ABSTRACT
IN this chapter some account, necessarily inadequate-for each section might well be expanded into a full-length monograph-will be given of five great poets whose active lives spanned the middle century of the Salj#q period. Three were panegyrists, two writers of epic; all were masters of their craft, all possessed a high degree of originality. In an age rich in fine literature, these five men undoubtedly dominated the scene; two of
them figure in Qazv"n"’s list of the seven immortals. Their names are
Anvar", Kh!q!n", and
The first of these, Am"r ibn al-Malik
of N"sh!p#r, passed half of his long life, which according to some authorities
stretched from 1049 to 1148, in the eleventh century. His father al-Malik Burh!n", who died in 1073, bore the title ‘Prince of Poets’ before him; it was on his death-bed
recommendation that gained the attention of his first and his father’s last patron, Malik Sh!h.
