SOURCE: “Epic Poetry,” in Persian Literature, edited by Ehsan Yarshater, Bibliotheca Persica, 1988, pp. 96-108.

In the essay below, Hanaway discusses Persian national epic poetry in general and the Shah-Nama in particular, focusing on the poem's language and the nature of its heroes. Hanaway also comments on the movement from epic to romance that occurred in the literature of medieval Persia after the Shah-Nama.

Persian epic poetry is both extensive and little known. The following discussion will attempt to introduce this poetry by touching on several areas of literary and cultural interest. Beginning with a definition of epic poetry, it will move on to examine some of the background of the Persian national epic and then will focus on Ferdowsi's Shāh-nāma itself. The nature of the heroes and the language of the epic will be discussed, and the shift from epic to romance that took place in...