Anvari

Full name AUADUDDIN ALI ANVARI (c. 1126–90), Persian poet, born in Khorasan, and educated at the collegiate institute in Tun (now Firdaus, Iran). His panegyric in honor of the Seljuk sultan Sanjar, or Sinjar (1117–57), ruler of Khurasan (Khorasan), won him royal favor, and he continued to enjoy the patronage of two of Sanjar’s successors as well. Anvari (or Anwari) prophesied that a certain combination of the stars in October 1185 would be accompanied by a frightful storm and dire disasters. The prophecy failed, and as a result he suffered virtual banishment.

Anvari’s poems, collected in the Divan, are masterpieces of artistic form. In his verse he combines the skill of a romantic eulogist with the subtle force of a keen satirist. His elegy Tears of Khurasan, translated into English in 1789, is considered one of the most beautiful poems in Persian literature.