Analytical and Generic Classification of Persian Folk Poetry

Folk poetry is a collection of oral works in verse created mostly by unknown authors. It uses simple, colloquial language to express a wide range of everyday life themes and addresses all members of society in various life situations. Persian folk poetry is highly diverse, but previous studies have mostly focused on collecting and describing textual and structural features without achieving precise classification. In this research, the authors analyzed 3,000 Persian folk poems (approximately 10,000 lines) taken from 350 books, representing nearly all available collections in Iran. The analysis, based on Tzvetan Todorov's genre theory, considered both textual features (structure) and external features (function, audience, performers, context, and method of performance). Based on 45 identified genres and their distinguishing elements, we propose an eight-category classification of Persian folk poetry, with each category including various subgenres and branches. Finally, the distinctive features of each category are outlined.