Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world’s oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and Turkey, regions of Central Asia (such as Tajikistan) and South Asiawhere the Persian languagehas historically been either the native or official language. For example, Rumi, one of the best-loved Persian poets, born in Balkh (in modern-day Afghanistan) or Wakhsh (in modern-day Tajikistan), wrote in Persian and lived in Konya(in modern-day Turkey), at that time the capital of the Seljuksin Anatolia. The Ghaznavidsconquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from Iran, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan, the wider Caucasus, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia. Not all Persian literature is written in Persian, as some consider works written by ethnic Persians or Iranians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic, to be included. At the same time, not all literature written in Persian is written by ethnic Persians or Iranians, as Turkic, Caucasian, and Indic poets and writers have also used the Persian language in the environment of Persianate cultures.
Described as one of the great literature of humanity, including Goethe’s assessment of it as one of the four main bodies of world literature, Persian literature has its roots in surviving works of Middle Persian and Old Persian, the latter of which dates back as far as 522 BCE, the date of the earliest surviving Achaemenid inscription, the Behistun Inscription. The bulk of surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the times following the Muslim conquest of Persia c. 650 CE. After the Abbasids came to power (750 CE), the Iranians became the scribes and bureaucrats of the Islamic Caliphate and, increasingly, also its writers and poets. The New Persian language literature arose and flourished in Khorasan and Transoxiana because of political reasons, early Iranian dynasties of post-Islamic Iran such as the Tahirids and Samanids being based in Khorasan.
Persian poets such as Ferdowsi, Saadi, Hafiz, Attar, Nezami, Rumiand Omar Khayyam are also known in the West and have influenced the literature of many countries.
Contents
- Classical Persian literature
- Pre-Islamic Persian literature
- Persian literature of the medieval and pre-modern periods
- Poetry
- Prose writings
- Biographies, hagiographies, and historical works
- Literary criticism
- Storytelling
- Persian dictionaries
- Persian proverbs
- The influence of Persian literature on world literature
- Sufi literature
- Georgian literature
- Asia Minor
- Areas once under Ghaznavid or Mughal rule
- South Asia
- Western literature
- German literature
- English literature
- Swedish literature
- Italian literature
- Contemporary Persian literature
- History
- In Afghanistan
- In Tajikistan
- Play
- Novel
- Satire
- Literary criticism
- Persian short stories
- Period of diversity
- Poetry
- Classical Persian poetry in modern times
- Modern Persian poetry
- Persian literature awards
- Authors and poets
- See also
- Notes and references
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
Classical Persian literature
Pre-Islamic Persian literature
Very few literary works of Achaemenid Iran have survived, due partly to the destruction of the library at Persepolis. Most of what remains consists of the royal inscriptions of Achaemenid kings, particularly Darius I (522–486 BC) and his son Xerxes. Many Zoroastrian writings were destroyed in the Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century. The Parsis who fled to India, however, took with them some of the books of the Zoroastrian canon, including some of the Avesta and ancient commentaries (Zend) thereof. Some works of Sassanid geography and travel also survived, albeit in Arabic translations.
No single text devoted to literary criticism has survived from pre-Islamic Iran. However, some essays in Pahlavi, such as “Ayin-e name nebeshtan” (Principles of Writing Book) and “Bab-e edteda’I-ye” (Kalileh o Demneh), have been considered as literary criticism (Zarrinkoub, 1959).
Some researchers have quoted the Sho’ubiyye as asserting that the pre-Islamic Iranians had books on eloquence, such as ‘Karvand’. No trace remains of such books. There are some indications that some among the Persian elite were familiar with Greek rhetoric and literary criticism (Zarrinkoub, 1947).
Persian literature of the medieval and pre-modern periods
Bahram Gur and Courtiers Entertained by Barbad the Musician, Page from a manuscript of the Shahnama of Ferdowsi. Brooklyn Museum.
While initially overshadowed by Arabic during the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates, New Persian soon became a literary language again of the Central Asian and West Asian lands. The rebirth of the language in its new form is often accredited to Ferdowsi, Unsuri, Daqiqi, Rudaki, and their generation, as they used pre-Islamic nationalism as a conduit to revive the language and customs of ancient Iran.
