Khosro va Shirin

Nezami Ganjavi, born. circa. 1141, in Ganja, during Seljuq empire era and died in 1209, Ganja, is greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic. Little is known of Nezami`s life. Orphaned at a young age, he spent his entire life in Ganja, leaving only once to meet the ruling prince. Although he enjoyed the patronage of a number of rulers and princes, he was distinguished by his simple life and straightforward character. Only a handful of his qasidahs (`odes`) and ghazals (`lyrics`) have survived; his reputation rests on his great Khamseh (`The Quintuplet`), a pentalogy of poems written in masnavi verse form (rhymed couplets) and totaling 30,000 couplets. Drawing inspiration from the Persian epic poets Ferdowsi and Sana`i, he proved himself the first great dramatic poet of Persian literature. The first poem in the pentology is the didactic poem Makhzan al-asrar (The Treasury of Mysteries), the second the romantic epic Khosrow o-Shirin (`Khosrow and Shirin`). The third is his rendition of a well-known story in Islamic folklore, Leyli o-Mejnun (The Story of Leyla and Majnun). The fourth poem, Haft Paykar (The Seven Beauties), is considered his masterwork. The final poem in the pentalogy is the Sikandar or Eskandar-nameh (`Book of Alexander the Great`; Eng. trans. of part I, The Eskander Nama), a philosophical portrait of Alexander