A Review on Sa’di's Ghazal and Shakespeare's Sonnet

Document Type : Book Review

Author
Bu-Ali Sina University
Abstract
One of the primary area of research in comparative literature is the study of thematic similarities in the works of two poets or writers. The book of Sa’di's ghazal and Shakespeare's sonnet compares themes such as love and panegyric in the lyrical works of these two poets. There are numerous and misleading shortcomings in different chapters of the book, which are scattered through the chapters of the book. The most basic and important shortcoming of the present book is that the author has limited himself to a selection of, not all, of Shakespeare's sonnets to compare Sa’di's ghazal and Shakespeare's sonnet. In fact, the author has ignored one-third of Shakespeare's sonnets, so his research is incomplete. Another important shortcoming is the comparison of panegyric in Sa’di's ghazal and Shakespeare's sonnet, which I think is a strange comparison. The function of panegyric in Persian poetry and as a tradition in the court of Persian kings has its own characteristics and requirements, which are not found in English poetry. In addition, Persian ghazal and English sonnet are fundamentally different both in terms of expression and rhetoric and in terms of content and application. Other shortcomings, which are not few in number and are scattered in different chapters, have been categorized into several groups: a) false information, b) undocumented claims, c) incomplete and misleading information, d) unnecessary repetitions, and e) incorrect English and French footnotes. The author has tried to present his documents and evidence from the most reliable and up-to-date sources

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