The Persian Literature, Volume 1: The Shah Nameh, the Rubaiyat and the Divan

About this book

This volume brings together three masterpieces of Persian poetry in English. The longest is the Shah Nameh, the Book of Kings, in which Firdausi tells the history of Iran from its first kings, through the tyrant Zahhak with serpents growing from his shoulders and the blacksmith Kaveh who rose against him, to the deeds of the hero Rustam, and his tragic fight with his own son, Sohrab, whom he does not recognise until it is too late. It is followed by the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and by poems from the Divan of Hafiz.

Context and significance

Firdausi (940–1020) of Tus spent some thirty years on the Shah Nameh, writing in a Persian almost free of Arabic words, and the poem preserved Iran's language and memory. The versions here are by James Atkinson (an abridged Shah Nameh), Edward FitzGerald and Herman Bicknell, edited by Richard Gottheil; the Gulistan of Saadi is in the second volume. Read also the Rubaiyat and the Poems from the Divan of Hafiz.

About the author