This study presents the first systematic comparison of Rudaki (858–941), the father of Persian poetry, and Goethe (1749–1832), the poet-prince of German letters. Despite being separated by nearly a thousand years and belonging to vastly different cultural traditions, the two poets exhibit striking parallels in their treatment of four central themes: wine, nature, solitude, and power. Through close reading of representative poems, the study demonstrates that both poets understood wine as a symbol of poetic inspiration, nature as a spiritual home, solitude as the condition of creation, and power as an eternal tension to be navigated rather than resolved. The parallels are not the result of influence—Goethe almost certainly never read Rudaki—but of resonance: two poets, working independently, arriving at similar solutions to similar problems. The study contributes to the methodology of comparative literature by demonstrating the value of typological comparison, which does not rely on influence. It contributes to the theory of world literature by extending Goethe‘s own project of cross-cultural dialogue. And it contributes to the practical goal of fostering East-West understanding by showing that poets from different traditions share a common humanity.
Bo Xia (Wed,) studied this question.