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How to Read Persian Poetry:

From the Shahnameh to Hafez and Jahan Malek Khatun
(for intermediate and advanced students of Persian)

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Domenico Arturo Ingenito

Associate Professor of Iranian Studies and Persian Literature, 

University of California, Los Angeles
 

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About the course:

This course, taught in English and Persian, offers a general introduction to the grammatical, stylistic, and historical study of classical and modern Persian poetry. Participants will be introduced to key texts that are representative of all the main genres characterizing the Persian poetic tradition from the 10th to the 20th centuries: epic, courtly, amatory, mystical, political, modernist, and philosophical.

The twelve sessions will focus on the grammatical, stylistic, and socio-historical characteristics that foreground each text. The course will include an introduction to rhetoric, figures of style, and prosody. All original texts will be accessed through digital copies of reliable critical editions as well as rare manuscripts.

Designed for both intermediate and advanced students of the Persian language, the course is also open to Persian native speakers and scholars who wish to be introduced to Persian poetry or expand their knowledge of medieval and modern Persian literature.

 

  1. The story of demonic Zahhak in Ferdowsi’s Book of Kings: how to punish an evil ruler.

  2. Alexander the Great and the Quest for the Water of Life in Ferdowsi and Nezami.

  3. The Virgin and Her Lover by ‘Onsori of Balkh: the influence of Greek philosophy and Hellenistic storytelling on Persian literature.

  4. How to decipher Persian qasides: from the Ghaznavids to the Saljuks.

  5. al-Ghazali’s defense of music, poetry, and ecstasy in the Alchemy of Bliss (Kimiyā-ye Sa‘ādat).

  6. Sanā‘i and the origins of the Persian ghazal.

  7. ‘Attar and the development of the mystical ghazal.

  8. The visual arts meet Persian literature: the competition between Chinese and Greek artists in Nezami’s poetry.

  9. The lyric force of Sa‘di’s Golestān.

  10. Hafez’s alchemy of love.

  11. The Persian princess who would be a poet: Jahān Malek Khatun.

  12. Bijan Jalali’s philosophical minimalism and the invention of free verse.

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About the instructor:

Domenico Ingenito is Associate Professor of Iranian Studies and premodern Persian Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, Bahari Fellow in the Persian Arts of the Book (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), core faculty member of the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World, and former director of the UCLA Program on Central Asia (2016-2021). His research interests center on ancient and medieval Iran, Persian poetry, visual culture of Iran and Central Asia, gender and translations studies, and premodern manuscript culture. His most recent articles are: “Hafez’s ‘Shirāzi Turk’: A Geopoetical Approach (Iranian Studies)” and “‘A Marvelous Painting’: The Erotic Dimension of Saʿdi’s Praise Poetry” (Journal of Persianate Studies). His most recent book is Beholding Beauty: Saʿdi of Shiraz and the Aesthetics of Desire in Medieval Persian Poetry (Brill, 2020, reviews appeared in Iranian Studies, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Middle Eastern Literatures, Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies). His Italian translation of Forugh Farrokhzad’s collected poems, along with all original texts, will be published in 2023 by Bompiani. He is currently working on an English translation of a selection of Saʿdi’s poems (University of California Press) and a monograph on ancient Iranian kingship, poetic creativity, and homoeroticism in the context of late antique epic cycles and court poetry. Professor Ingenito co-leads the UCLA Afghan Scholars at Risk program, which aims to bring to campus scholars and writers who face repression in Afghanistan.

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Course Details

Schedule: Wednesdays, 1 April - 17 June 2026


Time: 9:00–10:15 AM (US Pacific), 12:00–1:15 PM (US Eastern), 6:00–7:15 PM (Central European)
 

Format: 12 online sessions 
 

Tuition: $300 (payable in 3 installments)

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Class days and times may be adjusted in accordance with the request of enrollees.

Registered participants will receive full access to recorded session videos and all course materials.​

 

Registration link: https://forms.gle/qb8HgweQcqGEuPRD9

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