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Poet and Revolution: The Impact of Iran's Constitutional Revolution on the Social and Literary Outlook of the Poets of the Time: Part I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Sorour Soroudi
Sorour Soroudi*
Affiliation:
Department of Iranian and Armenian Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Extract

The Constitutional Revolution of 1906-1911 and the developments of the following decade greatly altered the social and political atmosphere in Iran. Poetic changes created in the wake of these developments were of considerable transitional importance and generated a suitable literary atmosphere for the more basic changes introduced by Nimā Yushij in the 1920s and the 1930s. A major issue in this regard is the impact of revolutionary developments on the general outlook and the literary creativity of the contemporary poets. The present paper includes a short introductory survey of the background and the characteristics of the “constitutional poetry” and a general discussion of the revolution's impact on the contemporary poets. A number of “constitutional poets” are then discussed individually.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 1-2 , Spring Winter 1979 , pp. 3 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1979

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References

Notes

1. I first discussed this issue within the framework of my doctoral dissertation entitled, “Persian Poetry in Transition: 1900-1925.” University of California, Los Angeles, 1972Google Scholar; under the guidance of Professor Amin Banani. I am thankful to Professor Michael Zand of the Hebrew University who read the manuscript of this article and made useful suggestions; I am, however, solely responsible for its content.

2. Jandaqi, Yaghma Kulliyāt (Tehran: Sanā'i 1339/1960), p. 305Google Scholar; for his anti-clerical satire see pp. 174, 268-283.

3. Ibid., p. 283.

4. Farahani, Amiri Divān, ed. Dastgerdi, Vahid (Tehran: Forughi 1345/1966), pp. 285-286Google Scholar; see also pp. 485-487.

5. Zhukovskii, V. A. Obraztŝy Persidskogo Narodnogo Tvorchestva (St. Petersburg, 1902), appendix, pp. 6-7.Google Scholar

6. For changes introduced in prose during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, see, Kamshad, Hasan Modern Persian Prose Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966), pp. 13-40.Google Scholar

7. Neishapuri, Adib La'āli-ye Maknun, ed. Zarrin-Qalam, A. (Tehran: Ebn-e Sina 1333/1954), respectively, pp. 113-114Google Scholar; 55-56.

8. Amiri's own biographical account, Divān, p. XII. All biographical details about the poet are taken from this source, unless otherwise indicated.

9. Ibid., p. 54.

10. See, for example, ibid., pp. 455, 549.

11. Ibid., p. 53.

12. Ibid., p. 265; see also p. 28.

13. Ibid., p. 86.

14. Ibid., p. 508.

15. Ibid., p. 315; see also pp. 650-654, 682-685.

16. Ibid., p. 683; see also pp. 682, 684.

17. Mohammad Ja˓far Mahjub, Tahqiq dar aḥvāl va āār va afkār va ash˓ār-e Iraj Mirzā, third printing (Tehran: Andisheh, 1353/1974), p. 140.Google Scholar

18. Contrary to most royalty, Iraj did not have an independent source of income. From biographical notes scattered throughout his poetry, we learn that at times, especially in his later years, he lived in hardship; see ibid., pp. 127, 175, 182, 201.

19. Ibid., p. 121.

20. For instance ibid., pp. 13, 50.

21. Iraj criticized Ahmad Shah's behavior and defined him as “stupid, weakminded, and unfaithful to his country” (ibid., pp. 168, 204). The writing of ˓Āref-Nāmeh does not seem, despite interpretations attached to it, to have been originated from Iraj's partisanship for the Qajar dynasty. Iraj clearly indicates that in writing the satirical poem he was motivated mainly by Aref's personal behavior toward the poet. A short while before the concert in which Aref damned Fath Ali Shah, Iraj's great-grandfather, Aref had ignored Iraj in the presence of others despite their long friendship (ibid., pp. 75-77, 89).

22. Mahjub, Iraj, pp. 84, 85.

23. Ibid., p. 78; also p. 151.

24. Ibid., pp. 79-85.

25. Ibid., p. 13.

26. Ibid., pp. 177-178; this poem is based on a real incident which occurred in Mashhad when the poet resided there.

27. Ibid., pp. 164-165; also pp. 94, 184, 195.

28. Ibid., p. 127.

29. Ibid., pp. 87, 168, 182-183. It is possible that personal reckonings were also involved in this case, but there is no evidence to doubt Iraj's sincere respect for the colonel.

