One might even claim that he was the greatest lover he certainly stands as the greatest composer of lyrics about human love No classical Persian poet was a greater and more passionate lover than Sa‘di. This is similarly true of many of the lyrics translated in this volume. It would, indeed, require a superhuman effort to interpret such lines as mysticalĪnd other-worldly. Is like a ball of ivory hit by a black polo mallet.
The beloved’s breast engulfed in her curly hair Obeyd Zakani and Jahan Malak Khatun (both of whom were influenced by Sa‘di), for example, be described as such? Theįollowing lines by Sa‘di speak for themselves: But in what meaningful sense can so many of Sa‘di’s lyrics and those of the fourteenth-century Many lesser talents in the period, supporting the description of their lyrics as mystical (though with a significant caveat There is of course ample external evidence (leaving aside the lyric itself) in the case of poets suchĪs the twelfth-century Sana’i and Attar, the thirteenth-century Rumi and Araqi, and the fourteenth-century Hafiz and Generally tended to follow the views of Persian scholars regarding the fundamental mystical quality of much of the lyricism Many Western scholars, although they may not have gone that 3far, Masters were all chaste, sexless and entirely ascetic, and that any worldly interest or passion was beneath their exalted Furthermore, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Iranian scholars tended to believe that the great Persian So far as seeking the object of love in virtually all Persian lyricism after the twelfth century in Sufi longing for reunion Iranian view until the twentieth century tended to favour the latter interpretation to the extent that some classicists went On whether lyrical songs are addressed to a worldly and corporeal or to an other-worldly and mystical beloved. But come the twelfth century, the rise of mysticism in Persian poetry opens the gate to speculation Samarqandi, or Farrokhi Sistani or Manucheri Damghani, who flourished in the tenth and eleventh centuries, implied a mystical Hardly anyone would claim that the lyricism of Rudaki The thirteenth century (the century of Sa‘di and Rumi) onwards. There is a long-standing debate among Iranian as well as Western Persianist criticsĪs to the object of love and adoration in the lyrical works of classical Persian poets, from the twelfth and, especially, Works, although both his ideas and his style are highly original. To varying degrees, the impact of this rich background can be felt throughout Sa‘di’s Way since their emergence in 2the ninth and tenthĬenturies, covering a whole range of subjects, from panegyrics, lyrics, laments and reflections to history, epics, romances, Ĭlassical Persian literature in general and poetry in particular had come a long On morals and manners, with the result that, as noted below, they overshadowed his more than 700 lyrics and love songs, whichĬount among the finest ever written by Persian masters. Prose Golestan and, to a lesser extent, his long poem Bustan In both East and West he was most admired for his book of
Intellectuals, writers and humanists in the centuries to follow. Translated into European languages from the seventeenth century onwards and had a considerable impact on European philosophers, He was a contemporary of Rumi (though they are unlikely to have known of each other)Īnd, despite significant differences in thought and style, influenced the poetry of Hafiz in various ways. His verse in a letter, and shortly after whose death Chinese singers could sing one of his lyrics without Born in the seventh century of Hijra, thirteenth of the ChristianĮra, he is the only Persian luminary whose fame was so widespread that during his lifetime a Turk in Anatolia could quote Is one of the greatest classical Persian poets of all time.