A Comparative Lexical Usage Analysis between Paul Éluard and Ahmad Shamlou’s Fresh Air: An Inquire into Sensory and Abstract Lexis

Abstract

Analysis of the vocabulary preferences of a writer provides remarkable evidence for their ideology, aesthetic awareness, and stylistic uniqueness. The current article compares lexical preference, with emphasis on sensory and abstract nouns, in the writings of the French Surrealist poet Paul Éluard and the modern Persian poet Ahmad Shamlou. The main body of work by Shamlou is Fresh Air (Havā-ye Tāzeh), and Éluard's diverse poems, namely those most renowned for their Surrealist and lyric quality, are used as the comparative framework. Our exploration points out the contextual occurrence of primary sensory nouns (e.g., "eye," "hand," "heart") and abstract nouns (e.g., "love," "life") in Shamlou's Fresh Air and compares them with patterns in Éluard's work. The evidence creates a high-frequency, significant presence of the lexis in Shamlou, with remarkable similarity to Éluard's work both in lexical patterns and thematic coherence. This implies a stylistic impact of Éluard's use upon Shamlou's own style at the lexical level, especially in his accommodation and handling of the most important nouns. The research comments on the way Shamlou's use of general expressions is often entwined with the same imagery, topic, and stylistic features—most overtly simile, personification, and symbolism—reminiscent of procedures used in Éluard's poetry. This study adds to the discipline of comparative literature by shedding light on one particular avenue whereby French modernist influence spread over poetry outside of its first linguistic border, bringing attention to the complex manner in which lexical transformation can recast poetic form across linguistic and cultural frontiers.

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