Abstract

This study examines the integration of national and religious myths from varied traditions that permeate SohrabSepehri’s poem, The Traveler. The authors posit that Sepehri’s conceptions of these ancient tales and theirexpression in the poem constitute a creative evolutionary process that stands as our central thesis. The focus is aninterpretation of Sepehri’s unconscious mind vis-à-vis the association of specific myths with the theosophicalorigins of recurrent themes. We utilize historical criticism as literary analysis in our application of a qualitativeapproach to the depiction of positions and periods in which these myths enjoyed currency in their respectivecultures. Thus, the study attempts to portray the imaginative world that stands behind The Traveler whileanalyzing the relations of myths to religion, history and sociology — perhaps with a view to position the citedtraditions as 'Iranian', or allow them as adaptations of traditional Persian forms derived from other nations. Weconclude that the construction and interpretation of myths embody age-old existential issues and readers mayjudge whether the authors have substantiated the thesis of 'poetic evolution'. This novel approach to the greatpoet has but slight contemporary competition, hence, the literature base is meager.

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