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International Journal of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Science

Volume 1, Issue 6, 2013: 623-633

The Poet of Nature

Susan Fotuhi *

*
Member of Faculty of Farhangian University; Campus of Bent-Alhoda Sadr Kordestan

ABSTRACT
The description of nature and it beauties within the poetry of Manuchri Damghani, the poet of early 5th
century A.H has got a special status. These young poet and portrait painter had fluent knowledge of
Arabic literature in addition to fluency in description of beautiful aspects of nature manifesting his
expertise in music and painting being influenced by poets like Abu-Noas and Amro-Alghis. In this essay
it has been attempted to show the features of Manucheri based on content and method of expression in
addition to showing the basis of his thought, attitude and his special way of expression namely “What he
says and how he says it. Within this essay, Mosmat poetical framework is regarded one of the main
elements of Manuchehri poetry and one of his innovations.
Key words: Manucheri, Nature, Poetry, Description, Picture

INTRODUCTION
If we want to introduce a supreme example of young and prominent writers living in nature and fond of it,
he certainly is Ahmad-Ibn Ghos so called as Manuchehri Damghani. His pseudonym “Manuchehri” is
apparently taken from “Manuchehr-Ibn-Ghabus” but in his poem collection, no mention is made of Ibn-
Ghos. Therefore following some evidences existing, one should consider this pseudonym attained from
Manuchehr Ibn-Ghabus and one should note that this poet has for some limited period been living in the
court of this person or has had relationship with his court. This issue can be proved within his collection
of poems by looking for the names of singing birds and plants found in northern parts of Iran describing
their beauty and especially the waves of sea which makes us believe that this poet born in Damghan must
have seen the northern regions during his youth.1 Any way the distance between Gorgan and Tabarestan is
not too far. Manuchehri might have arrived in Tabarestan with one of caravans described in his poetry
and as it has been rumored that she has gone a lot to see Manuchehr Ibn-Ghabos reigning over Golestan
and Tabarestan. After death of this ruler, Manuchehri went to Rai to offer his services to Tahir Dabir
ruling over there as representative of Masood-Ghaznavi. It was from this city that he was sent to Ghaznin
with due respect. Anyway, Munachehri went to the court of Ahmad Ibn-Abdolsamad based on the order

1
History Of Iran and World Literature, page 71-72

Corresponding Author E-mail: [email protected] 623 | Page

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of Sultan hoping for the patronage and protection of this minister as one of the main secretaries of
Masood court and paying high respect to literature and poetry as he recounts so in Ode 38 addressing this
figure: 2
Trans: You, those living in tent get out of it, the leader has come out of the house.
Trans: Oh, God of Safety! I am here. Hoping for you and Mafzal
So this talented and prominent poet talks of figural praise after initial description adding something
significant to the heritage of Persian poetry.
Of course, emergence of a young and talented poet among court poets raised disturbance and dispute
among older poets looking with displeasure at this new competitor. It was bcause of this issue that
Manuchehri wrote a praising poetry for Onsori namely the famous ode of “Laghz Sham” after which he
found a special stance among courtiers and ministers.
During this time he was in the apex of affluence still wishing to enjoy the pleasures of life and success
that death ended his life within a day in 432 A.H.
The Contemporary Sultans during Life of the Deceased Poet Manuchehri
Most of Manuchehri’s poems were praising Sultan Masood Ghaznavi and this poet in these odes talked of
the ways of living, wars and problems facing Massood made by Saljoghi Turks. Of others praised by this
poet, one could name Abdol-Samad, the minister, which Manuchehri has written beautiful praises on.
Of other figures praised by this poet, one could name Amir-Falak Al-Maali Manuchehr Ibn-Ghabos, Abo
Sahl Zozani and Abol-Ghasem Kasir, Tahir Dabir; Ali Ibn-Abidollah called as Ali Daye and Onsori, a
poet. 3

The Intellectual Stance and Attitude of Manuchehri:

