Nizami

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نظامی
Nizami

Biography

Nizami Ganjei, or Ganjavi, نظامی گنجه‌ای، گنجوی Nezāmi Ganjei/Ganjavi, was a Persian poet, born in the city of گنجه Ganje Ganja around the year 1141 AD, in modern-day Azerbaijan. He is considered to be the ‘great romantic storyteller’ of the classical Persian poets, and he brought a more colloquial or realistic style to Persian epic love poems, building upon and following in the footsteps of his predecessor Ferdowsi.

Excerpt 1 from Nizami’s Makhzan-ol-Asrār

Recited by Nasrin Ahmadi

‘All of existence is created by you

You who has given the weak soil strength’

Ey hame hasti ze to peydā shode

Khāk-e za’if az to tavānā shode

ای همه هستی ز تو پیدا شده

خاک ضعیف از تو توانا شده

Notes:

In this poem we can assume that Nizami is addressing God, and alluding to God being the creator of all things.

Vocabulary:

هستیHastiThis is an ambiguous little word which can mean either ‘you are’ or ‘existence’. In the above line of poetry, the intended meaning is definitely ‘existence’.
ضعیفZa’if‘Weak’ (the associated noun is ضعف za’f ‘weakness’)

Excerpt 2 from Nizami’s Makhzan-ol-Asrār

Recited by Nasrin Ahmadi

‘You won’t appreciate the value of youth

Until you get old you won’t comprehend

That a young tree is like a garden’s beauty

As it gets old, even the gardener would cut it down.’

Fāreghi az qadr-e javāni ke chi-st

Tā nashavi pir nadāni ke chi-st

Shāhed-e bāgh ast derakht-e javān

Pir shavad beshkanad-ash bāghbān

فارغی از قدر جوانی که چیست

تا نشوی پیر ندانی که چیست

شاهد باغ است درخت جوان

پیر شود بشکندش باغبان

Vocabulary:
قَدرِ جَوانی Qadr-e javāni ‘The appreciation/value of youth’
شاهِد Shāhed The primary meaning of شاهِد is ‘witness’, from the Semitic triconsonantal root sh-h-d ‘related to witnessing’. However, شاهِد can also be a synonym of دِلبَر delbar ‘a lover’, and in the above poem it has this meaning. We have translated it simply as ‘beauty’.
باغبان Bāgh(e)bān ‘Gardener’

Excerpt 1 from Nizami’s Khosrov-o Shirin

Recited by Nasrin Ahmadi

‘Like the moon’s light, her face brightens the night,

Her dark eyes twinkle in the eternal light,

Full of love and affection are her flowing curls,

Her lips are rubies and her teeth like pearls.’

Shab-afruzi chu mahtāb-e javāni

Siyah-chashmi chu āb-e zendegāni

Sar-e zolfi ze nāz-o delbari por

Lab-o dandāni az yāqut-o az dorr

شب افروزی چو مهتاب جوانی

سیه چشمی چو آب زندگانی

سر زلفی ز ناز و دلبری پر

لب و دندانی از یاقوت و از در

Notes:

This is an excerpt from the tragic love story of خسرو و شیرین Khosrov-o Shirin, which tells the ill-fated tale of King Khosrow II and the Armenian princess Shirin. These four lines are a beautiful وَصفِ شیرین vasf-e Shirin ‘description of Shirin’. Descriptions of Shirin’s beauty, such as the one above, are integral to the story of Khosrow and Shirin, because Khosrow initially falls in love with princess Shirin solely from hearing a description of her beauty.

Vocabulary:

شب افروزShab-afruz‘Spotlight, nightlight’
مهتاب جوانیMahtāb-e javāni‘Youthful moonlight’ (We can assume two meanings here: firstly, that Nizami is comparing Shirin’s face to the moon. This is an extremely common poetic device found time and time again in Persian poetry, whereby a lover’s beautiful face is compared to the moon. Secondly, we can assume that ‘youthful moonlight’ means a young moon, as opposed to a full moon.)
سیه چشمیSiyah-chashmi‘A dark-eyed [lit: ‘black-eyed’] beauty’ (The word سیه siyah is an alternative form of سیاه siyāh ‘black’)
یاقوتYāqut‘Ruby’ (a synonym of یاکند yākand, لعل la’l, or لال lāl)
دُرّDorr‘Pearl’ (a synonym of مروارید morvārid/marvārid)

Excerpt 2 from Nizami’s Khosrov-o Shirin

Here we have another وَصفِ شیرین vasf-e Shirin ‘description of Shirin’s beauty’:

Recited by Nasrin Ahmadi

‘The Goddess Shirin, with her sweet Armenian lips,

Walks from one bouquet of flowers to the next,

Sometimes her face’s beauty conceals even the moon,

Sometimes she drinks her wine from the flowers’ nectar.’

