There is a remarkable similarity between traditions of court literature in otherwise different and unrelated cultures. Wherever such traditions exist, the basic structure is the same: a relationship of mutual interest between, on the one hand, the people in power who need confirmation of their status both in their own eyes and in those of the world and, on the other hand, the people who by means of their art can give the rulers and their courts the indispensable glamour. In the early 13th century, the Persian anthologist Mohammad Owfi expressed the part played by poetry in this interplay very succinctly by saying that the participants in poetry can be divided into two classes: one consists of “those who praise” (madeh) and “those who are praised” (mamduhs). The latter, he adds, “reward the first class with their favors.” Although kings and sultans and other notables have also tried their hands at improvising occasional poems, they cannot properly be called poets. Naturally, this is much too narrow a view of the practice of Persian poetry, even in its classical phase. However, it is undeniable that the environment of the court has been archetypical to Persian poetry, and has left its mark also on poems produced under quite different circumstances. The presence of poets and minstrels in the environs of rulers perhaps goes back to the very beginnings of the monarchy in Persia, but we have scant knowledge of pre-Islamic courts. There is some evidence concerning the activities of minstrels and storytellers, though most of it is to be found in indirect or retrospective sources. The probability of a longstanding tradition of court poetry is reinforced by the observation that in spite of all the breaks in its historical development, the institution of the court in Iran shows a great deal of continuity. The courts of ancient Iran, in particular that of the Sasanid kings, provided a model for the court of the Caliphs of Baghdad which in its turn was imitated by the local rulers in the Persian provinces of the Caliphate. When Turkish rulers came into power in most parts of the Islamic world, they meticulously followed the rules and practices of Iranian court life, including the patronage of poets. This situation remained essentially unchanged until the end of the 19th century. Only in its final stage, under the Pahlavi dynasty (1925–79), did the Persian monarchy abandon the tradition of Persian court literature.
Social Context of Persian Literature