Based on what has been said of the life of this young poet born in Damghan, looking at the atmosphere in
which he spent his short life in and the social context and spectra to which he belongs so reflected in his
poetry, we can get a glimpse of his real personality because his personality and his works are not
something innate but reflection of spiritual life and culmination of complex relationships binding together
the poet and his social context. The social context helps in forming the thoughts of this rhetoric writer and
artist providing him with innovative means and artistry.
Investigation of his “Collection of Poems” and study of his individual poems clearly shows this fact that
high intuition, flourishing thought and sad demeanor distinguishes this prominent poet. These features
caused him, from his early steps towards social life, to proceed into the high-class way of living namely
the court. In such a situation, his favorable living condition, bars him from using his innate talent to
describe the failure of wishes, loves and inconsistencies of life because he becomes familiar with a way of
living in which the needs and wishes are easily attainable and everything goes on well. Within this
context, only court affluence and welfare, drinking and enjoying worldly pleasures show up. It is in these

2 Introduction to Manuchehri Poem-Collaction, Dabir Siaghi, page 22

3 Introduction to “Collection of Poems”, Dabir Siaghi, page 24-25

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moments that he says: meaning “I have been aroused to write difficulty” and it is within these states that
he writes his verses. It is in these states of mind that writing poetry happens.
The world pictured within Manuchehri poetry consists of elements like color, music, odor and fascinating
beauties. In the mind-drawn gardens, Narcissus flowers were depicted like grounds full of golden cups or
stepping on a ground of golden plants. The garden gets saturated with gold and the whole plain full of
ruby. Basswoods are agate-like, leaves are gold-ridden and trees covered in silk. So in this way, a world
full of majesty, beauty and success-ridden is built in Manuchehri poetry. But this world made of majestic
materials and legendary beauties namely an excessively closed, limited and small environment so that
only a privileged class and its servants pay them services live in it. In such a setting even loves have no
sign of loyalty and purity and when love is talked of, it doesn’t exceed animal wishes. No heart beats and
no tears drop on the chick of a painful mind. The beloved is usual and the speckle on the face of beauties
is the sign of servitude and slavery. Manuchehry, caught in such a closed setting, is far from realities and
social life but in service of sovereign power.
Of course, one shouldn’t forget that weakness of intellectual background in Manuchehri poetry and his
contemporaries is somehow related to simplicity of thought, limitation in subjects and fresh emergence of
poetic figures. The poet of that era had been innovative in most cases and this needed intellectual and
cultural revolutions not still provided. But without doubt, the main factor of this weakness was rooted in
intellectual and mental development of that time, social relationships dominant and especially official
conditions and reigning royal demands regarding poetry and poets. But one should add that the young
poet hasn’t feigned in actions far from chastity and didn’t forget to describe and praise nature in addition
to praising the intended figure. The quantity and quality of praising beauties within his poetry was more
focused on much more than praising of individuals so that within poems the secondary status of praise
against the main objective of expression of noble figures of speech and creation of permanent images
grasped out of nature seems evident. 4

Most of the issues which Manuchehri faces in life are reflected in his poetry. The colorfulness and
diversity of similarities describing nature, plants and singing birds are reminiscent of memories of the
time he spent in Gorgan and Tabarestan. Even description of caravan stops, seasons and plains, even the
night travel of camels with harmonic movement is highly significant and some ascribe it to the memories
of childhood on the deserts of Damghan and not an imitative experience grasped by study of poems
collections by emerging poets.5
Prof. Said Nafisi, regarding his domination on diverse fields of knowledge like literature in an ode “says:
but the basis of his prominence and intuition beyond the realm of literature is apparent. There is no doubt
that he knew medicine and there are materials in his poem eluding to this point among these the following
one:
Trans: One shouldn’t make the other hurry, hurrying is better done in medicine than raising calmness
Another science he was adept in was music due to the fact he mentions the name of ancient-Iran
musicians repeatedly like Barbod, Ramtin and Bamshad and in his speech he recorded thirty one notes
among the notes of Iranian music the names of which can’t be found among his poems. 6

