Introduction

In her brief lifetime in the early decades of the twentieth century, Parvīn experienced two events in Iran's modern history. These events were the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1911 and the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty by Riżā Shah (r. 1925–1941), which instigated major socio-political transformations in Persia. As a female poet, she transgressed the gender limit of silence set for women in the Iranian-Muslim culture by entering the male-dominated space of classical Persian poetry. Along with her male counterparts, she wrote about the socio-political issues of her times. A few scholars have referred to Parvīn's awareness of the contemporary issues in her society. Among them, Dabashi suggested that Parvīn was one of the most sensitive poets to social issues. In his study, Dabashi refers to themes such as denunciation of tyranny, praising revolt, challenging legitimacy, and portrayal of poverty as examples of Parvīn's social consciousness. Parvīn's socio-political engagement, among the other aspects of her work, has not received due attention. In this chapter, through close reading of her poems, I demonstrate how Parvīn expressed her thoughts about socio-political issues of her times, although she composed her poetry in the classical style. An overview of the two historical incidents and their impact on the poetry of the period clarifies why it is important to analyse Parvīn's socio-political poems.