Persian literature

Persian Literature. The photos used in this presentation belong to the rightful owner.

1. PERSIAN LITERATURE

2. Brief Background of the Country

3. Persia The Persian Empire is the name given to a series of dynasties centered in modern-day Iran The first Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great

4. Cyrus the Great He founded the first Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire, in 550 B.C. The leader of one such tribe—began to defeat nearby kingdoms, including Media, Lydia and Babylon, joining them under one rule

5. Darius the Great The fourth king of the Achaemenid Empire, ruled over the Persian Empire  He unified the empire The Persian Empire entered a period of decline after a failed invasion of Greece by Xerxes I in 480 BC. 

6. Persia’s Location

7. Persian Religion The first Persian Empire was shaped by a different religion: Zoroastrianism Prophet Zoroaster taught followers to worship one god instead of the many deities worshipped by earlier Indo-Iranian groups.

8. Persian Culture The ancient Persians of the Achaemenid Empire created art in many forms Early Persian art included large, carved rock reliefs cut into cliffs, such as those found at Naqsh -e Rustam

9. THE START OF PERSIAN LITERATURE

10. PERSIAN LITERATURE Dated to c. 522 BCE with the creation of the Behistun Inscription of Darius I Alexander the Great destroyed the library at Persepolis c. 330 BCE and other works Is therefore commonly dated from c. 750 CE , with the rise of the Abbasid Dynasty

11. Is the oldest literature in the world The greatest and most influential work is the Shahnameh ( The Persian Book of Kings ) written by the poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi between 977-1010 CE . PERSIAN LITERATURE

12. CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN LITERATURE

13. THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA Body of writings in New Persian (also called Modern Persian ) the form of the Persian language written since the 9th century Comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language Poetry was regarded as the highest form of artistic expression

14. WRITERS AND POETS IN PERSIAN LITERATURE

15. known as Rudaki, also known as “Adam of Poets”, was a Persian poet regarded as the first great literary genius of the Modern Persian Language. known as Daqiqi, was one of the most prominent Persian poets of Samanid era. He was the first to undertake the creation of the national epic of Iran, the Shahnameh . 2. Abu Mansur Daqiqi 1. Abu Abdollah Ja’far Ibn Muhammad Rudaki

16. 3. Abul-Qasem Ferdowsi Tusi 4. Adam Sanai Ghaznavi Was a Persian poet and the author of Shahnameh “Book of Kings”, which is one of the largest epic poems created by a single poet, and the national epic of Greater Iran. He wrote an enormous quantity of mystical verse, of which the called “The Walled Garden of Truth or The Hadiqat al Hadiqaqa” is his master work and the first Persian mythical epic of Sufism.

17. 5. Abu Hamid bin  Abu Bakr  Ibrahim was a Persian mystic poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nishapur who had an abiding influence on Persian poetry and Sufism. 6. Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi Known as Rumi and also called by the honorific Mawlana, the greatest Sufi mystic poet in the Persian language.

18. 7. Saadi Shirazi was a major Persian poet and prose writer of the medieval period. He is recognized for the quality of his writings and for the depth of his social and moral thoughts. 8. Nizami Ganjavi the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic.

19. 9. Omar Khayyam Was a Persian polymath, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and a poet. There is a tradition of attributing poetry to Omar Khayyam, written in the form of quatrains. 10. Hafez Shirazi h is collected works are regarded as a pinnacle of Persian literature and are to be found in the homes of most people in Iran and Afghanistan .

20. POEMS AND SHORT STORIES IN PERSIAN LITERATURE

21. WHAT WAS TOLD, THAT Rumi speaks about the love of lovers, he refers not only to the love they share between each other, but about the love they both share towards the Being that transcends their beings.

22. THE WALLED GRADEN OF TRUTH The Walled Garden of Truth or The Hadiqat al Haqiqa is his master work and the first Persian mystical epic of Sufism. Dedicated to Bahram Shah, the work expresses the poet’s ideas on God, love, philosophy and reason. For close to 900 years, From The Walled Garden of Truth has been consistently read as a classic and employed as a Sufi textbook.

23. THE MANNERS OF KINGS In this story, a king was about to execute a prisoner, but the prisoner tells how God blesses those who are generous. The prisoner was trying to placate the king and prevent being executed. Lying can sometimes be good, because speaking the alternative, the truth, can cause a lot of trouble.

24. ON THE ADVANTAGES OF SILENCE Rodrigues soon begins to question God's existence, if only hypothetically. Though he still believes in God, he allows himself to consider how ridiculous all their lives and sufferings would be if there is no God. His realizations are revelatory and profound. Thousands will have suffered and died for nothing, and around the world

25. LITERARY PIECES

26. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

27. is the work of two authors, Omar Khayyám (1048-1131), and Edward FitzGerald (1809-1893). a lyric poem in quatrains (four-line stanzas) published in March 1859

28. Meter and Rhyme Scheme the poem is in iambic pentameter in most stanzas, the rhyme scheme is aaba However, in a few stanzas, all four lines rhyme

29. Stanza 1 Rhyme Scheme: aaba Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.

30. Stanza 10 Rhyme Scheme: aaaa With me along some Strip of Herbage strown That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known, And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne .

31. Themes: Carpe Diem (Seize the Day) Wine as the Water of Life Fate Ineluctable Death

32. Imagery • Personifications • Alliteration • Metaphor Source: https://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/rubaiyat.html

33. (Shahnameh) The Book of Kings by Ferdowsi

34. Ferdowsi most important poet at the court of Mahmud of Ghazni celebrated as the most influential figure in Persian literature regarded as the "Immortal Homer of the East"

35. an epic poem that recounts the history of pre-Islamic Persia. contains 62 stories , told in 990 chapters with 50,000 rhyming couplets world’s longest epic poem written by a single poet

36. is essentially a chronicle of kings, with the larger sections divided according to the coronations and deaths of individual monarchs. include ancient myths, legends, and historical figures , such as Alexander the Great, dating back to the sixth century b.c.

37. written in Middle and Modern Persian LANGUAGE CHARACTERS ancient Persian heroes—generals and commanders

38. “The Story of Sohrab and Rostam ” Rostam was unaware that he had a son, Sohrab, by Princess Tahmina . He had not seen the Princess for many years. After years without any real knowledge of one another, Rostam and Sohrab faced each other in battle, fighting on opposing sides. Rostam did not recognise his own son, although Sohrab had suspicions that Rostam may be his father. They fought in single combat and Rostam wrestled Sohrab to the ground, stabbing him fatally. As he lay dying, Sohrab recalled how his love for his father – the mighty Rostam - had brought him there in the first place. Rostam , to his horror, realised the truth. He saw his own arm bracelet on Sohrab, which he had given to Tahmina many years before and which Tahmina had given to Sohrab before the battle, in the hope that it might protect him. But he realised the truth too late. He had killed his own son, ‘the person who was dearer to him than all others’. This is one of the most tragic episodes of the Shahnameh.

39. THEMES Fate Immortality Power Loyalty Dissension between king and hero

40. THANK YOU!