4 Introduction to “A Selection of Manuchehri Poems”, Ahmad Ali Emami, p.23-26

5 History of Iran and World Literature, p72

6 Bakhtar Magazine, Said Nafisi, 2nd Year, p97, 159-164

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Badi Al-Zaman Foroz Anform Says: “The basis of Manuchehri poetry is imagery, comparison and
symbolization and in this way he can be considered following Abdollah Ibn-Amotaz Abasi. His imageries
are at the utmost level of precision and all conditions of perfection of imagery are observed.” 7
But one undoubtedly should say his poetry possesses imageries without background and verbal
imitations. A part of his odes is simple and fluent and other part written influenced by his knowledge so
that some of his odes became the list of Arab poets. However, the quality of structure, composition and
intuition for him is prominent, namely the basis of style, method of speech and other elements aren’t
missed making a new tradition in Persian literature. 8
Because the era in which Manuchehri lived should be considered the era of nature and natural images in
Persian poetry, Manuchehri is regarded as the best representative of this era namely utilizing poetical
images. His poetical images are often results of his personal and sensual images and due to that, nature in
his collection of poems possesses the liveliest descriptions.

Because he creates picture for its own sake without considering it as a tool and of secondary significance
within poetry, he should be regarded as the most creative figure in constituting images. If we look more
poignantly to his made images, we will see that most of these images are placed in such a way that will be
pleasure-making and innovative in that pose and condition losing its artistic value, beauty and nobility if
used in another situation. In fact his images are created in a unique method not capable of reproduction
and rephrasing.
Dr. Soratgar, while exploring the description potency of Manuchehri regarding the imageries of poet
manifesting poet’s intuition, writes: “Every Mother seeing his babe’s nails knows that if poignant
coldness gets them, the redness of his child’s blood will turn blue and his tiny nails are likened to flower
leaves having apparent delicate lines. Damghani considers these small nails in mind and when necessary
likens them to violet leaves and writes:
Trans: The violet leaves got gray like roots of nails within the hands of an infant by poignant cold

Manuchehri sometimes considers a phenomenon from diverse perspective and this action leads to
constitution of various images, for example in an ode starting with:
Trans: It is spring and world like a majestic idol. You, the majestic idol, rise and forward that stingless
flower. In the following, drops of water are looked upon in different views and diverse images with
different features-recordable on sensitive films only-are provided each one unique and innovative:
Trans: And that drop of water dropping from stems to the leaves lazily and without hurry

Trans: It is as if hairdresser from the forehead, drops shiny object slowly and in due quantity
Trans: And that drop of rain falling on a red flower is like bride tear drop descending on her face
Trans: And that drop of rain falling on a yellow flower is like dropping of a yellow hue upon a Dinar
(Gold Ancient-Syrian Coin)

7 Sokhanvar va Sokhanvaran, Badi al-zaman Forozanfar, 2nd edition, p.134-137

8 Mohammad Dabir Siaghi, Introduction to Poem Collection

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Trans: And that drop of rain water falling on a flower of beauty is like a drop of water falling on lips of
the bellowed and it is like pure wine.
Trans: And that drop of rain water falling from mountain lilies is like a treasure on this rolling temple
(world).
The other feature of this poet is the jubilation and happiness resulting from his way of conduct and when
he writes, it makes imagination to migrate to a world never witnessing any kind of grief and sore. In all
parts of its poem collection consisting of three thousand verses one hardly finds a sorrowful phrase and
this might be conceived as an advantage of his poem rarely seen in poems by others which though
describe the celebrations and happy time of the upper-class have sorrowful undertone laughing on the
surface and crying right beneath it. 9

Pleasure-seeking and youth of this poet has resulted in the phenomenon that he acts excessively in
description of wine, telling of wishes and seeking divers delights even if he loses his life overdrinking and
rooting for bodily pleasures. His talks of wine bottles are regarded as the best of its kind in Persian
language exceeding those lines by Rudaki and Bashar-Marghzi raising fresh contents within a special
kind of poem called “Mosmat” popularized by him.12Using this new poetry form resulted from his deep
understanding. Although the content of this new poems remain the same none of his followers could use
this way of verse writing with similar majesty.
As you know, Mosmat is composition of few lines of same rhyme (a section called Tasmit) and a line
with different rhyme ( the threat of Mosmat) repeated a few times with diverse rhymes and due to this
repetition this lines with different rhymes somehow attain same rhymes, for example: “
Those Masamt-poems made up of 3 verses namely Tasmit and thread of Mosmat is called Triangular
Mosmat.