30. Ibid., p. 272.

31. Ibid., pp. 95-96.

32. Ibid., p. XXXXV; for some detailed examples in which Iraj has not observed the prosodic rules see ibid., pp. 202, 234, 262, 266, 272.

33. Ibid., p. 122.

34. Bahar, Mohammad Taqi Divān, second printing (Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1344/1965), Vol. I, 3.Google Scholar

35. Ibid., II, IX.

36. Ibid., I, pp. 146-147.

37. Ibid., I, p. 376; for examples of his anti-clerical criticism see pp. 165-167, 419-421; II, 386. Despite his criticism, Bahar remained a Muslim believer all his life.

38. Ibid., I, pp. 257-258; for more examples of his simple, exhortative poems see ibid., I, pp. 148-150, 208-213, 222-223, 285-287, 388-397; also his taṣnifs, ibid., II, pp. 561-565.

39. Ibid., I, p. 480; see also, II, pp. 333, 395, 522.

40. Ibid., I, p. 403; for his other eulogies on Reza Shah see pp. 408, 411; and, II, pp. 148ff.

41. Bahar, Muhammad Taqi Tārikh-e mukhtaṣar-e aḥzāb-e siyāsi: enqerāz-e Qājāriyeh (Tehran, 1323/1944), Vol. I, XII.Google Scholar

42. Bahar, Divān, I, p. 359; see also his Tārikh-e aḥzāb, pp. IX-X.

43. Bahar, Divān, respectively, II, pp. 153; and I, pp. 218, 287, 673-674, 713-714, 775-777.

44. Ibid., I, p. 184; for more examples of classical-style poems on contemporary subjects see I, pp. 177-183, 213-215, 235-239; II, pp. 406, 424.

45. Ibid., I, p. 217; the poem follows the meter, rhyme, and style of a famous ode by Farrokhi Sistani (d. 1038); see his Divān, ed. Siyaqi, M. Dabir (Tehran: Eqbal, 1335/1956), p. 204.Google Scholar

46. Ibid., I, p. 211; Mamdali is the popular, at times pejorative, form of Muhammad Ali.

47. Ibid., I, p. 148; “his majesty” refers to Muhammad Ali Shah and “his holiness” to Shaykh Fazlollah Nuri, a high-ranking mullah who supported the shah and was tried and executed by constitutionalists in 1909.

48. Ibid., II, pp. 386-387.

49. Ibid., I, Introduction; II, p. 238.

50. Ashraf al-Din Hoseini (Nasim-e Shomal), Bāgh-e behesht (Tehran: Nesbi, n.d.), p. 269Google Scholar; this is a biographical poem from which the following details about the poet have also been taken.

51. Sa˓id Nafisi, as quoted by Abbasi, M. Tārikh-e matbu˓āt va adabiyāt-e Iran dar dawreh-ye mashrutiyat, annotated translation of Browne's, E. G. Press and Poetry of Modern Persia (Tehran, 1335/1956), Vol. I, p. 122.Google Scholar

52. Bāgh-e Behesht, p. 27.

53. Ibid., pp. 87-88; fesenjan is a dish requiring rather expensive ingredients. For more examples where poverty of the masses or the social gap are depicted, see pp. 15, 71, 77, 125, 127, 191, 261.

54. Ibid., pp. 192, 268, 271; the joy over Nicholas's overthrow was generated by religious sentiments as well; it was during the Tsar's reign that in 1911 the holy shrine of Imam Reza in Mashad had been attacked by Russian soldiers.

55. Ibid., pp. 77, 126-127, 203, 262, 269.

56. Ibid., p. 177.

57. ibid., respectively, pp. 70, 113, 115-116, 132, 176-177, 193-194, 202. Despite his support for the advancement of women, Nasim opposed abolition of the veil.

58. Ibid., pp. 173-174; murshed (spiritual leader) seems to bear a pejorative connotation here.

59. For examples in which Nasim has followed Saber, see Ariyanpur, Y. Az Ṣabā tā Nimā (Tehran; Jibi, 1351/ 1972), Vol. II, pp. 64-72.Google Scholar

60. Bāgh-e behesht, pp. 58-59; cashew nut (qurṣ-e kamar) is believed to be an aphrodisiac.

61. Ibid., pp. 116-119.