In this Book
- A Two-Colored Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry
- Book
- 2014
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press
summary
Annemarie Schimmel, one of the world's foremost authorities on Persian literature, provides a comprehensive introduction to the complicated and highly sophisticated system of rhetoric and imagery used by the poets of Iran, Ottoman Turkey, and Muslim India. She shows that these images have been used and refined over the centuries and reflect the changing conditions in the Muslim world.
According to Schimmel, Persian poetry does not aim to be spontaneous in spirit or highly personal in form. Instead it is rooted in conventions and rules of prosody, rhymes, and verbal instrumentation. Ideally, every verse should be like a precious stone--perfectly formed and multifaceted--and convey the dynamic relationship between everyday reality and the transcendental.
Persian poetry, Schimmel explains, is more similar to medieval European verse than Western poetry as it has been written since the Romantic period. The characteristic verse form is the ghazal--a set of rhyming couplets--which serves as a vehicle for shrouding in conventional tropes the poet's real intentions.
Because Persian poetry is neither narrative nor dramatic in its overall form, its strength lies in an "architectonic" design; each precisely expressed image is carefully fitted into a pattern of linked figures of speech. Schimmel shows that at its heart Persian poetry transforms the world into a web of symbols embedded in Islamic culture.
According to Schimmel, Persian poetry does not aim to be spontaneous in spirit or highly personal in form. Instead it is rooted in conventions and rules of prosody, rhymes, and verbal instrumentation. Ideally, every verse should be like a precious stone--perfectly formed and multifaceted--and convey the dynamic relationship between everyday reality and the transcendental.
Persian poetry, Schimmel explains, is more similar to medieval European verse than Western poetry as it has been written since the Romantic period. The characteristic verse form is the ghazal--a set of rhyming couplets--which serves as a vehicle for shrouding in conventional tropes the poet's real intentions.
Because Persian poetry is neither narrative nor dramatic in its overall form, its strength lies in an "architectonic" design; each precisely expressed image is carefully fitted into a pattern of linked figures of speech. Schimmel shows that at its heart Persian poetry transforms the world into a web of symbols embedded in Islamic culture.
Table of Contents
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- A Note on Transliteration
- pp. xxiii-xxvii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-16
- Part 1: Formal Requirements of Persian Poetry
- 1. Meter and Genres
- pp. 19-36
- 2. Rhetorical Rules
- pp. 37-52
- Part 2: Themes from History, Literature, and Legend
- 3. Koranic Themes
- pp. 55-86
- 5. Themes from Early Islamic Times
- pp. 99-106
- 6. Themes from Pre-Islamic Times
- pp. 107-122
- 7. Themes from Islamic History
- pp. 123-128
- 8. Ideal Loving Couples
- pp. 129-136
- 9. Turk and Hindu
- pp. 137-144
- 10. Poetical Geography
- pp. 145-152
- Part 3: The Book of Nature
- 11. Stones
- pp. 155-160
- 12. The Garden of Delight
- pp. 161-176
- 13. The Language of the Birds
- pp. 177-190
- 14. Fantastic Beasts and Other Creatures
- pp. 191-200
- 15. The Sky, the Wind, and the Sea
- pp. 201-216
- Part 4: Themes from Life and Letters
- 16. A Two-Colored Brocade
- pp. 219-226
- 17. The Art of Calligraphy
- pp. 227-244
- 18. From the Scholars Bookshelf
- pp. 245-254
- 19. Playing with Numbers
- pp. 255-262
- 20. Colorful Things from the World around Us
- pp. 263-270
- 21. Entertainment, Music, and Festivities
- pp. 271-282
- 22. Courtly Games and Pastimes
- pp. 283-290
- 23. Dreams, Reality, and Bells
- pp. 291-302
- Bibliography
- pp. 449-490
- Index of Koranic Quotations
- pp. 491-492
- Index of Authors and Works
- pp. 493-506
- Index of Technical Terms and Concepts
- pp. 507-522
- General Index
- pp. 523-532
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469616384
Related ISBN(s)
9780807820506, 9780807856208, 9781469616377
MARC Record
OCLC
644217363
Pages
558
Launched on MUSE
2016-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No