"[3] The sarcastic remarks occasionally encountered in the poetry books... relating to rival poets are slanderous in nature and not genuinely critical.
[4] During the Seljuq period, with the growing influence of Arabic literature a more technical style of literary criticism (naqd-i fannī) became predominant.
ʿUmar Rādūyānī "illustrates seventy-three types of rhetorical figures with Persian poems cited as examples in each case.
"[6] One of the most well-known classical works on literary criticism is Chahār Maqālah ("Four Essays") by Nizāmī ʿArūzī Samarqandī, in which the author treats the "definition, essence, and purpose" of poetry.
Shams-i Qays Rāzī wrote al-Muʿjam fī maʿāyir ashʿār al-ʿajam which is "the most comprehensive text of its kind to that date" and treats prosodic technique and terminology and poetic feet, rhyme, and criticism in two volumes.
[11] This reaction against Indian-style Persian poetry has continued to the present century, when even Western scholars such as E.G. Browne have dismissed this tradition.
They placed in their poetry insipid meanings instead of inspired truths, ugly contents ... instead of fine rhetorical devices and attractive innovations.
Iranian ambitions to recapture Herat, were constantly frustrated during the Anglo-Persian War and the city has remained a part of Afghanistan ever since.
The nineteenth century was a traumatic period for much of the world as European imperial powers stretched their possessions over the globe, and Iran was no exception.
The European thinkers most popular to the growing class of reformist intellectuals were those of the European Enlightenment, such as René Descartes and Isaac Newton[13] The Iranian reform movement can be seen in the context of the earlier movements in Europe and North America whereby "philosophers and thinkers arose ... who, through their criticism, challenged deeply seated superstition, ignorance and injustice.
"[20] Ākhund'zādah, because of his unfamiliarity with the Persian language and its prosody, made technical errors in some of his criticism,[21] and was just as verbose and incoherent as those he attacked.
"[25] Mīrzā Malkum Khān's Armenian background and Christian religion may have played a part in the simplicity of his Persian prose.
In his most important literary-critical work, Firqah-i Kaj'bīnān ("the squint-eyed sect"), Malkum Khān lampooned the language of various classes of society and encouraged a more concise prose style.
Ṭālibūf (also spelled Talebov or Talibov), along with the earlier critics mentioned above, recognized the didactic use of literature to instruct people.