Persian Literature
Persian literature is one of the world's great poetic traditions, the medium of Ferdowsi's epic, Rumi's mysticism, and the lyric perfection of Hafez.
Definition
The literary tradition written in Persian, renowned above all for its classical poetry of epic, romance, mysticism, and lyric, and its modern developments.
Scope
This topic covers literature in Persian from the revival of the language under the Samanids, through the classical age of epic, romance, and mystical and lyric poetry, to modern Iranian and broader Persianate literature. It treats the great poetic forms—the masnavi, ghazal, qasida, and ruba'i—the central place of Sufism, and the wide reach of Persian as a literary language across Central and South Asia.
Core questions
- What are the major forms and works of classical Persian poetry?
- How did Sufism shape the Persian poetic tradition?
- How did Persian function as a transregional literary language?
- How did Persian literature modernize in the twentieth century?
Key concepts
- the masnavi
- the ghazal
- Sufi mystical poetry
- the Persianate world
- the epic Shahnameh
Key theories
- The classical Persian poetic system
- Scholarship surveyed by Yarshater treats classical Persian literature as a highly developed poetic system organized around courtly, epic, and mystical genres.
History
Persian re-emerged as a major literary language in the tenth century, producing Ferdowsi's national epic, the Shahnameh. The classical age brought the romances of Nizami, the mystical poetry of Rumi and Attar, and the lyric mastery of Saadi and Hafez. Persian became a cosmopolitan literary language across the Islamic east, and modern Iranian literature developed new forms in the twentieth century.
Debates
- The reach of the Persianate world
- Scholars discuss how widely Persian literary culture extended across Central and South Asia and how to understand its transregional influence.
Key figures
- Ferdowsi
- Rumi
- Hafez
- Saadi
- Ehsan Yarshater
Related topics
Seminal works
- ferdowsi1010
- rumi1273
- hafezdivan
Frequently asked questions
- Why is Persian poetry so celebrated?
- Persian developed an exceptionally refined poetic tradition, from Ferdowsi's epic to the mystical and lyric verse of Rumi and Hafez, admired across the Islamic world and beyond.
- What is the Shahnameh?
- The Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, is Ferdowsi's monumental verse epic completed around 1010, recounting the mythical and historical past of Persia.