Those poems constituting of four verses are called Square Mosmat, those with five and six verses are
respectively called Fifth Mosmat and Hexagon Mosmat. So the smallest kind of Mosmat is Triangular
(three-partite) and the longest Hexagon Mosmat (six-partite). Mosmat poems written by Manuchehri are
mostly of hexagon type of early common type. Old Mosmat is a collection of lines divided in which non-
ending parts within each couplet have internal rhyme and ending parts of couplets creating the external
rhyme of the poem. Sometimes, this kinds of poems are called Mosja Poems an example of which can be
found in Molana poetry:
Trans: My vision is experienced and my soul brave/I got the bravery of a lion, became a burning sun
Mystic says graces to God, We won everybody/ by domination over seven layers of sky, I became the
shining star

Be fluent as like ongoing chess, quiet and self-expressive/ by witnessing the king of universe I became
hilarious and gracious.
These verses can be written into a Square (four-partite) Mosmat (Eunuch Nasir in a book called “Meiar
Al-Ashaar” calls versified poems as Four-partite Mosmat):
Trans: I got experienced vision/ brave soul/bravery of a lion/ I became a shining sun

9 Sokhan va Sokhanvaran, Foroz Afzar, p.134-137

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In this poem every verse is literally prosodic four-partite. These kinds of verses are not common (opposite
to that of Arabic poetry) in Persian poetry usually constituting of six or seven parts. Based on such a
perspective Manuchehri made the verses longer rising them to the level of usual verses in Persian poetry.
Tasmit or the old Mosmat, based on the view of scholars, was regarded as a noble tradition so that
Manuchehri can be regarded as the creator of this new poetic form in Persian literature and his Mosmats
usually poseess the structure of ode in the sense that the first part is beautiful description followed by
praise of the intended figure.10
For example a Mosmat describing autumn and praising Sultan Massood Ghaznavi goes on with the
following onset:
Trans: Rise and Shine that autumn has arrived/the cool winds flow from Kharazam.

See that falling leave hesitating on the point of that stem/as if colored like a colorful jacket
The villager bites his nails wondering/ in the garden and on the ground neither flower nor lavender will
remain
Then in the following lines he initiates praising Sultan Massood Ghaznavi: 11

Trans: And when one shows up with a cup of wine/he will gather the villager and the present men
together
On this colorful hell he draws the lines of a fish/reminding one of pleasant odor in one’s mind
He says that I will not enjoy this black thing (wine)/unless I drink but for remembering the memories of a
just king
The powerful Sultan, the just ruler/ his less shown talent is patience and his highest one grandeur of
essence
Going from the nature of Massood to nature of Massod/ is as if moving from a pleasantly smelling thing
to its interior
God has given both worlds a worshiped creator/nobody dares to enter into his realm

In the collection of poems by Manuchehri, 53 odes, 27 stanzas, 6 quatrains, 1 two-line couplet, 10 sing
line verses and 11 Samt has been gathered. In the history of Iranian Literature especially Manuchehri
poetry, the dominant verse form is Mosmat the subject of which is description of wine and praise using
beautiful and imaginative imagery and fresh thoughts.
In the reign of Massood Ghaznavi, generous patronage of poets had been long forgotten. As it can be
shown from speeches by Baihaghi, Massood highly respected poets early in his reign but in his last years
of life didn’t care much about them. He was so busy fighting endless wars and enjoying ruthless victories
that had no time to spend with poets. Much more important than that, court eunuchs tried to create
negative atmosphere for poets through using deception and tricks.

