Features of Studying Classical Poetry of the East

K. N. Kadirov

Navoi Innovations University, Navoi, Uzbekistan

Keywords: The Heritage of the East, Stereotypes of Traditional Consciousness, Classical Literature of the East, Samples

of Small Genre, Holistic Image, Characters of Epics and Dramas of the East Guardian of Flat Truths, An Inner

Independent Personality.

Abstract: This article examines the unique qualities of classical Eastern literature, particularly poetry, which has long

depicted a vibrant and active human spirit. By exploring Eastern literary traditions, the study reveals the

nuanced features of traditional consciousness, rich classical literary heritage, the concept of the fantastic self,

small literary genres, holistic imagery, and characters in epics and dramas. It argues that classical Eastern

literature, especially poetry, challenges old views of passivity and conformity by highlighting themes of love,

wisdom, freedom, and the joy of life. Using examples from Persian poetry, the article shows how these works

celebrate the essence of a dynamic and engaged human persona. This exploration highlights the lasting

relevance and universal appeal of Eastern literature, offering deep insights into the complexities of human

existence and the quest for inner fulfilment.

1 INTRODUCTION

The poetic heritage of the medieval East stands as a

testament to the enduring brilliance of human

creativity. Across the vast expanse of time, the

peoples of the East crafted lyrical and philosophical

masterpieces that continue to captivate and inspire

audiences around the world. Their poetry, steeped in

themes of love, beauty, and the existential quest for

meaning, resonates deeply with the human soul,

offering profound insights into the mysteries of

existence.

In our exploration of Eastern literature, we

encounter a rich tapestry of artistic expression that

reflects the cultural richness and diversity of the

region. From the soaring verses of Persian mystics to

the timeless tales of Indian epics, each work embodies

a unique blend of creativity and wisdom, offering a

window into the collective consciousness of its

creators.

2 ANALYSIS

The poetic heritage of the peoples of the medieval

East still amazes Europeans with their lyrical and

philosophical masterpieces. Singing female beauty,

love, reflecting on the meaning of life, trying to touch

the mysteries of the universe, Oriental artists created

original and original in form samples of poetic art.

The ancient formula «Ex Orienthe lux» - «From

the East light» is now filled with new content. And

although the culture of the soviet culture draws light

from the sources of a variety of origins, we cannot

forget how much truthful and good humanity has

found thanks to the «light from The East» - it is the

light, not the proverbial «wind». And it is not by

chance that the spiritual heritage of the East, now

experiencing a time of abrupt changes, once again

attracts close attention, causes lively and acute

interest. Among the stereotypes of traditional

consciousness, destroyed in the 20th century, we find

a dilapidated idea of the «free man» as a still, passive

contemplation, which is supposedly devoid of a

distinctly expressed personal origin, invariably

subdued by the ever-strong rock, and does not seek to

change himself and the surrounding life. Such a view

not only looks hopelessly out of date today but was

superficial and very distant from the truth from the

beginning. Classical literature of the East - and above

all poetry - for many centuries of its existence

embodied in the artistic form of the features of the

harmonic and active human personality. And it was

not an ideal, but unattainable example - a rebuke to

real people. No, the very life of the Eastern peoples,

for all sorts of historical obstacles, gave rise to the

1112

Kadirov, K.

Features of Studying Classical Poetry of the East.

DOI: 10.5220/0012954100003882

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR-2 2023), pages 1112-1115

ISBN: 978-989-758-723-8

type of person striving for effective, creative self-

discovery. These are the illustrious characters of the

epics and dramas of the East: the Arabs - self-

forgotten in love Majnoon and the thirst for the new

Sinbad-Morehod; Iranians - warrior Rustem and the

creator Farhad; Indians - overpowering any obstacles

Rama and selfless Shakuntala, many, many other

heroes and heroines. They do not sail thoughtlessly

on the flow of life, but they create it themselves, enter

into fights with unknown forces, win in unequal

struggle the most in the end account of strong

victories - moral victories.

