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Hunar-nāma
''Hunar-nāma'' ('the book of excellence', also transliterated ''Honarnāme'') is a 487-distich Persian '' mathnavī'' poem composed by ‘Uthmān Mukhtārī at Tabas in the period 500-508 (1105-13 CE), when he was at the court of Seljuqs The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ... in Kirmān. The poem is dedicated to the ruler of Tabas, Yamīn al-Dowla (aka Ḥisām ad-Dīn Yamīn ad-Dowla Shams al-Ma‘ālī Abū ’l-Muẓaffar Amīr Ismā‘īl Gīlakī, and can be read as a 'letter of application' demonstrating Mukhtārī's skill as a court poet. It has been characterised as 'perhaps the most interesting of the poems dedicated to Gīlākī'. Form The poem is unique among ''masnavī''s for portraying a young poet being tested, not by a more senior poet as in other me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riddles (Persian)
The Persian term for riddle is ''chīstān'' ( fa, چیسْتان), literally 'what is it?', a word that frequently occurs in the opening formulae of Persian riddles. However, the Arabic loan-word is also used. Traditional Persian rhetorical manuals almost always handle riddles, but Persian riddles have enjoyed little modern scholarly attention. Yet in the assessment of A. A. Seyed-Gohrab, 'Persian literary riddles provide us with some of the most novel and intricate metaphors and images in Persian poetry'. Genres and their histories Persian riddles occur in several different literary forms, and it is helpful to trace the history of the Persian riddle through these forms. It is assumed that folk-riddles circulated in Persian from early times, and riddles are prominent in Persian romances set in earlier, pre-Islamic times, perhaps indicating the earlier popularity of the form. Erotic allusions are common in medieval Persian riddles, as in other kinds of metaphorical description. Me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |