Persian Love Poetry

Love is everywhere in Persian poetry and can be interpreted in various ways: as mystic love, the basis of the relationship between humans and god; as passionate or affectionate love between lovers, husbands and wives, parents and children, family and friends; even as patriotic love for Iran. The literary style and indeed the Persian language itself are floral and elaborate, but the themes differ little from our preoccupations with love and romance today. This collection offers extracts specially translated by the authors from the best of traditional and contemporary Persian poetry and illustrates them with some of the finest examples of Persian art in the British Museum. With a brief introduction to the Persian poetic tradition and a short biographical note about each of the major poets, this beautiful anthology is the perfect way to discover the treasures of Persian literature and art.