Immediate, emotional, sub-selective lysing

monologues of people of such a warehouse and make

up the content of eastern lyrics. Widely and strongly

through the shell of legends and conventions, there is

a living voice of the earthly man, sincere, full of hope,

full of reflections, talking about all the joys and

sufferings that fall on the share of the mortal. The

lyrical poetry of the East artfully conveys the classical

literature of the East in detail reproduces the age-old

disputes between the heart and the mind, creates a

holistic image of the inner world of the individual in

its insoluble connection with the outside world, with

the current of moving life.

Lyrical poets occupy a special place in the

literature of the East. Of course, there were among

them and the creators of laudatory odes, and court

flatters, and a kind of propagandists of the

instructions of this or that ruler or ruling circle. But it

is not about them here, but about the original poets

who protected their originality, although sometimes

even their lyre, in the famous expression of Nekrasov,

«has made the wrong sound». And the lyrical hero of

their works, on whose behalf they speak with a reader,

is a living, concrete person, not a fantastic first of

traditional myth, not a resonant custodian of flat

truths, not personalized edification, not conditional

canonical literary mask. The lyrical hero here is

usually an individually unique, internally

independent personality, a man at the mercy of an all-

consuming feeling, shown in infinite variety of his

contact with the world, in his contradictions and

complexity, imprinted in moments of extreme tension

of all spiritual forces. The most characteristic of this

lyric is the protection of humanity, which in all cruel

centuries was endangered and most needed

protection. And it is not about the humanity of the

abstract, but about the living and natural human

feelings and joys to which everyone has the right and

who were threatened by the multifaceted forces of

social and moral evil - autocratic despotism, feudal

arbitrariness, fanatical religiosity, caste prohibitions,

dark prejudices, bellicose ignorance, base passions.

Lyricists of the East in poetic form proclaim every

person's happiness, freedom from coercion, on a just

structure of life, on pleasure, dignity, knowledge of

truth. They defend the absolute value and

incapableness of life - earthly, not afterlife, temporal,

not eternal, present, and not expected - and, aware

from all the acute inevitability of the death of all

living things, call to rejoice every moment of their

own existence, to any a manifestation of the beauty of

the world around us.

They run for a moment and spring -

Let no one go without happiness!

After all, in the realm of existence there is no good

above life.

As you hold it, it will pass. (Omar Higham).

Revealing the inner experiences of man, the

diverse states of his spiritual life, the lyrics of the

East, each in his own way - reflected his desire for the

highest values, found on the earthly path, - love,

wisdom, wisdom, fearlessness. Was it easy to do so

in a time when hatred and impatience were

everywhere, free and bold thought was pursued,

unequal and fear prevailed, and brute force prevailed?

What could the lyrical poets of the East oppose to this

«dark kingdom»? Only his sincere word, live,

agitated, full of true passion human speech, slenderly

and harmoniously organized in poems. And poets

gradually realized what historically irresistible force

moves forward their art, gives it general significance

and longevity. This was well said not by the Eastern,

but by the Western poet - Johann Wolfgang Goethe

in his «East-West Sofa», a book that was presented to

him by reading the poems of the great Persian lyricist

Hafiz:

What a song should eat

What the verses should be power in,

To be heeded by poets

And the crowd solidified them?

Let's call love first,

For the song to breathe with love,

To make it sound sweet,

Hearing and heart fascinated.

Then let's remember the ringing of glasses.

And the ruby of wine is purple, -

Who is the happiest in the whole world,

What's in love or drunk?

Then - so taught grandfathers -

Let's remember the trumpet

voice of the battle,

For in the glow of victory,

Like God, they honor a hero.

Finally, we are passionate with our hearts,

Seeing evil, indignant,

For we are friends with the beautiful,

Features of Studying Classical Poetry of the East

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L with an ugly feud.

Slay four of these forces.

In their primitive nature -

And you're like Gafiza,

And you're immortal in the people.

Classical Persian poetry gave the world not only an

epic masterpiece - Firdowsi's «Shahname», not only

the remarkable cycles of poems by Nizami, Dehlevi,

Jami, but also created great examples of a small

genre. She discovered unknown levels of knowledge

of a particular human soul, depicting the complex

world of the personal in its multifaceted and dramatic

battles with the surrounding life. Abu Abdullo Rudaki

(c. 860-941) - «Adam of Persian Poets», and although

his vast poetic heritage has come to us a little, he

rightly considers himself the ancestor of the classical

lyrics of the Persians, who discovered the main

features of its style, which outlined the circle of its

most important genres and leading themes. He wrote

about love, about the purpose of the man, about the

thirst for happiness, about the beneficial power of the

poetic layer. The call to help the weak and fallen,

rather than to suppress and humiliate them, sounded

in Rudaki's poems a thousand-plus years ago and to

this day echoes strongly in world literature.

