhetorical scholars and authors have come
up with the following of riming prose are completely null and void, and indication of
their ignorance and inattention in the historical background of riming prose. They
have been added these types with the aim of creation and innovating without any
rules and regulations. For this reason, these types have been studied below in vain
types.
After studying the evolution of the types of riming prose and all figures of speech
mentioned and comparing Arabic and Iranian experts' outlooks in different periods,
this can be concluded that there are slight differences regarding principles and
 M. A. Student of Persian Languages and Literature, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
ghorbanisakine@gmail.com
 Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad,
Mashhad, Iran
Received: 13/07/2015 Accepted: 15/03/2016
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Literary Arts, 10th Year, No. 25, Winter 2018-2019
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methods of using riming prose. Persian rhetoricians have been affected by Arabic
rhetoricians for the totality of investigated figures and they have created slight
innovations in methods and rules of figures of speech. However, there are
deficiencies in defining riming prose and its principles and rules which resulted in
deviations and errors in defining its types at the level of the word and in the poem.