“Two Pine Trees” is one of the best-known poems by the contemporary Iranian poet Mohammad Javad Mohabbat (1943–2023). It was included in Iran’s fourth-grade Persian textbook from 1984 to 2014 and has appeared in a revised version entitled “The Pine Grove” in the fifth-grade textbook since 2015. The differences between these two versions raise the question of which is more effective, from a rhetorical perspective and in relation to the communicative needs of child and adolescent readers, in conveying moral values.
To answer this question, the present study comparatively examined the two versions through rhetorical analysis based on the principles of Persian rhetoric, particularly the science of Maʿānī and the principle of muqtadā al-ḥāl (appropriateness to the communicative situation). The analysis focused on narrative structure, syntactic features, lexical choice, brevity (ījāz), amplification (iṭnāb), and strategies of moral instruction.

The findings show that the original version, “Two Pine Trees,” achieves greater rhetorical and emotional impact through indirect expression, allusion, narrative suspense, causal coherence, and active reader engagement in constructing meaning. In contrast, “The Pine Grove,” despite its fluent language, optimistic tone, and educational value, relies more heavily on the explicit presentation of moral concepts. The study concludes that preserving rhetorical richness and indirect modes of moral instruction in adapting literary texts for school textbooks can enhance their lasting educational and literary impact on young readers.