Poetry
Bowl of Reflections, early 13th century. Brooklyn Museum
So strong is the Persian inclination to versifying everyday expressions that one can encounter poetry in almost every classical work, whether from Persian literature, science, or metaphysics. In short, the ability to write in verse form was a pre-requisite for any scholar. For example, almost half of Avicenna’s medical writings are in verse.
Works of the early era of Persian poetry are characterized by strong court patronage, an extravagance of panegyrics, and what is known as سبک فاخر “exalted in style”. The tradition of royal patronage began perhaps under the Sassanid era and carried over through the Abbasid and Samanid courts into every major Iranian dynasty. The Qasida was perhaps the most famous form of panegyric used, though quatrains such as those in Omar Khayyam’s Ruba’iyyat are also widely popular.
Khorasani style, whose followers mostly were associated with Greater Khorasan, is characterized by its supercilious diction, dignified tone, and relatively literate language. The chief representatives of this lyricism are Asjadi, Farrukhi Sistani, Unsuri, and Manuchehri. Panegyric masters such as Rudaki were known for their love of nature, their verses abounding with evocative descriptions.
Through these courts and system of patronage emerged the epic style of poetry, with Ferdowsi’s Shahnama at the apex. By glorifying the Iranian historical past in heroic and elevated verses, he and other notables such as Daqiqi and Asadi Tusi presented the “Ajam” with a source of pride and inspiration that has helped preserve a sense of identity for the Iranian people over the ages. Ferdowsi set a model to be followed by a host of other poets later on.
The 13th century marks the ascendancy of lyric poetry with the consequent development of the ghazal into a major verse form, as well as the rise of mystical and Sufi poetry. This style is often called Araqi (Iraqi) style, (western provinces of Iran were known as The Persian Iraq(Araq-e-Ajam) and is known by its emotional lyric qualities, rich meters, and the relative simplicity of its language. Emotional romantic poetry was not something new, however, as works such as Vis o Ramin by As’ad Gorgani, and Yusof o Zoleikha by Am’aq Bokharai exemplify. Poets such as Sana’i and Attar (who ostensibly inspired Rumi), Khaqani Shirvani, Anvari, and Nizami, were highly respected ghazal writers. However, the elite of this school are Rumi, Saadi, and Hafiz Shirazi.
Regarding the tradition of Persian love poetry during the Safavid era, Persian historian Ehsan Yarshater notes, “As a rule, the beloved is not a woman, but a young man. In the early centuries of Islam, the raids into Central Asia produced many young slaves. Slaves were also bought or received as gifts. They were made to serve as pages at court or in the households of the affluent, or as soldiers and bodyguards. Young men, slaves or not, also, served wine at banquets and receptions, and the more gifted among them could play music and maintain a cultivated conversation. It was love toward young pages, soldiers, or novices in trades and professions which was the subject of lyrical introductions to panegyrics from the beginning of Persian poetry, and of the ghazal. “ During the same Safavid era, many subjects of the Iranian Safavids were patrons of Persian poetry, such as Teimuraz I of Kakheti.
In the didactic genre one can mention Sanai’s Hadiqat-ul-Haqiqah(Garden of Truth) as well as Nizami’s Makhzan-ul-Asrār (Treasury of Secrets). Some of Attar’s works also belong to this genre as do the major works of Rumi, although some tend to classify these in the lyrical type due to their mystical and emotional qualities. In addition, some tend to group Naser Khosrow’s works in this style as well; however true gems of this genre are two books by Saadi, a heavyweight of Persian literature, the Bustan and the Gulistan.
After the 15th century, the Indian style of Persian poetry (sometimes also called Isfahani or Safavi styles) took over. This style has its roots in the Timurid era and produced the likes of Amir Khosrow Dehlavi, and Bhai Nand Lal Goya.
Prose writings
The most significant prose writings of this era are Nizami Arudhi Samarqandi’s “Chahār Maqāleh” as well as Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi’s anecdote compendium Jawami ul-Hikayat. Shams al-Mo’ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir’s famous work, the Qabus nama (A Mirror for Princes), is a highly esteemed Belles-lettres work of Persian literature. Also highly regarded is Siyasatnama, by Nizam al-Mulk, a famous Persian vizier. Kelileh va Demneh, translated from Indian folk tales, can also be mentioned in this category. It is seen as a collection of adages in Persian literary studies and thus does not convey folkloric notions.
