SOURCE: Meisami, Julie Scott. “Allegorical Gardens in the Persian Poetic Tradition: Nezami, Rumi, Hafez.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 17, no. 2 (May 1985): 229-60.

In the following excerpt from a comparative essay, Meisami examines the significance of the image of the garden as Paradise in Rumi's ghazals and in medieval Persian literature.

A striking feature of medieval Persian poetry is the abundance of nature imagery that permeates every poetic genre, and especially imagery relating to gardens. The royal gardens and parks evoked in the descriptive exordia of the qaṣīda, the luxuriant gardens of romance that provide settings for tales of love, the spiritual gardens of mystical writings, the flowery haunts of rose and nightingale in the courtly ghazal—all provide eloquent testimony to the importance of the garden in Persian culture.

Several studies have discussed various aspects of nature imagery in Persian poetry in relation to various periods...