Sherjangi;+Battle+of+the+Poems

Yes, I know the semi-colon is inappropriate there, but it's all it would let me do. Anyway... In chapter three of __The Kite Runner__, page 19, Amir explains how great he is at playing this game, //Sherjangi//, which basically is a contest of poetry memorization and recitation. Amir brags about how many books of poetry or other works he has read and taken to heart. Among the authors or poets are:

He wrote in the traditional Persian form of //rubá'i// to compose his greatest work, the //Rubáiyát//. //Rubá'i// is a type of poetry that is formed by groups of four-line verses that flowed together to form his basic philosophy on life. This philosophy heavily drew inspiration from Sufism, concerning the pleasures of life. Khayyám essentially presents his philosophy as a version of //carpe diem//. He argues, though a use of epigrams, which are witty snippets on life in verse, that the opportunities to enjoy oneself may never come again and must, therefore, be taken full advantage of in the present.
 * Khayyám:** Omar Khayyám was an Iranian poet who lived in from 1048 to 1131 C.E. Although he was first ad foremost a poet, he was also a mathmatician, scientist, astronomer, and philosopher.


 * Hãfez:** This Persian Sufi poet, who lived from 1326 to 1389, is also known as Hafiz. He used a poetic form called the //ghazal//, which is basically a type of ode. His poetry was greatly influenced by the beauty of a woman he observed named Shakh-i-Nabat and by the greatness of his god, which he saw coming through the beauty of Shakh-i-Nabat. These poems were considered to be "spiritual romanticism." Later, Hafiz experienced something called "the Realization", essentially an enlightenment, after which his poetry was entirely centered on his god and the great mysteries that surrounded him.


 * Rumi:** This Persian poet's real name was Jalal al-Din Mohammed ebn Mohammad, but cleverly used the pen-name of Rumi//.// Rumi lived from 1207 to 1273. The greatest influences on his poetry were his virtually nomadic childhood, his close relationship to his father, his fame as a great professor, and his respect and even love for a certain dervish who was his spiritual and emotional advisor. He uses no one specific form of poetry, except for his greatest work, //Masnawi//, which is an epic of mystical poetry in couplets.


 * Saadi:** Musharrif Oddin Muslih Oddin called himself Saadi as a pen-name. Saadi spent much of his live as a Sufi dervish who lived a nomadic lifestyle. He is best known for his two great classics, the //Bustan//, or //The Orchard//; and the //Gulistan//, or //The Rose Garden//. The language he uses is relatively plain and easy to understand, despite the complex Sufi ideas he conveys through his pieces.