Biographies, hagiographies, and historical works
Among the major historical and biographical works in classical Persian, one can mention Abolfazl Beyhaghi’s famous Tarikh-i Beyhaqi, Lubab ul-Albab of Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi (which has been regarded as a reliable chronological source by many experts), as well as Ata-Malik Juvayni’s famous Tarikh-i Jahangushay-i Juvaini (which spans the Mongolid and Ilkhanid era of Iran). Attar’s Tazkerat-ol-Owliya(“Biographies of the Saints”) is also a detailed account of Sufi mystics, which is referenced by many subsequent authors and considered a significant work in mystical hagiography.
Literary criticism
The oldest surviving work of Persian literary criticism after the Islamic conquest of Persia is Muqaddame-ye Shahname-ye Abu Mansuri, which was written during the Samanid period. The work deals with the myths and legends of Shahnameh and is considered the oldest surviving example of Persian prose. It also shows an attempt by the authors to evaluate literary works critically.
Storytelling
One Thousand and One Nights (Persian: هزار و یک شب) is a medieval folk tale collection which tells the story of Scheherazade (Persian: شهرزاد Šahrzād), a Sassanid queen who must relate a series of stories to her malevolent husband, King Shahryar (Persian: شهریار Šahryār), to delay her execution. The stories are told over a period of one thousand and one nights, and every night she ends the story with a suspenseful situation, forcing the King to keep her alive for another day. The individual stories were created over several centuries, by many people from a number of different lands.
The nucleus of the collection is formed by a Pahlavi Sassanid Persianbook called Hazār Afsānah (Persian: هزار افسان, Thousand Myths), a collection of ancient Indian and Persian folk tales.
During the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century, Baghdad had become an important cosmopolitan city. Merchants from Persia, China, India, Africa, and Europe were all found in Baghdad. During this time, many of the stories that were originally folk stories are thought to have been collected orally over many years and later compiled into a single book. The compiler and 9th-century translator into Arabic is reputedly the storyteller Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad el-Gahshigar. The frame story of Shahrzad seems to have been added in the 14th century.
Persian dictionaries
The biggest Persian dictionary is Dehkhoda Dictionary (16 volumes) byAli-Akbar Dehkhoda. It is the largest comprehensive Persian dictionaryever published, comprising 16 volumes (more than 27000 pages). It is published by the Tehran University Press (UTP) under the supervision of the Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute and was first published in 1931. It traces the historical development of the Persian language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout the world. He names 200 Persian lexicographical works in his dictionary, the earliest, Farhang-i Oim (فرهنگ اویم) and Farhang-i Menakhtay (فرهنگ مناختای), from the late Sassanid era of the 3rd-7th century.
The most widely used Persian lexicons in the Middle Ages were those of Abu Hafs Soghdi (فرهنگ ابوحفص سغدی) and Asadi Tusi (فرهنگ لغت فرس), written in 1092.
Also highly regarded in the contemporary Persian literature lexical corpus are the works of Dr. Mohammad Moin. The first volume of Moin Dictionary was published in 1963.
In 1645, Christian Ravius completed a Persian-Latin dictionary, printed at Leiden. This was followed by John Richardson’s two-volume Oxford edition (1777) and Gladwin-Malda’s (1770) Persian-English Dictionaries, Scharif and S. Peters’ Persian-Russian Dictionary (1869), and 30 other Persian lexicographical translations through the 1950s.
Currently, English-Persian dictionaries of Manouchehr Aryanpour and Soleiman Haim are widely used in Iran.
Persian proverbs
| * Thousands of friends aren’t sufficient and one enemy one too many. * |
|
هزاران دوست کماند و یک دشمن زیاد
/Hezārān dūst kam-and-o yek doshman ziād. |
| * The wise enemy is better than the ignorant friend. * |
|
دشمن دانا بهتر از دوست نادان است
/Doshman-e dānā beh’tar az dust-e nādān ast./ |
| * The wise enemy lifts you up, the ignorant friend casts you down. * |
| % |