Poetry
دیوان
Not translated into English
Abdul Haq Betab · 1951
Synopsis
The collection of the Persian poems of Betab, poet laureate of Afghanistan, mostly in the style known as Indian. In it the author speaks of his mixed manner, drawing on two schools, that of Khorasan and that of India, just as Kabul stands midway between the two; in this he follows the example of Abdallah Qari, his predecessor in the title, and he brings to it the piety of a Sufi of the Naqshbandi order.
Context
The divan appears in Kabul in 1951, the very year in which its author also publishes two manuals of poetics, and a year before his appointment as official poet. The Encyclopaedia Iranica counts it among the Kabuli heirs of the Indian style, in the direct line of his predecessor. He himself joked about his manner, half Khorasani, half Indian, attributing it to Kabul's position between the two regions.
Who it is for
Poems in Persian, without translation. It helps to know a little about the two great manners of Persian poetry, the Khorasani and the Indian.
Prizes and reception
The book receives no distinction of its own; a year after its publication, its author becomes the official poet of the kingdom, after Abdallah Qari.