Poetry
دیوان
Not translated into English
Abdul Ghafur Nadim · 1926
Synopsis
A Persian divan of medium size but of varied themes, in which the author practises almost all forms. His qasidas follow Naser Khosrow, Sanaʾi, Anvari, Khaqani and Saadi, his ghazals take Hafez as their model, and his strophic poems embed lines by Hafez, Saeb or Bidel. He boasts there of equalling the masters and slips in words from European languages.
Context
The Encyclopaedia Iranica cites Nadim among the Kabulis of the Indian style, alongside Azad Kaboli, Farhat and Shayeq Jamal, and mentions his Persian grammar. A modern edition of his divan, prepared by Efat Mostasharnia, is published by Tous in 2017, and a stylistic study of 2024 analyses its language, ideas and borrowings. It notes the influence of the poets of Iran in the Afshar, Zand and Qajar periods, who themselves imitated the masters of the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries.
Who it is for
Poems in Persian, with no translation. It helps to know Hafez and the masters of the qasida, whom the author openly imitates.
Prizes and reception
No prize. His divan was the subject of a modern edition in 2017 and of a university study in 2024.