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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.