10 Different Literary Genres, Sirus Shamisa, p.291-293

11 Collection of Poems, p. 167, 1895

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But the happy and wandering spirit of Manuchehri has suffered these tricks if not regarding difficulties as
poignant. The defeat of his wishes and dreams points to the lack of worldly firm basis of the material
universe. A world which he describes so in the following way:
Trans: In whatever way I test you/ you are all tricks and damage
And if I test hundred times more/the same, the same, the same
In his calm and quiet conscience, love for living seems more potent than any other loves. Love to live be
redundant within his poetry. Life is wholly magical, majestic and magnetic. The eunuchs and other-
worldly men talk of death and mortality unaware of the magnetic force of such a life. What is the use of
condescending body and worldly life? Life shouts the wish for living making human beings to look for
pleasure.
Can poet’s soul disregard this pleasing sound? For what should one wish for death? If life gets deplete of
happiness and joyance it is not different from death.
But love for living is more apparent in descriptions poet draws of flowers, poultry and fruits.
Life is not something that can be condescended because it is full of beauty. The passing of time doesn’t
drag human being to the interior world and the universe of eunuchs and similar men. He might find
nothing but darkness and ambiguity within this world just like those looking at it with clear eyes. A world
in which the other-worldly men find themselves filled with majesty and interest is wholly closed to a
pleasure-seeking poet. That is why the other world is totally far from him and material world is favored
and palpable for him. Within this world of appearance and materiality, he describes the beauties of spring
just the same as depiction of autumn. It is this excitement which gives his poems a personal guise. What
these descriptions on arid deserts within some odes depict is not based on the same stance. The poet might
have imitated Arab poets in such descriptions, but their local tone is apparent. These horrifying deserts
and continuous sceneries raising utmost fear in human mind might have been depicted based on passages
in which the poet was wondering in, causing difficulties for him and this gives his works a local overtone.
Colors and songs so artistically described originate in his musical talent and painting tendencies. The
singing of partridge reminds one of bell ringing and the sounds made by cuckoo echoes in his ears like
flute. But the beauty of flowers more poignantly exposed him to the symbols of beauty and his interest
and fondness for these quiet and sensitive beauties is so clearly asserted that surprises him vehemently.
In whatever related to wine this Damghani poet acts like disciple of Abu-Noas. He seeks wine day and
night and his days shatter the languor of previous nights. He drinks on Saturday following Moses tradition
and spends his Sundays with fellows drinking followed by acting like monks on Monday. In this way, the
poet sets a pleasure calendar for his week. This type of life describes the individual and personal way of
living for this poet facing a court without sorrow and full of hedonism. What does he do in such a setting?
nothing. No one expects him to do something in such a society but the court which wants him for praise
and its own entertainment. He is regarded like a clown and a child. But this life itself reflects the life of
courtiers, servants and princesses. 12

Regarding this fact that he is a court poet it is expected that he might know the political system and court
setting well or at lead might introduce it. But what we get from his collection of poems is not so much but

12 With Hele Caravan, p.54-57

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a typical understanding of government and Sultan/Minister relationship. For example the perspective he
draws on the future of Iran during the reign of Sultan Massood manifests his optimism and populace way
of thinking:
Trans: Soon this ruined territory will become a heaven/these tough times will be gone
The king will get softer in conduct/Iran will be happy for it as will the ministers br.
Description of people welcoming the king and his servants, whether done on
freewill or by force and threat, is beautiful and interesting:
Trans: The uproar of praise is heard from far away/your elephants riding towards here are seen far away.

The adjectives which the poet ascribes to the praised is highly significant beyond being true or false and
poetic exaggerations in analysis of values and abnormalities reminding the praised of the necessity of
attachment and commitment to these values in the sense that when he describes him as fair and
exaggerates on this characteristic encourages him to hold to justice and fair relationships:
Trans: A brick taken from a wall by force/ a flower attained from a garden by violence
For the stolen brick you gave a brick of gold/and for flower you offer a thread of jewelry and diamonds

Goodness, bravery, doing charity and self-knowledge are some of the attributes giving privilege to king
over other kings. 13
Religious Viewpoint of the Poet: In a quick search into the content of poems collections, 43 reference to
Quran verses and 12 more to Prophet Mohammad’s speeches were found. With a prompt look on the
references one can get that most of these allusions are only used as means to poetic expressions none of
which have firm intellectual and belief basis, for example in praise of an individual, the poet describes his
wrath much more frightening of day of judgment:
Trans: Your wrath in an hour takes more time that a day of Ending/that day skies will be drawn together.

