Flourishing Creativity & Literacy - Vol. 7 No. 4 - Analysis and Comparison of Naturalistic Themes in Iranian and Britain Modern Children's Poems

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Terk

Naturalistic themes represent the most frequent motifs across children’s poems in two countries. This research compares Britain’s children’s poems with Iranian children’s poems by examining similarities and differences, with the aim of identifying weaknesses and strengths in Iranian poetry for children. The population includes published collections from 1921 to 2011. The study traces how modern children’s literature emerged in England and how the independent development in Iran followed later, especially after Iran’s constitutional events.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Origins of children’s literature in the West

Development of children’s literature and children’s poetry in Iran

Naturalistic themes and comparative research focus

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 7 No. 4; August 2016 Australian International Academic Centre, Australia | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | Flourishing Creativity & Literacy | | | Analysis and Comparison of Naturalistic Themes in Iranian and Britain Modern Children's Poems Shayesteh Ebrahimi Department of Persian language and literature, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran E-mail: [sh.ebrahimi83@gmail.com](sh.ebrahimi83@gmail.com) Parvin Saljeghe (Corresponding author) Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran E-mail: [salajeghe@gmail.com](salajeghe@gmail.com) Doi:10 .7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.4p.181 URL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.4p.181](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.4p.181) Received: 09/04/2016 Accepted: 21/06/2016 Abstract Today, children's literature given the concept of childhood, has gained a special status in the studies of humanities. Children's poetry is one of the branches of this type of literature. Naturalistic themes have the highest frequency among the themes of children poems in two countries. The population of this research consists of collections that have been published from 1921 to 2011. Children's literature was born in England in the eighteenth century and before that the first didactic books for children had come into existence in England. In addition, due to industrial growth, the emergence of the new middle class and expansion of formal education the UK was pioneering among Europe and the world countries. Therefore, to find the roots of the formation of children's literature should be referred to the UK. Therefore, in this paper Britain children’s poem has been selected to be compared with Iranian children’s poem so that by revealing the similarities and differences one can deal with the pathology of poems for children in Iran and to detect shortcomings and strengths and present some guidelines that be helpful for children and young poets as well as critics and researchers in this field. Keywords: Naturalistic themes, children literature, Iranian children's poems, Britain children's poems, comparative literature 1. Introduction The second half of the seventeenth century can be considered as a starting point in the history of children's literature in the world, that’s because of publishing books such as The Visible World visible in Pictures (1954) by John Amos Comenius where children are studies as independent existence, and A Token for Children by James Janeway (1636– 1674) that was the story of sacred lives and delightful death of several children. One of the reasons to invent such a genre in the texts of the history of literature in the seventeenth century is that in this period some books were published that were written specifically for children. Although these books were merely educational and didactic and moral, but because they were written especially for children, they were considered significant; prior to this time, children's books were anthologies extracted from adult texts. Since the second half of the eighteenth century, by thriving the ideas of thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, childhood gained value and credibility and was recognized as a valuable part of human life. Locke ideas were an invitation for the book producers to fill in the gaps and write a variety of books for children as well as didactic books and books full of religious and moral teachings. John Newbery, who was supporters of Locke theory, is the first specialty publisher of children's books. Newbury was at the same time an author, a publisher and a bookseller. Around 1740, he opened a bookshop in London and began to publish and sell small packet books for the children; therefore, it can be said that modern children's literature was born in England in the mid eighteenth century. In fact, more previously the first moral and didactic books for children had been

FAQs

What is the main focus of the study?

The study analyzes and compares naturalistic themes in Iranian and Britain modern children’s poems, identifying both similarities and differences.

Which time period and sources are included in the research?

The research population consists of published children’s literature collections from 1921 to 2011.

Why does the paper refer to the UK when discussing the roots of children’s literature?

The paper argues that children’s literature originated in England in the eighteenth century, and it traces its formation to UK developments such as industrial growth, new social classes, and formal education.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Terk