World Literature - Persian Literature

It is natural to consider Persian literature in connection with that of India, for both had their beginnings in the Iranian region before these two branches of the Aryan people started. There are three distinct periods in Persian Literature. The first is termed the Old Iranian, and this centers in the sacred writings of the prophet and teacher known as Zarathustra, or Zoroaster (seventh century B.C. or earlier); the second, termed Middle, or Phalavi, extends from the third to the ninth or tenth century of our era; the third, the New, dates properly from the time of the Mohammedan conquest (641 A.D).

The New Persian literature (seventh century to present) was Muslim, for the Arabs had conquered Persia in 641 A.D. Though opposed to Zoroastrian philosophy, this new literature was not narrowly Muslim, but maintained its own marked individuality. Its poetry emphasized beauty of form rather than originality of idea. Its repeated theme of love and wine was partly mystic, symbolizing religious estacy, and partly sensuous.

Omar Khayyam, writer of mystic and didactic quatrains, is the best known to the English-speaking world through the excellent adaptation of the Rubaiyat made by Edward Fitzgerald.