Explaining the place and function of “personification” in Persian poetry and miniature

Abstract
Persian literature has been closely related to the miniature throughout history. Recognizing the poetry delicacies and equalizing them in miniature, Persian painters could present a transcendental expression appropriate for the rich Iranian culture. Among this delicacy of poetry, one of the fantastic and beautiful elements which make poetry or miniature active and living is “personification” which expresses a part of the supernatural world. Miniaturists have paid particular attention to personification in classical and contemporary miniature. The miniaturists have utilized the artistic capacities of personification to express their great concepts and heartfelt representations, with animating and symbolic language. This research that has been done on the descriptive-analytical method tries to explain and clarify the situation of personification and its artistic expression in both poetry and Persian painting. 
 
Discussion and analysis
Personification is one of the most beautiful forms of imagination in poetry that seizes the poet's mind in the inanimate objects of nature and gives them move through the imagination. In rhetoric books, personification is a kind of metaphor that means to use words in a different meaning. Personification gives the artworks, artistic, and imaginative aspect. 
Generally speaking the personification in terms of giving human or animal character to the objects is divided into two general types that are humanoid and animalist. The humanoid in the sense of personification means giving humanoid characteristics to the objects. Another type of animalist personification is to attribute the characteristics of animals to the objects. Some experts have equated it to "Animism”. 
Using imaginary forms and transforming them into the visual language not only has created a common language between miniature and literature but also has enriched the works of the miniature. The personification is one of the forms of interest in Persian painting, and the ancient Iranian artists have used the artistic language of this device to express their supreme concepts by animating and symbolizing the animals, corpses, plants, and objects.
Personification has existed in early Persian miniature and the use of it in the artworks of Kamal ol_Din  Behzad is recognizable. But what is certain is that this device flourished in the second Tabriz School. But after that time the use of personification in Qazvin school and Isfahan school decreased and so few works include such characteristics. During the Qajar period, the artists’ tendency of Western arts changed the style of language and artistic expression. But attention to personification and its visual use is re-emerged in contemporary miniature after a century of decline. Hossein Behzad and then Mahmoud Farshchian and other contemporary Persian miniaturists also revived personification and brought many innovations at various levels.
By examining the works of classical and contemporary Persian miniature, the use of personification can be categorized and analyzed in five titles including elements of nature, objects, animals, abstract motifs, and abstract concepts. Artists have used the expressive capacity of personification in the elements of nature and have presented the greatest manifestation of humanoid and animalist in elements such as mountain, rock, soil, plants, clouds, sun, etc. Also, using animalist personification, Persian miniaturists illustrated some texts such as Kalilah and Demena or Mantegh ol-Teir, which are essentially allegorical stories, to express mystical and moral concepts, portrayed animals talking to each other.
 Another type of personification has been used in contemporary art which is giving human personality to animals. Miniaturists have also given humanoid and animalist aspects to various objects. In such images, parts of animal or human supplies are often ascribed to the objects and thus fall into the category of personification. Miniaturists have also used humanoid and animalist imagery in illumination and Islamic (arabesque) letters in abstract motifs. One of the distinctive features of contemporary miniature compared to ancient times is the illustration of abstract concepts. Using their imagination, the artists have given a tangible view of metamorphosis and the abstract world.
 
Conclusion
The present study shows that personification is one of the most imaginative forms of literary rhetoric that has created a dynamic effect by animating the objects in the poems. This device has been used in Persian poetry in two general ways: humanoid that means giving humanity to the objects and also animalists or animism means giving animal character to the things. The structure of this device is such that one of the human or animal supplies, actions or doings is attributed to objects. The discussions and conversations between things and non-intellectual objects to express the poet's ideas are examples of this device.
Persian miniaturists have also created works that have taken on the metamorphosis dimension by recognizing and using the expressing and imaginary features of personification. Researching the works of classical and modern Persian miniature from the perspective of the use of personification clarifies the fact that the painters in a variety of fields such as natural elements, (including plants, rock and soil, sun and clouds and quadruplet elements, animal elements, objects, abstract motifs, and abstract concepts) have used various aspects of personification as a special way of expressing their heart's presentations. These features have intrinsically linked this art to Persian poetry and provided a common language in expressing the facts of the supernatural world.