Bot-e shirin dahān bānu-ye arman

Kharāmad gol be gol kharman be kharman

Gahi bar ārez-e mah parde pushad

Gahi az kharman-e gol bāde nushad

بت شیرین دهان بانوی ارمن

خرامد گل به گل خرمن به خرمن

گهی بر عارض مه پرده پوشد

گهی از خرمن گل باده نوشد

Vocabulary:
بُت Bot ‘Idol, goddess, lover’ (In the above excerpt, the phrase بُتِ شیرین bot-e shirin takes on a double meaning, as it could be translated as ‘sweet goddess’ or as ‘the goddess Shirin’, due to the word شیرین shirin being both a female given name and the adjective for ‘sweet’).
بانوی اَرمَن Bānu-ye arman ‘Armenian lady’
خرامیدن Kharāmidan ‘To walk elegantly’, or ‘to strut’
خَرمَن Kharman ‘Bouquet, harvest, crop, stack/bale [e.g. of hay]’
عارِضِ مَه Ārez-e mah ‘Moon-face’ (Another reference to Shirin’s beauty, a beautiful face is often compared to the moon in Persian poetry. مه mah is an alternative form of ماه māh).

Excerpt 1 from Nizami’s Leyli-o Majnun

Now we turn to the third section of Nizami’s پنج گنج Panj Ganj ‘Five Treasures’: the story of Leyli and Majnun. The plot and tragic ending to Leyli and Majnun’s love story is often compared to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet tragedy, and in this short excerpt one can hopefully get a sense of the familiar scenes of sorrow and anguish:

Recited by Nasrin Ahmadi

‘After Leyli was made to separate from Majnun,

She wept her pearl-like tears in secret,

After Majnun could no longer see Leyli’s face,

From his every eyelash cameforth a flood of tears.’

Leyli chu boride shod ze Majnun

Mirikht ze dide dorr-e maknun

Majnun chu nadid ru-ye Leyli

Az har mozhe-i goshād seyli

لیلی چو بریده شد ز مجنون

می‌ریخت ز دیده در مکنون

مجنون چو ندید روی لیلی

از هر مژه‌ای گشاد سیلی

Vocabulary:

بُریده شدنBoride shodan‘To become separated’ (a synonym of جدا شدن jedā shodan)
مَکنونMaknun‘Hidden’ (a native Persian synonym for the phrase دُرِّ مَکنون dorr-e maknun found in the above excerpt would be مُرواریدِ پنهان morvārid-e penhān ‘hidden tears [lit: ‘pearls’]’).
مُژهMozhe‘Eyelash’
سیلSeyl‘Flood’ (In this poem we can see that سیلی seyli ‘a flood’ rhymes with لیلی Leyli. This female name is pronounced as لیلیٰ Leylā in Arabic, and sometimes in Persian too, however this rhyming couplet provides us with evidence that the name should be read here as Leyli).

Excerpt 1 from Nizami’s Haft Peykar

This excerpt from the ‘Haft Peykar’ perfectly encapsulates Nizami’s beautifully descriptive and romantic way of illustrating the world:

Recited by Nasrin Ahmadi

‘Until the mountaintops and rolling plains

Are covered in the gold of the morning’s scales

And that Sunday light of the world

Has crept under the golden rays like a hidden sun’

Chu garibān-e kuh-o dāman-e dasht

Az tarāzu-ye sobh por-zar gasht

Ruz-e yekshanbe ān cherāgh-e jahān

Zir-e zar shod chu āftāb-e nahān

چو گریبانِ کوه و دامنِ دشت

از ترازوی صبح پر زر گشت

روز یکشنبه آن چراغ جهان

زیر زر شد چو آفتاب نهان

Notes:

In the first line, Nezami uses anthropomorphism to allude to the height and depth of the landscape: گریبانِ کوه garibān-e kuh ‘mountaintops’ (lit: ‘mountain necks’) and دامَنِ دَشت dāman-e dasht ‘rolling plains’ (lit: ‘the skirt of the plain’). In the second line, he compares the morning to a set of scales تَرازوی صُبح tarāzu-ye sobh ‘the morning’s weighing scales’, creating the illusion that the morning carefully balances the sun’s light across the world in equilibrium. The word زَر zar ‘gold’ is mentioned twice in the poem, where both times it has a double meaning of both ‘gold’ and ‘[golden] light’ or ‘the sun’s [golden] rays’.

Excerpt 1 from Nizami’s Iskandarnāme

Recited by Nasrin Ahmadi

‘O musician, quickly start playing a tune,

I’m befuddled from all these thoughts inside my head,

So play me that exquisite melody,

To calm down my restless mind.’

Moghanni yeki naghme benvāz zud

K-az andishe dar maghzam oftād dud

Chonān barkesh ān naghme-ye naghz rā

Ke sāken koni dar sar in maghz rā

مغنی یکی نغمه بنواز زود

کز اندیشه در مغزم افتاد دود

چنان برکش آن نغمهٔ نغز را

که ساکن کنی در سر این مغز را

Vocabulary:

مغنیMoghanni‘Singer, musician’ (a Persian synonym would be نوازنده navāzande or خواننده khānande)
نغمهNaghme‘Melody, tune’
مغزMaghz‘Brain, mind’
نغزNaghz‘Exquisite, fine, elegant’