364 INDO-IRANIAN LITERATURE 



of expressing eulogy and scorn. The last years of Firdausi were 

 unhappy ones, marred by a failure to meet with a suitable acknow- 

 ledgment of his true greatness, and tinged even by a suspicion of 

 heresy imputed to him by reason of the sympathy shown toward the 

 fire-worshipers in his epic. He died almost in exile, and this pathetic 

 fact inspired the pen of the English poet Edmund Gosse to write 

 Firdausi in Exile. Not to mention translations, and adaptations or 

 versions of episodes in the Shah Namah which have been made in 

 continental tongues, I may call to memory Matthew Arnold's Sohrab 

 and Rustum, one of the finest pieces of epic narrative in the English 

 language, which is based directly on Firdausi's tragic incident of the 

 death of Sohrab by the hand of his father Rustum in mortal com- 

 bat on the battlefield. 



To speak of Persian poetry is to mention the name of Omar Khay- 

 yam, who flourished about A.D. 1100 and whose Rubaiyat has become 

 an English classic through FitzGerald's memorable version of the 

 quatrains. Editions, translations, commentaries, and appreciations 

 of Omar in England, America, France, and Germany, number legion, 

 and the study of this Persian poet has become so much a cult as to 

 lead to the foundation of Omar Khayyam clubs in London and in 

 Boston. 



Less known in the Occident, but deserving a wider reputation 

 than he has in the West, is Nizami (A.D. 1141-1203), a Persian master 

 of the romantic epopee. As an example of his narrative and descrip- 

 tive power, I may mention his poem on the fatal love of the sculptor 

 Farhad for Shirin, the lovely favorite of King Khosru. The monarch 

 was aware of the artist's secret admiration; desiring to call forth 

 new miracles from his chisel, as well as secure from him a work of 

 lasting practical value, he promised the enamoured sculptor the hand 

 of Shirin as a reward for his carving, provided he would also cut 

 a channel through the lofty rock of Bisitun and lead the water to the 

 plain beneath. The love-inspired artist accomplished the feat, but 

 sacrificed his life in the task, for he threw himself down from the rock 

 to destruction on hearing a false report that his beloved Shirin was 

 dead. No more touching bit of narrative poetry is to be found than in 

 Nizami 's account of the tragic tale. 



Familiar to every one interested in literature are the names of 

 Sa'di and Hafiz. Sa'di's long life extended over most of the thirteenth 

 century, and his experiences enabled him to combine the moralist with 

 the poet. In his two best works, the Gulistan and the Bostan, Gardens 

 of Roses and Perfumes, we have wise matter commingled with rich 

 verse, and his short poems thrill with a human touch, while some of 

 his stories and sayings are distinctly humorous. Hafiz deserves still 

 greater fame. He died at Shiraz towards the end of the fourteenth 

 century, and his tomb is pointed out, not far from Sa'di's, outside 



