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Binary oppositions are among the essential concepts and components of structuralism and linguistic and semiotic theories that are rooted in human ancient beliefs. One of the fundamental functions of the human mind is the creation of binary oppositions, which are seen in art and literature. The study of binary oppositions in literary works leads to a better understanding of them. This article is an attempt to discuss the binary oppositions in the lyrics of Attar Neishabouri. A close study of 100 chosen lyrics of Attar shows that many of the lyrics are formed by binary oppositions and even in some verses there are two, three, or four binary oppositions, as if binary oppositions are the driving force behind many of Attar's lyrics. The study of these lyrics shows that there are 843 cases of binary oppositions of which 47 percent (396 cases) are lexical, 35.5% (298 cases) are semantic, and 17.5 percent (149) are thematic. There are about 8.4 binary oppositions in every lyric which shows the great frequency of this type of diction. The main reason that Attar is interested in binary oppositions is that the poet is influenced by his unconscious, the importance he gives to moral and religious issues, his consideration of mystical concepts, the effect of the social environment and the his interest in aesthetics and music. In short, binary oppositions are considered as one of the stylistic characteristics of Attar's lyrics that have semantic and aesthetics functions.

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Mantiqu't-Tair, a description of human love for self-scrutiny and meeting with God, is the most significant mystical work of Attar in the form of allegory of birds in search of Simurgh or phoenix. The contradictory presence of the author as a mystic and a historian at the beginning of the book is astonishing. Although the introduction is short and distinct from the mystical text, it is of great importance owing to the interaction of mysticism and history. The historian tries to discover the truth based on the valid documentations and through a retrospective look into the past and carefully analyzing the accuracy of historical quotes and reviews whereas the mystic avoids politics and analysis. In general, history is independent of mysticism but it is the best support for the mystic. Attar is a creative mystic in the sense of innovating mystical symbols and sometimes creating historical characters out of mystical symbols, while he is oblivious to the judgment of history. Symbolizing the historical figures and disregarding the historical documentations, in addition to invalidating his judgment of the individuals, have other outcomes, including a crisis of reasoning and a rejection of mystical principles that Attar himself adheres to. This study is conducted to prove this claim in the introduction of Mantiqu't-Tair.

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The Mosibatname is one of the most important of Attar's couplet poem in the field of mystical literature. In this work, the poet's prayers to his god have a special attraction. The structure of these conversations in the layers of fear, intimacy and blame accompanies the poet in expressing social and moral thoughts. In this research, which was formed in a descriptive-analytical way, it seeks to answer the discursive dimensions of Attar's Mosibatname prayers and how to explain and interpret the social and power relations in this text based on Farklough's model. According to this approach, the types of prayers of Attar in the Mosibatname include three branches of fearful, sincere and reproachful prayers, which have been examined at three levels of description, interpretation and explanation. At the description level, the characteristics of vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar express the poet's social experience and reflect the social unrest and turmoil of the 7th century in Khorasan. In the interpretation, the poet's focus is on the description of God's main attributes and it shows the pure submission of the servant to God, which confirms the dominance of the Ash'ari determinism over the poet's society. In the explanation, we observe the traces of the court system and the poet's desire to purify the atmosphere of the era. A space where social, religious and ideological chaos has been precipitated and worldliness and utilitarianism have flourished. The representation of the social governing system and the poet's aspiration for peace and friendship are among the other findings.
Keywords: Attar, Mosibatnameh, prayers , Fairclough, discourse analysis.
 

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Roman Jakobsen considered the difference between linguistic roles to result from the prominence of some communicational elements (Addresser, Addressee, Message, Content, Contact, and Codes). He believed that every message has several linguistic roles, usually one of which is more prominent. In literary texts, due to the complexity of the text, the multiplicity of layers, and the fluidity of signs, we are not only faced with a literary role. But, in addition to the formal enhancement of the text, rhetorical figures also interact with other linguistic roles and an intelligent use will cause proportion and conformity in the form and meaning of the text. This study has analyzed the interaction of form and content in Attar's Mantiq-ut-tayr using a descriptive-analytical method and concluded that Attar established a balanced relationship between rhetorical figures and the moral-mystical content of Mantiq-ut-tayr. He has used them to express specified themes and concepts based on their essence and literary function. For example, he has used “Poetical Reasoning” to explain educational and mystical issues, “Literary Collocation” to create thematic unity and textual coherence, and “Oxymoron” to illustrate the contradictory nature of mystical experiences and internal and external conflicts of mystics. The proper use of rhetorical figures according to the subject matter and content of the anecdotes of the Mantiq-ut-tayr has created a lot of beauty, influence, interaction, and harmony of form and content.