Most of the great European and American writers have drawn inspirations in creating their works from the Iranian poets and literati.
Expressing this, noted literary figure Abulhassan Najafi said at a meeting on comparative literature and its scope late on Sunday that world-known Iranian poets such as Sheikh Mosleheddin Sa'di Shirazi, Khayyam, Hakim Abulqasem Ferdowsi and Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Hafez Shirazi have greatly influenced noted writers including Dante Alighieri, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Victor Hugo, Mark Twian, Ezra Pound and George Eliot.
"Research findings indicate that Dante has been largely influenced by the Persian books such as 'Ardaviraf-Nameh' and 'Sier ul-Ebad Ela Al-Ma'ad' in creating the book 'Divine Comedy," Najafi said, adding that inspirations from Khayyam's quatrains are evident in works of noted poets and writers such T. S. Eliot.
Criticizing elimination of comparative lietarture unit from the universities' syllabi, he also called for inclusion on the curriculums.