Manuchehri Damghani is a celebrated Iranian poet. Little is known about his birthday. It can only be said that it was about final years of the fourth century AH, or the early years of the fifth century AH that he was born in Damghan. He received the title poet from Qabus ibn Wushmagir, who was the ruler of Tabarestan (now Mazandaran) and Gorgan at the time of rule of Mahmud and Mas’ud Gazni in 403 to 423 AH, and was a tributary of their court.
Most probably he has spent some years of his life at the court of this king, and that is why he has chosen the pen name Manuchehri. But he does not mention that king in his book of poems. What we know about his childhood is that he grew in the land of Damghan, imaginative plains, under the bright sun and dream awaking nights.
He traveled to Gorgan and Tabarestan when he was a teenager, and began serving Ziyarid dynasty. It can be said that during the attack of Masu’d of Ghazni in 426 AH, the king ordered for him to move to his court. Since Damghani had a short life and spent it moving from place to place, a clear picture can hardly be perceived from his life. In terms of literature, he is known as the poet of nature. He has always considered Unsuri his master. He was a skillful poet and expressed his thoughts through them. Great knowledge of words and mastery of Arabic literature and poems enabled him to incorporate Arabic words smoothly into Farsi poems.
He also used words related to linguistics, medicine, astronomy and music of which he has a good knowledge of. The worlds that are pictured through his poems are full of elements such as colors, scent, music, and mesmerizing beauties. These magical worlds are filled with scent of musk, sound of the birds singing, and pleasing Awaz of Iranian traditional music. Manuchehri Damghani passed away in 432 AH when he was still very young. He believed that “Whether good or bad, God judges you only fairly.”
