Plant Friendship's Tree

In this remarkable collection of essays and talks spanning four decades, acclaimed translator and poet Dick Davis explores the literary richness of Persian poetry and prose with a clarity, empathy, and aesthetic insight that have made him one of the foremost interpreters of Persian literature for the English-speaking world. Plant Friendship’s Tree gathers together thirty-four wide-ranging pieces that delve into classical epics such as Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, mystical masterpieces like Rumi’s Masnavi, romantic verse from Nezami and Gorgani, and the lyrical brilliance of poets like Hafez and Jahan Malek Khatun. With characteristic elegance, Davis examines the evolution of heroes and heroines, the aesthetics of narrative, the complex intersections of religion and identity, and the subtle power of poetic metaphor in the Persian literary tradition. Equally at home with the nuances of medieval Persian and the cadences of English verse, Davis also reflects on the art of literary