In the blurb for his planned 20-volumeThe History of Persian Literature, thelate Ehsan Yarshater (1920–2018), a Nestor of Iranian Studies, characterisedPersian poetry as the jewel in the crown of Persian culture.1This is notan exaggeration; poetry plays a role in every domain of Persian culture. IfPersian culture is the body of Persian-speaking peoples, poetry is the soul,the stamina, and the…
One of the most distinctive and recognizable features of Persian po-etics, the refrain (radīf), entered literary history by way of a contrast with Arabic poetic norms. Defined as a word, syllable, or set of syl-lables that recurs at the conclusion of each poetic distich (couplet), radīf can be provisionally translated as “refrain.” As a slightly more technical definition has it, the radī…