The Rhetorical Function of Preposing and Postposing the Subject and Verb in the Poetry of Mehdi Akhavan-Sales

Preposing and postposing of sentence elements are rhetorical devices that elevate speech beyond merely conveying of information. These techniques deepen the complexity of meaning by adding implicit connotations and enhancing textual depth. Additionally, readers, based on their literary and analytical competence, engage with the structure and meaning in various contexts, thereby actualizing certain interpretations or expanding the semantic potential of the text. One prominent feature of Mehdi Akhavan Sales’ poetry is its syntactic distinctiveness, characterized by occasionally long sentences composed of various adverbs, adjectives, and rearranged syntactic elements. This manipulation of word order, particularly the preposing and postposing of key sentence components, generates diverse implicit meanings. This descriptive-analytical study aims to explore the function of preposing and postposing of the subject and verb in Akhavan Sales’ poetry. The objective is to demonstrate the latent capacities within his poetic structure and to analyze and classify his poems accordingly. The findings reveal that by preposing and postposing the subject, meanings such as suspense regarding the subject, atmospheric enhancement, emotional resonance, creation of contrasts, evocation of fear, situational imagery, enigma, humor, and similar nuances emerge. Similarly, rearranging the verb contributes to expanding imagery, establishing contrast, setting the tone for epic expression, and enhancing declamatory style. These stylistic techniques not only enrich the musicality and coherence of Akhavan Sales’ poetry but also reflect its inherent complexity, compelling readers to reflect more deeply and experience artistic delight.
Introduction
fronting and postponement of sentence elements constitute a rhetorical device that elevates language beyond merely conveying of information. By embedding implicit nuances, it adds depth and generates additional meanings. On the other hand, the reader, drawing upon their literary and analytical skills, actualizes meanings within each context, thereby enhancing the semantic potential of the text. One of the hallmarks of Akhavan-Sales’s poetry is syntactic distinction, featuring occasionally long sentences composed of various adverbs and adjectives, alongside shifts in the position of syntactic structures and the fronting and postponement of main sentence elements, producing diverse implicit implications.
In rhetorical criticism, the text is analyzed to identify which elements the author or poet utilizes and how they are employed to impact the audience, engaging them more deeply with the subject, idea, or image under discussion. In the poetry of Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, the main sentence elements-the predicate and verb-appear in various positions. These positions, given the context and the idea derived from other lines of the poem, contain aesthetic components that consciously or unconsciously affect the reader. In rhetorical criticism, the critic endeavors to reveal the aspects and functions of these artistic features based on their interpretation and exegesis of the text. These interpretations remain open to alternative justified readings.
 
Materials & Methods
This study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach and aims to examine the role of fronting and postponement of the predicate and verb. The work analyzes and categorizes Akhavan-Sales’s poems based on instances of fronting and postponement. In classical treatises on semantics, secondary implications of predicate postponement are rarely mentioned. In this paper, by extracting examples of predicate postponement, the resulting meanings and probable implications are examined.
The central methodological focus is on identifying the rhetorical functions that fronting and postponement of main sentence elements serve in Akhavan-Sales’s poetry, and the concepts or images they convey. One method of content expression is the arrangement of words within a sentence and the relationship among words at both sentence and textual levels. This arrangement may suspend meaning, making the intended sense of the poem initially elusive; the reader, through reflection and careful attention, arrives at probable meanings.
Research findings
The postponement of meaning creates artistic pleasure, enabling multiple semantic layers. In Nimaic poetry, where line length can be adjusted according to the topic, these stylistic devices allow for greater variation. According to al-Jurjani, the beauty of a text lies not merely in word choice but in the manner of their arrangement-a principle that aligns with the syntactic strategies observed in Akhavan-Sales’s work.
Analysis of the rhetorical function of fronting and postponement shows that this linguistic device plays a fundamental role in the aesthetics and meaning-making of his poetry. By utilizing these techniques, Akhavan-Sales emphasizes key concepts, conveys musicality, and evokes emotions. Long, complex sentences combined with syntactic shifts and repositioning of main elements produce implicit meanings and allow readers to perceive additional and intricate meanings.
Discussion of Results & Conclusion
Placing the predicate at the beginning of a sentence aligns with conventional language usage; however, when it appears outside its usual position, depending on context and adjacency to other words, it acquires additional implicit meanings. Some instances serve ambiguity by suspending the subject, guiding the reader to consider alternative subjects, drawing attention to unconventional actions of the subject, or highlighting contrasts among sentence elements. The atypical positioning of the verb expands imagery, establishes contrasts among components or concepts, and creates artistic suspense.
In Nimaic poetry, with its flexible structure, these shifts gain heightened expressive power. This stylistic device thus contributes deeply to the rhetorical and aesthetic texture of Akhavan-Sales’s poems.
The study shows that fronting and postponement in Akhavan-Sales’s poetry are crucial rhetorical tools impacting both aesthetic effect and semantic production. These strategies emphasize concepts, create musical rhythm, induce ambiguity, suspend meaning, and expand interpretive possibilities. They stimulate reflection, highlight contrasts, and increase artistic pleasure. The implications confirm the significance of syntactic arrangement in shaping poetic meaning, supporting al-Jurjani’s view that beauty arises from the organization of words and their relations.