The century with little separates Rudaki from

Omar Khayam (c. 1048 - c. 1123), one of the largest

scientists of his time, philosopher and mathematician,

astronomer and polyglot. But the truly worldwide

fame of Hayam brought a few hundred quadruples

(rubay), each of which - a strikingly harmonious

synthesis of bold thought and high feeling. A

humanist and a true-loving, life-loving sceptic and a

mockery of the rationalist, Hayam does not turn away

from the tragic mysteries - the mysteries of existence

and death. He knows how to see the bitterness of life

without giving up its joys. He mocks the lyceums,

saints, prudes, affirms the free self-disclosure of the

human personality, preaches the courage of the spirit,

refuses to worship the conventional dogmas and auto-

rites. Jamaluddin Rumi (1207 -1273) is widely

revered on Vo-Stoke as an activist of Sufism - a

mystical current in Islam, preaching an ascetic way of

life and intuitive knowledge of God. In his poems,

Rumi managed to give mystic love for God, the most

important postulate of Sufism, a universal spiritual

stimulus, a «source of life». The poet vividly

expressed himself in poetic parables, where

traditional, often folkloric subjects are understood by

them in the spirit of empathy for the oppressed and

the poor, contain a satirical rebuke of tyranny, self-

interest, hypocrisy. Rumi's time - the 13th century - is

marked in Persian poetry by the work of the great

native of the Iranian city of Shiraz Abu Abdullah

Mushrifaddin ibn Muslimhiddin, known to the world

under the name Saadi (1210-1292). Previous says that

Saadi studied for thirty years, traveled for thirty years

and wrote for thirty years. A mature husband who had

gone most of his life's journey, he began to create

«Gulistan». «The Garden of Roses» and «Bustan»

«The Garden of Fruits» - the chapters of his works,

containing the result of a large and easy life. A variety

of wealth of wise thoughts, generously scattered

Saadi. But the main thing in his work - faith in the

future of mankind, that the day will come when the

whole world will be like a fruit garden, blooming and

good-eared. The poet believed in man, in his best

qualities - thirst for good and truth, joy and beauty.

Life is given, he said, not for collecting wealth.

What's it for? What's the point? Asking himself this

question, Saadi answered - in love for people,

expressed not in words, but in deeds.

The poet's life experience was imprinted on the

great horror of the Mongolian invasion and the

spiritual dictatorship of fanatical saints. The poet had

to have rare courage and independence of the spirit in

order, like Saadi, to defend his ideal of life in these

conditions. He had the courage, wisdom, and talent.

Saadi's poems have circled the world, the lines of

many of them have become winged. After more than

seven centuries, we continue to read with excitement,

«Of all the gifts of the world, only a good name

remains, and one who will not leave even this is

unhappy». The 14th century in Persian poetry was the

heyday of love lyricism. Both its centre and pinnacle

are rightfully recognized lines of countryman Saadi,

born in the same Shiraz, Shamseddin Hafiz (1325 -

1389). His name has long become a household name

- hafiz in the East is called a natural poet, singer of

love and spiritual freedom. Hafiz perfected the genre

of a small lyrical poem - gazelle, gave aphoristic

slenderness to each of its double-truth-bait, enriched

the poems with a generous call-copy. But most

importantly, he wrote uniquely about love in this

genre - not mystical, but human-real, sensual-bright,

opposing all the bad in the world. Inner integrity, self-

forgetful selflessness, cordiality and sincereness of

spiritual impulses - the features of the lyrical hero of

Gazelles Hafiz. The poet elevated to the level of the

most important events the joy of possession and the

intolerable separation. Here is a new frontier of world

lyricism, an important step towards the realization of

the depths of the human heart. Earthly love acts in

Hafiz as the greatest value of being, as a force equal

in its undoability to the natural elements. The triumph

of love, according to Hafiz, is a verdict on the forces

of evil, lies and violence, and from the hot gazelles of

the shiraz stretches through the centuries of poetic

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relay to the present day, to the aphorism of Louis

Aragon: «Speak only about love, everything else is a

crime».