Within his praise verses, sometimes verses get too conflated and one should just perceive and reject them
altogether:
Trans: Paying committed services to you is like saying prayers/ after that people are banned from saying
praises for God but you
Among natural descriptions within his collection of poems, one hardly finds examples depicting the ways
of natural description strongly relating it to religious beliefs and spiritual manifestation within speaker. A
verse like the following has not so many equivalents:
Trans: on the tip of any stem a bird looms/ each naming the God’s names
Love in Manuchehri Poetry:

13 An Exploration of Collection Poem of Manuchehri Damghani, Rahman Moshtagh, Mehr Aiineh Pajoohesh, p. 71-72

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Within odes of Manuchehri, 10 poetic references to wine and 15 references on making love and
expression of lovers’ states of mind, establishes the ground for talking in praising manner regarding other
subjects. 14
It I true that everything reminds him of love. All elements of nature like cloud, garden and river are
familiar with this life secret but his love is not a virtual or material one. Those narratives saturated with
painful complaints and platonic loves, poet’s surrendering to love and Condescension no longer exist in
his poems.
His love isn’t other-worldly but that of populace found of world and drinking. It is the love of a man who
wants to buy the heart and affection of his beloved with coins just as he does her body. Such a lover
doesn’t show patience for finally caressing his beloved or her wrath. Even her anger might make an
enemy out of him ending his patience.
After all, who hasn’t endured the cruelties of love? He says: meaning that “the cruelties of love I’ve
suffered might be not endured by anybody”. But the potency which gives the beloved’s complaints an
echoing force is bot present in his poems. Odes addressed to an individual, probably male, causes
deviation in poetry of Farokhi and Abu-Noas is also reflected in this poetry. His love poetry is sometimes
addressed to a person and manifests his rejection due to harsh cruelties of the beloved the reconciliation
of which can be done by sending a messenger to his house. Maybe the pain of love is endured no more
than this level by his mind and body. But even this lack of depth in love and hostility might show that this
lover and poet is expecting nothing more than physical pleasure from his beloved. It is here that the poet
complains and moans about his pains but within these complaints and false grandeur, one rarely finds the
vehemence of love odes. 15
Familiarity with Arabic Literature is apparent within his own poems. Sometimes in an ode he lists the
names of over thirty Arab poets or even mentions some or their odes in his verse. The poet has
pompously said that:
This means he knows lots of arabic poems and can recite them. Among these poets, he seems most
influenced by Moalaghe by Amrolghais. This ode depicts Amrolghais, poet’s beloved as his cousin, and
his interest in hunting and travelling to other lands. This ode consists of three sections:
1- Poets’ stop in front of his beloved’s home and remembering past events resulting in excessive crying
2- Description of love events between them
3- Description of what has happened to the poet when wandering around with no home as night, wolves
regions and flood.
This ode is more famous than the others so that the Arabs pointed to it as an emblem of innovation and
beauty. However, the total structure of these ancient and pre-Islamic odes can be summarized as follows:
first the poet mentions the climate and nature of beloved’s settlement and then talks in moaning manner
of his love crying on the pains and difficulties of distance from the beloved. He addresses the seasons and
time, calls on his friends and sheds tears remembering those days. After crying in front of his beloved’s
house, he attempts to go and describes his ride whether it is horse or camel. He recounts the nightly pains
soothed by drinking and finally finishes his poem praising his beloved and intended subjects.

