:Unsuri
{{short description|10th/11th-century Persian poet}}
Image:The Poets Firdawsi, 'Unsuri, and 'Asjadi - Walters W6032B - Full Page.png-era miniature of the poets Ferdowsi, Unsuri, and Asjadi]]
Abul Qasim Hasan Unsuri Balkhi ({{langx|fa|ابوالقاسم حسن عنصری بلخی}}; died 1039/1040) was a 10th–11th century Persian poet. ‘Unṣurī is said to have been born in Balkh, today located in Afghanistan, and he eventually became a poet of the royal court of Mahmud of Ghazni, and was given the title Malik-us Shu'ara (King of Poets) under Mahmud.Cf. Thomas Hägg, 'The Oriental Reception of Greek Novels: A Survey with Some Preliminary Considerations', Symbolae Osloenses, 61 (1986), 99–131 (p. 106), DOI: 10.1080/00397678608590800 . His Divan is said to have contained 30,000 distichs, of which only 2500 remain today. It includes the romance epic Vāmiq u ‘Adhrā. The following dialog between an eagle and a crow, translated by Iraj Bashiri, is an example. In it, Unsuri compares his own status vis-a-vis that of a young poet who has joined the court recently.
The Eagle and The Crow: A Dialogue
Translated by Iraj Bashiri:
:A dialogue occurred, I happen to know,
:Betwixt the white eagle and the crow.
:Birds we are, said the crow, in the main,
:Friends we are, and thus we shall remain.
:Birds we are, agreed the eagle, only in name,
:Our temperaments, alas, are not the same.
:My leftovers are a king's feast,
:Carrion you devour, to say the least.
:My perch's the king's arm, his palace my bed,
:You haunt the ruins, mingle with the dead.
:My color is heavenly, as everyone can tell,
:Your color inflicts pain, like news from hell.
:Kings tend to choose me rather than you,
:Good attracts good, that goes for evil too.{{cite web|last=Bashiri|first=Iraj|title=A Brief Note on the Life of Abul Qasim 'Unsuri|url=https://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Poets/Unsuri.html|publisher=Bashiri Working Papers on Iran and Central Asia}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Wikiquote}}
- https://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Poets/Unsuri.html
- E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. {{ISBN|0-7007-0406-X}}
- Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 {{OCLC|460598}}. {{ISBN|90-277-0143-1}}
See also
{{portal|Poetry}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:10th-century Persian-language poets
Category:11th-century Persian-language poets
Category:Year of birth missing
Category:Poets from the Ghaznavid Empire
Category:11th-century Iranian people
Category:10th-century Iranian people
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