The name Abdurrahman Jami (1414-1492) closes

the classics of Iranian poetry. The creator of an

extensive series of poems «Seven Thrones» where he

talked about his ideals of the modern structure of

human life, about the eternal search for happiness and

harmony in an unhappy and disharmonious world.

There are gazelles in my sofa.

The lost love longing,

High reflections, teachings,

Accumulated by the wisdom of the human,

But you won't find low-level memories in them.

And flattery with verbose empty.

Literature of India - a giant in scale multilingual

world of verbal art, rooted in the distant past, in

ancient times. Monumental epic poems, tales of gods

and heroes, cult hymns and spells, plays in verses,

fables.

Kalidasa (approx. The 5th century AD), whose

lyrics opens the Indian section, won worldwide

recognition as the author of the classic drama

«Shakuntala, or Ring-omen». He created an epic

poem «The Birth of the God of War» on a story from

the Indian myth-city. Kalidasa's poem «Cloud-

Gazette» - a hymn of love over which time has no

power - has long been considered one of the best

examples of poetic art in Sanskrit.

Amir Khosrov Dehlevi, who wrote mainly in The

Permian, left a huge creative legacy. The spoke of the

high appointment of a true poet, of the enduring value

of literature: «Many brilliant rulers rotted in a handful

of earth, and traces are now unseen. And how many

bearers of the crown remained in the memory of the

people only thanks to the poetic talent of Firdowsi or

Nizami». Although Dehlevi's lyrics and gazelles bear

the seal of Persian poetic tradition, in India many of

them have forever entered their native consciousness

and have become an integral part of lyrical folklore.

Vidyapati Thakur wrote his «Songs of Love» in mait-

hea-khernido-folk language of a large population of

the north-eastern part of India. The love story of the

shepherd god Krishna and the shepherdess is

recreated by him as a diary of earthly love, as a living

and tender confession of loving hearts. The poet with

a surprised completeness conveyed the inner self-

development of the feeling, revealed its psychological

complexity and depth.

3 CONCLUSIONS

The poetry of the East has never been aliened to us.

In the Russian were echoes of Persian epic poems - in

the hero Eruslan Lazarevich guesses the main

character of «Shah-name» Rustem, the son of sali

zara. At Pushkin we find poems inspired by the Koran

and Arabic lyrics. India inspired Shchukovsky to

create «Nalya and Damayanti» - a poetic retelling

from «Mahabharata». Fet translated into Russian the

poems of Hafiz and Saadi, Yesenin created «Persian

motifs». Many Russian poets of the 20th century gave

their talent to the translation of Eastern lyrics. In it, I

have a name for A.Akhmatova, B. Pasternak, N.

Tikhonova, V. Derzhavina, V. Levin.

Poetry of the East, as well as any true poetry, survived

centuries, defeated time. It also conquers space,

coming to all new nations. It has become a living

property and those for whom Russian speech is a

native element.

In the silence of the gardens, in the spring, in the

darkness of the nights,

Sings over the rose of the oriental nightingale,

But the sweet rose doesn't feel, extravagant,

And under the hymn in love, he hesitates and

slumbers.

What is this? An echo of Persian, Arabic, Indian

lyrics? One of her eternal motives? Yes. And at the

same time, it is Pushkin's poems, it is our poetry. And

most likely - our spring, our youth, our love.

Thus, the genres of Oriental lyrics considered by us

in the work of poets show that each artist of the word,

taking as a basis a classic genre, interprets it

peculiarly his creative installation.

REFERENCES

Klimovich, L. I. (1987). Literature of nations. Moscow:

Prosv.

Boldyreva, E. M., & Ledenev, A. V. (2002). Poetry of the

Silver Age. Moscow.

Panov, M. V. (1960). On parts of speech in Russian

language. In Works on general linguistics and Russian

language (Vol. 2, pp. 151-164). Moscow, 2004.

Polivanova, A. K. (2001). Formal paradigms and classes of

words in Russian language. In General, and Russian

linguistics: Selected works (pp. 154-175). Moscow:

RGSU, 2008.

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