Refrain and Revolution

Poetic Techniques and the Functions of the Refrain in Ahmad Shāmlū’s Poetry and in “In this Blind Alley” (1979)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the refrain patterns and their poetic functions in Ahmad Shāmlū’s (1925-2000) “In this Blind Alley” (1979) and his other poems.The refrain patterns found in poetry can be classified into five types: 1) perfect refrain, 2) incremental refrain, 3) mixed refrain, 4) refrain by another “voice,” and 5) double refrain. Incremental refrain involves the repetition of the same phrase, with one or a few words substituted, while mixed refrain is the repetition of perfect refrain along with a one-time repetition of its incremental version. The fourth type is not based on the repetition of a phrase, but rather on the inclusion of a voice that can be distinguished from the voice of main text of the poem. Finally, double refrain refers to the double use of perfect refrain and incremental refrain. This final type is the type found in “In this Blind Alley.”Arguably, three factors make it possible for the fear and warning that the poem expressed in the days of its creation to maintain a contemporary reading that addresses the situations we may be facing at any given moment.The first factor is its multiple levels of meaning. In his early works, we can see that Shāmlū’s refrain derives from his techniques of repetition. Each time the poetic phrase is repeated, it evokes deeper metaphors or makes another allusion.The second factor is ambiguity of the voice of the refrain. The refrain, with its high musicality and rhythm, is repeated in a symmetrical structure evocative of a chorus. This dissociates the voice of the refrain from the voice of narrator of the main text, who is often regarded as the poet himself.The third factor is the poetic function of the substitution of words in incremental refrains, and the interaction between these substitutions and the main text.