Rudaki
Abdollah Jafar Ibn Mohammad Rudaki, founder of Perso-Tajik literature. Rudaki was born in 858 in the village of Pandj-Rudak, near Pandjikent, situated between Samarkand and Bukhara (in Transoxiana, Central Asia). From a young age he began to write verses, he liked to play the lute (chang in Persian) and had a beautiful voice. He was one of the first poets to use the newly developed Persian alphabet, a transcription of the Pahlavi language with the Arabic alphabet. Rudaki’s poetry captivated the hearts and minds of his contemporaries. His Ghasidas were the adornment of the parties of the royal palaces and of the meetings of scholars whose philosophical content surprised any listener. The poet reflected on the essence of phenomena and the constant movement of natural and social changes through his poetry at times at specific times. According to some documents, Rudaki’s literary heritage included more than one hundred thousand beyts (verses) of poetry. Rudaki died in 941 AD. and his tomb is in his native town marked by a blue and white marble mausoleum. His poetry is simple in style, as court poetry should be, reflecting the charm of pre-Islamic Iranian poetry. Avoid Arabism and do not use verses from the Qur’an. Above all, his poetry is accessible to today’s schoolchildren who can enjoy his verses without the need for explanations or interpretations.
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