The question of the nature and essence of poetry has always occupied the minds of thinkers and literary scholars. In contemporary Iran, Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub, as a literary critic and historian, has addressed poetry and its surrounding elements in various works, offering valuable reflections. Some of his insights—particularly those with a philosophical tone—have unfortunately remained overlooked by researchers. Accordingly, this descriptive-analytical study examines Zarrinkoub’s views on the essence of poetry.

According to the findings of this research, although Zarrinkoub acknowledges the aporetic nature of defining poetry, he attributes some of the difficulties and incompleteness in such definitions to the lack of a clear explanation of the matter and form of poetry and the absence of harmony between them. Drawing on an Aristotelian perspective, he analyzes the matter of poetry as imitation (mimesis) or imagination, and its form as verbal elements such as meter and rhyme. Through a critical re-reading of classical philosophical and rhetorical theories, Zarrinkoub finds traditional rhetorical texts insufficient in addressing the nature of poetry. He offers noteworthy observations on imitation and imagination, moving beyond the typical Aristotelian framework. In his view, meter, rhyme, and imaginative language are not sufficient conditions for achieving poetic essence. Rather, poetry reaches its highest form when its content affects the entirety of human existence—reason, emotion, and spirit. For Zarrinkoub, such creative realization is best exemplified in Rumi’s Masnavi.He also presents considerations on Nima Yushij, the features of modern (Nimaic) poetry, and the works of Nima's followers.