14 An Expolration into Manucheri’s Poem Collection, Rahman Moshtagh Mehr, Ayiine Pajohes Magazinem, p. 106;71-72

15 With Hele Caravan, p.63-64

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This structure is imitated in the same manner in some of Manuchehri’s odes:

1- One of these odes is the one which begins in the following manner:
Trans: Oh, Friends! Don’t hit me with these blows/ that you estranged me from my beloved
This ode consists of 11 lines and the same as Molaghe on Amrolghais ends with poets’ pausing in front of
the beloved’s home remembering old time memories:
Trans: Oh! You the costume of leaving mortal beloved/ you, lover, went down under the time’s mill
Wretched thing, the beloved left you and went to her home/ in the manner of Meghrat and Seght-Alva
Good position! But not ours/ there is the shelter of that outstanding cedar.
In the following lines, Manuchehri follows the ode on Amrol-Ghais in dedicating a line on the
faithlessness of the beloved:
Trans: In that night that my beloved left/ I had a heart painful and impatient.
Manuchehri then writes a few lines on description of cosmos and his ride:
Trans: The cosmos became a desert and I like a passenger/went from one place to another wondering
I left and the ship in which I travelled/ dropped his anchor in an unknown place and a plain so wide.

In Ode of Amrol-Ghais, the scene of riding a horse in desert by an agile horse is described in the
following manner:
Trans: his legs touch on the grounds kissing/they deceived the dust as if with a miracle
2- Of others with same theme, one can recount an ode with following onset:

Trans: Fie on this distance between and she/ Putting us in awe anew.
Within these odes Manuchehri observes the structure of ancient Arabic poems in the sense that poet first
describes the house of the beloved and scene of separation then goes on to depict his own beauties and
those of desert. After all, he finishes praising the intended individuals. As it was described before, the
basis of his poems is simile and in this respect he is influenced by Arab poets originating from sensual
reality. He has reproduced meanings, contents and material used by this Arab poet into Persian language
in an artistic and beautiful way.

Conclusion
By considering the age of poet (the first half of 5th century) as the era of nature and natural images in
poetry in Persian language, Manuchehri should be regarded as the supreme representative of this period
due to using poetical images. We can regard him as a poet-painter using beautiful aspects of creation
through usage of simile, metaphor and well-chosen vocabulary depicting a world full of happiness,
movement and life. This young poet wants to free his life from spiritual realm presenting human beings
the most beautiful and pleasurable living moments. The zeitgeist of his words and verses is mind-blowing
and his poem collection a reflection of immortal heaven. Although his verses are not as majestic as those

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by Farokhi, some of his odes equal those of Khaqani in structure and firmness and sometimes his
exceptionally imaginative leaps surpass those of major ode poets.
One could say that Manuchehri, just like Hafez, Khayam and Firdausi, tries to spend his short mortal life
with pleasure and affluence. Zeitgeist of his poems is emphasis on the present moment.
If we regard poetry of Firdausi an impenetrable structure of lines fully deplete of errors, Manuchehri’s
Collection of Poems is like a green garden saturated with beautiful flowers never drawing on ugliness and
always murmuring love for natural beauties in human ears.

REFERENCES

History of Iran and World. (2001). Dr. Jafar Yahaghi, Publication of Education Books, Tehran.
A Selection of Manuchehri’s Poems. (1987) Ahmad Ali Emami, Boniad Publication, Tehran.

History of Iranian Literature, Zabihollah Safa. (2006). First Edition, Firdausi Publication, Tehran.
Sokhan va Sokhanvaran, Badi-ol-Zaman Forozanfar, Kharazmi Publication. (1970). Tehran.
Figures of Speech in Persian Poetry. (1987). Mohammad Reza Shafii kadkani, Agah Publication, Tehran.
Different Literary Genres, Siros Shamisa, Firdausi Publication. (1997). Tehran.
Style of Poetry. (2010). Manuchehr Damghani, Ali Gravand, Development of Perisn Literature Magazine,
24th Edition, Autumn 2010.
An Exploration into Manochehri Damghani’s Poetry, Rahman Moshtagh, Research Image Magazine.
With Hele Caravan. (1978). Abdol-Hossein Zarin Koob, Tehran, javidanm.
The Treasure of Speech. (1976). Zabih-ollah Safa, Tehran, Tehran University, 6th Edition.
Manuchehri’s Collection of Poems, Revised by Dabir Siaghi, Tehran.

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