Abu Najm Aḥmad ibn Qauá¹£ ibn Aḥmad Manà «ÃÂihrë (), a.k.a. Manuchehri DÃÂmghÃÂnë (fl. 1031âÂÂ1040), was an eleventh-century court poet in Persia and in the estimation of J. W. Clinton, 'the third and last (after ÿUná¹£urë and Farrukhë) of the major panegyrists of the early Ghaznawid court'. Among his poems is "The Turkish harpist".
According to J. W. Clinton, 'very little is known of his life, and that little is derived exclusively from his poetry. Later ta<u>dh</u>kira writers have expanded and distorted this modicum of information with a few, readily refuted speculations'.
Manuchehri's epithet DÃÂmghÃÂnë indicates that he was from Damghan in Iran, and his poetry shows an encyclopaedic familiarity with Arabic and Persian verse which was presumably acquired in youth.
Manuchehri's activities can only be dated and localised via the dedicatees of his praise-poetry. Around a third of his panegyrics are addressed to MasÃ¿à «d. Of the rest, most are to major officials of MasÃ¿à «d's court. But some poems mention patrons who cannot be identified or who are not named at all.
in 422-24/1031-33, when he composed poems dedicated to deputies of Sultan MasÃ¿à «d, who was at that time based at Ray.
At some point following the death of Aḥmad b. Ḥasan Maymandë, vizier to MasÃ¿à «d, in 424/1033, Manuchehri made his way to the court of Ghazna, then under Aḥmad ibn ÿAbd al-á¹¢amad Shërazë.
Manuchehri's date of death is unknown, but none of his poems seems to postdate his time in the court of MasÃ¿à «d in Ghazna; MasÃ¿à «d died in 432/1041, following defeat in battle at Dandanaqan.
Manuchehri left behind a divan containing fifty-seven qaṣëdas . He is said to have invented the form of musammaá¹ (stanzaic poems) in Persian poetry and to have written the best examples of this form; eleven survive. He is also known to have composed a few rubÃÂÿës, ghazals, and other short passages. In the view of J. W. Clinton,
<blockquote>Manà «ÃÂihrëâÂÂs poetry has several qualities which distinguish it from the work of his contemporaries. His enthusiasm for Arabic poetry, expressed in imitations of <u>dj</u>ÃÂhiliyya style ḳaṣëdas and frequent allusions to Arab poets, was unknown among the Persian-writing poets of his day. Even more distinctive, however, is his delight and great skill in depicting the paradisial beauty of the royal garden at Nawrà «z and MihrgÃÂn, and the romantic and convivial scenes associated with them, in the exordium (naṣëb, ta<u>sh</u>bëb) of the ḳaṣëda. Moreover, he displays a gift for mythic animation in elaborating such concepts as the battle of the seasons (poem 17) and wine as the daughter of the vine (poems 20, 57, 58, 59 and 60). Though it is not unique to him, Manà «ÃÂihrëâÂÂs engaging lyricism is remarked upon by all commentators.</blockquote>
The following are the opening lines of one of his most famous musammÃÂt, a poem consisting of 35 stanzas of 3 couplets each, with the rhyme scheme aaaaab, cccccb, dddddb etc.:
Metre:
There are 35 stanzas, each of three couplets, with the rhyme scheme aaaaax, bbbbbx, cccccx, etc. The poet plays on the similar sounding words: 'rise', 'fur', 'autumn'; 'vines' and 'dyers'. In addition there is alliteration of x, x, x, x, x (lines 1âÂÂ2), b, r, b, r (line 3), r, r, r (line 4), and g, g (line 5), and assonance of ÃÂ, ÃÂ, à(line 6).
The metre is 3.3.14 in Elwell-Sutton's classification, which is one of the various metres traditionally known as hazaj. It consists of the familiar rhythm (u u â âÂÂ), but with the first two syllables missing. (See Persian metres.)
The British modernist poet Basil Bunting published adaptions of a number of Manuchehri's poems from 1939 onwards, and a little of Manuhehri's sound-patterning seems to have influenced Bunting's English verse.