Process-Oriented Meaning Analysis in Persian Poetry: Introducing the Semantic Movement Model Based on Cognitive Linguistics

This article examines the gradual formation and transformation of meaning in contemporary Persian poetry and proposes an analytical framework entitled Semantic Movement Analysis in Poetry. Moving beyond static and unit based approaches, the study conceptualizes the poem as a dynamic structure in which meaning unfolds through a temporally organized process shaped by the interaction of linguistic, imagistic, and conceptual elements. The study adopts a qualitative, close reading methodology and analyzes three poems representing different poetic forms—free verse, Nimaic, and classical. The analyses reveal that poetic meaning develops through a recurrent processual pattern consisting of five interrelated stages: Initiation, Expansion, Suspension, Consolidation, and Resolution. The proposed model is grounded in key concepts of Cognitive Linguistics, including mental spaces, conceptual blending, image schemas, and conceptual metaphor. It reconstructs semantic movement as an experience based and reader engaging process capable of accounting for semantic fluidity, moments of tension, and different modes of resolution, ranging from relative closure to conceptual openness. The findings suggest that Semantic Movement Analysis in Poetry offers a flexible and process oriented framework for cognitive poetic analysis, with potential applicability to Persian poetry as well as other poetic traditions.