Poets Advising Rulers in the West and East: A Comparative Study of the Approaches of Saadi and Shakespeare to Peace and War

Shakespeare in the most peaceful era of British history, generally known as “the golden age” which is marked with the least possible military tension, deals with war and peace, bearing in mind that in the reign of Elizabeth I, except for the rightful defence against Spaniards, not a single war was fought and not any devastation occurred that Shakespeare would possibly stage its actualities,. It is called the creative poetic imagination that enables the poet to depict the picture which he has never seen or the voice never heard. Condemnation of war in tragedy and commendation of peace in comedy is the main aim of this research, the manner that much resembles the strategy of eastern poets rather than that of the well-known author of Russia. Saidi of Shiraz mainly suffices to the warnings, advice and instructions humbly offered to the authorities to hinder their oppression, autocracy and absolutism. Relying on her patience and tolerance, “I see but say nothing” was the motto of Queen Elizabeth in which she so adherently believed and by which she was determined to expand patience and avoid violence in her administration. This article intends to investigate how the bard of Avon, hand in hand with his contemporaneous politicians, as the advocators of peace, have sheathed their swords and drawn their pens to write about the destructive destiny of war in the peace time as Saadi did.