Do’s and Don’t in Poetry and Poetics in Nezami’s Panj Ganj

In the history of Persian literature, no other poet as much as Nezami, has not ever attached importance to Dos and Don’ts of poetry and poetics. He has put this on the sharp focus his Makhzan - alasrar (Wealth of secrets) than his other works . Except for the rare cases, Nezami has demonstrated his commitment to his saying about poetry and poetics. Given his view on them, Nezami can be considered as the first poet who has a manifestation on poetry and poetics. In his statement, Nezami encourages other poets to leave materiality, and encourage them toward ascetics, religion, poetry time rightness, innovation expressing new thing, selection expressing. He also advises other poets to follow the traditions and prohibits them from satire, falsehood and plagiarism. Nezami believes that poetry takes precedence over prose, and insists on the un-translatability of poem and its adornment and editing. He also contends that poets should avoid selling their poems, but the proponents of good poems should not be ignored.