The Role of Sa di in Making the Reputation of Shiraz

Though Shiraz has always been famous and its name has been mentioned in different historical and literary texts، before the appearance of Sa’di، Shiraz had had no prevalence over other cities of Iran and had been very much like other cities such as Tabriz، Toos، Yazd، Isfahan، and Bukhara. But since the 7th century، when Sa’di came to the poetic world as a Shirazi poet، every poet and lover of poetry have known Shiraz more than before. Sa’di left Shiraz for the purpose of traveling and then he enthusiastically came back to his homeland، Shiraz. He could never forget his homeland، the river of Rokn abad، the pleasures and joys of Nowruz; he always mentioned them in his poems. From his appearance as a Shirazi poet، Sa’di and Shiraz has always been well known to the world، from Indus River to the Mediterranean and Black Seas and has been the center of attention for the Islamic world. Therefore، because of Shiraz and Sa’di’s fame، you can hardly find a poet، in these geographical realms، who has not mentioned Shiraz and Sa’di in his poems. So the name of Shiraz has been entered thorough poetry as a literary expression. Shiraz has widely been recognized as the city of literature and poetry and whatever belonging to Shiraz، like Sa’di’s poems، has been considered beautiful، appealing and eye-catching. Shiraz gets more beautiful، its people get more hospitable، its soil gets more fertile، and its weather gets very much like Heaven’s،… and other poets born in other cities wish to be a Shirazi poet. So، in this article، the role of Shiraz in Persian poetry or generally speaking in Persian literature is divided into two periods، the era before Sa’di and the era after his appearance and these two eras are studied with the help of different sources and documents.