Anvari

Anvari (1126–1189), full name Awhad ad-Din 'Ali ibn Mohammad Khavarani or Awhad ad-Din 'Ali ibn Mahmud (PerB|انوری اوحد الدین علی ابن محمد) was one of the greatest Persian poets.

He was born in Abivard of (now in Turkmenistan) and died in Khurasanian Balkh, now in Afghanistan [Encyclopaedia Britannica, Online Edition 2007 [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9007937/Anvari LINK] ] , and studied science and literature at the collegiate institute in Tun (now Firdaus, Iran), becoming a famous astronomer as well as a poet.

Anvari's poems were collected in a Deewan, and contains panegyrics, eulogies, satire, and others. His elegy "Tears of Khorasan", translated into English in 1789, is considered to be one of the most beautiful poems in Persian literature. "The Cambridge History of Iran" calls Anvari "one of the greatest figures in Persian literature". Despite their beauty, his poems often required much help with interpretation, as they were often complex and difficult to understand.

Anvari's panegyric in honour of the Seljuk sultan Sultan Sanjar (1117–1157), ruler of Khorasan, won him royal favour, and allowed him to go on to enjoy the patronage of two of Sanjar's successors. However, when his prophesy of disasters in October 1185 failed, he fell out of favour with the kingship, and was forced into a life of scholarly service, eventually taking his own life in 1189.

References

*"The Cambridge History of Iran", Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-06936-X
* Jan Rypka, "History of Iranian Literature". Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 OCLC|460598. ISBN 90-277-0143-1

ee also

*List of Persian poets and authors
*Persian literature