Deconstructing Imitation in Persian Return School: A Dialogic Approach

This paper examines “imitation” or taqlid as its main focus in the poetic production of the school of “Bāzgasht-e Adabi” (Literary Return) in Iran. Since its conception in the eighteenth century, this school has shaped mainstream Persian poetry for over one hundred and fifty years. Despite criticism against the poets of return school for lack of originality, the observation reveals features that debunk the notion of imitation as a passive subjection to the imitated original.