Persian Love Poetry (Gift Books) - Tapa dura

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.

Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis is curator of Islamic and Iranian coins at the British Museum. She is joint-editor of Iran, the journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, co-editor of The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Persia and the author of Persian Myths. Shella R. Canby is an Assistant Keeper specializing in Islamic Iran at the British Museum. Her publications include Persian Paintings, Princes, Poets and Paladins and The Golden Age of Persian Art 1501 - 1722.