The Application of Text World Theory in Identifying Abstract Meanings in Sepehri's Poetry

Abstract

The Text World Theory (Gavins, 2007), utilizing a cognitive poetics approach, opens a new window to discourse processing and comprehension through the mental representations of participants in communication. This theory aims to uncover the mental functions during the moments of text production and reception and to examine how these cognitive processes influence the text’s impact. From this perspective, participants' mental representations, aligned with situational context and personal and cultural experiences, help in processing meanings and achieving a deeper understanding of the text. This study, using a descriptive-analytical method, analyzes the text world within Sohrab Sepehri's poem collection: The Sound of Water's Footsteps. The analysis seeks to identify the core elements, driving propositions, and sub-worlds utilized in the poem to convey meanings and concepts. Findings indicate that the poet extensively uses references to the past and natural elements such as water, sky, and earth. These elements significantly contribute not only to the creation of mental and emotional atmospheres but also to the poem's narrative and descriptive structure. The analysis also reveals that the repetition of world-building elements—such as time, object, character, and place—alongside schematic and metaphorical symbols plays a major role in the poem’s semantic structure. By creating diverse referential sub-worlds, Sepehri challenges the audience's general beliefs and stereotypical thoughts. Through these elements, he invites readers to transcend their mental limitations and view the world in a new way. These sub-worlds, skillfully crafted by the poet, create a space where readers encounter multiple, sometimes conflicting, meanings, allowing for the decoding and understanding of deeper semantic layers. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that Sepehri, through the use of contextual and driving factors, effectively creates a complex, multi-layered network of meanings in his poetry. This approach not only adds depth and appeal to the poem but also provides a fresh and profound experience of engagement with the text for the reader.