Persian poet Sheykh Moslehoddin Sasdi, who studied in Baghdad and traveled in Anatolia and India before returning to his birthplace, Shiraz, where in 1257 he had written Bostan (The Orchard), a didactic epic rich in transcendental speculation and ethical maxims.

Saadi writes the elegant Gulistan (The Rose Garden) in 1258, in which he interweaves verse with a prose collection of humorous and ethical anecdotes.

Saadi is the first Persian poet to employ the lyric to describe the trials of love, often with accompanying moral lessons.