Ghazalīyāt-e Sa‘dī Persiska (Farsi) 2025

The Ghazals of Saʿdī are a collection of lyric poems by Saʿdī of Shiraz, comprising around 700 ghazals that have been edited and refined by generations of Persian scholars. In his ghazal writing, Saʿdī was influenced by poets such as Sanāʾī and Anvarī, and many researchers believe that the Persian ghazal reached its peak in the works of Saʿdī and Hāfez. According to Ali Dashti, the defining features of Saʿdī’s ghazals are their balance, musicality, and the distinctive resonance of his language.

The central theme of most of Saʿdī’s ghazals is love—often earthly, simple, and sincere. Alongside love poems, he also composed didactic and mystical ghazals, though scholars disagree about the extent of their mysticism. Unlike Rumi, Saʿdī’s ghazals generally lack intense mystical ecstasy; only about ten percent are considered mystical or quasi-mystical.

Structurally, Saʿdī’s ghazals are organized into four sections:

Early Ghazals (youthful period, marked by passion),

Ṭayyebāt and Badāyeʿ (the mature period and the most artistically accomplished),

Khavātīm (the later years, with ethical and ascetic themes).

In total, 725 Persian and Arabic ghazals, comprising over 7,119 couplets, survive. Their remarkable variety of meters testifies to Saʿdī’s exceptional mastery of the music of Persian poetry.