Persian Poetics

Saʿdī’s Gulistan - English (2021)

Course • 22 lessons

Saʿdī’s Gulistān (Flower Garden) is perhaps the most influential work of Persian prose. The collection of anecdotes helped earn him the nickname ‘afṣaḥ al-mutikallimūn’ (The Most Eloquent Speaker).

Pearls of the Masnavi - Persian

Course • 18 lessons

Called ‘The Qur'ān in Persian’ by Sufis, the Masnavi is Rumi’s magnum opus. It is among the most important works in the Muslim world, once read from the Balkans to the Bengal.

Saʿdi - Translations, Editions, Commentaries

Course • 4 lessons

Saʿdī’s Pandnama

Course • 10 lessons

Saʿdī Shīrāzī’s ‘Pand-nāma’ or ‘Book of Wisdom,’ also known as ‘Karīmā’ (literally ‘O Kind one’ from the famous opening line above: ‘karīmā bibakhshāy bar ḥāl-i mā’) is a classic text written in the rhyming couplet (masnawī) style, like the Būstān.

Poetess - Persian (2022)

Course • 8 lessons

What was life like for a Mughal princess? Or a women’s rights activist who died for her cause? Or a street musician working the bāzārs of Samarqand? Unheard for centuries, the voices of these remarkable women are now available to us to uncover.

Saʿdī’s Gulistan - Persian (2021)

Course • 19 lessons

Saʿdī’s Gulistān (Flower Garden) is perhaps the most influential work of Persian prose. The collection of anecdotes helped earn him the nickname ‘afṣaḥ al-mutikallimūn’ (The Most Eloquent Speaker).