قصايد مدحي خاقاني

Eulogistic Odes of Khaghani

For long, eulogy and praise have constituted an important genre of Persian literature both in prose and poetry. In its evolutionary trend, the genre has sometimes taken clear and true language while in other times it has utilized a complex tone with special criteria. Khaghani, the greatest composer of odes in 6th century A.H., in more than sixty odes, has eulogized officeholders and sages of his era either to compliment their actual praiseworthy traits or to persuade them to keep away from iniquity. The author aims to interpret and clarify Khaghaniʹs eulogistic odes through which one can note the breadth of Khaghaniʹs knowledge in Quran, hadith, philosophy, mysticism, Christianity, medicine, astronomy etc. Khaghani uses a difficult language. He creates a semantic and aesthetic network among all poetic elements. He praises the men who are worthy of eulogy. His odes reflect the whole culture of Shervan of his time.