Nima: The Father of
Modern Persian Poetry
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran Today; Economic Magazine (Monthly)
Aug. & Sep. 1996, No. 8
By: M. Alexandrian
Pages: 75 - 77
Word Count: 1467
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Text:
In the mountainous slopes of evergreen Mazandaran, a highly
gifted poet
was born. It was November 2, 1896, the dawning of a public
awakening
influenced by the western renaissance and revolt against the
antiquated
royal despotism which eventually led to the constitutional
monarchy in
Iran.
The poet, Ali Esfandiari, who later adopted the pen name Nima
Youshij,
grew up in this era of reform, writing melodious prose and
emotive free
verse that was innovative and different from the classic poetry
which had
been established and unchanged for so long.
Nima descended from the oldest branch of families in Mazandaran.
His
family was engaged in agriculture and animal breeding and the
poet spend
his childhood among shepherds and nomadic clansmen who traveled
to distant
regions in pursuit of fresh pastures. During his teenage years,
he was
tutored by the renowned poet, Nezami Vafa, who encouraged him to
compose
poetry.
Nima's debut in poetry was in the Khorasani style, but his
acquaintance
with the French language and literature gave his work a broad
spectrum.
"Afsaneh"(fable) was one of his earliest works written
in verse in 1923,
after a painful experience with love. "Afsaneh" echoes
the romantic poetry
of the 18th century, particularly that of Lamartine and Alfred de
Musset.
It is an example of a revolution in artistic description and
conception.
"Oh my heart, oh my heart!
With all thy goodness and thy grace,
What gains to me did thou impart
But tears that flow on my sad face?
Oh my poor heart, which on
If thou wert not cheated by the time's march.
Every branch and bough thou flies and perch;
Oh coaxing heart, thou could have fled and flown,
Every while thou frames an excuse
And struggle with me, oh lovelorn heart
To test with Afsaneh a lover's art.
Nima immersed himself in the literary outpourings of Mohammad
Taghi Bahar,
a poet laureate, Ali Asghar Hekmat, Ahmad Oshtori and other
orators and
scholars of the time. His first epic poet, "The Pale Story,
the Cold
Blood", was published in 1921 in a 30-page volume at his own
expense. The
epic consists of nearly 500 couplets in iambic hexameters in the
style of
Jalaloddin Roumi. It is a story of the young poet's feelings
about the
depressing conditions of the community in which he lived.
Nima's work was not composed hurriedly or simply to offend the
sentiments
of established poets in his day. He understood that his fellow
countrymen
were more attached to the framework of poems than to their
content. With
his first venture, the young poet did not immediately estrange
himself
from the traditional principles of Persian poetry. His primary
poems were
all based on the customary and recognized framework, containing
meter and
rhyme. He would add a free line without an ending rhyme so that
his rhyme
should not be repeated in a larger context, thus reducing the
monotonous
effect of repetitive sound. Thus, a new type of lyrical poetry
with
lilting combinations appeared, reflecting the poet's emotions and
the
public mood.
"These pieces" Al-e Ahmad noted, "are in fact
heavy and settled pieces
which have no fundamental difference with the established poetry
of the
past concerning their shape, framework, text and method of
recitation. In
this juvenile collection, the young poet is practicing poetry,
although it
is clear that he has not yet defined his style. Had the poet not
found his
style, he was likely to fall among the mass of forgotten poets
who trod
the beaten track."
Nima, aware that he could not write lengthy, monotonous poetry in
antiquated style, revolutionized poetry with a new method in his
composition of "Oh Night" and "Afsaneh." The
poems were effusive and
thoroughly welcomed by the younger generation. Zealous followers
of
classic Iranian poetry cried out that "a degeneration has
occurred in the
old respectable literature of the country!" For a long time,
reform in
Persian literature was tacked. Nima, unheeding, had found his
target
audience and his fame began to grow. An excerpt from his popular
poem, "oh
Night" shows the depth of emotion with which he wrote:
Oh ominous, horrible night,
Till when thou must burn my flesh so lawless,
Either remove my eyeballs and my sight
Or lift up the veil from the face;
Or let me die and end my strife,
For I'm tired of watching this life...
My heart has bled from pain, from dire pain,
My face has been yellowed from worry;
My head was full of hopes, in vain,
To take thee in my arms, oh thou fairy.
Where's the sound of all this wailing, oh where?
Where is the careful lover's groan who roamed here?
"Afsaneh" formed a bridge between the tempests of
revolution for
constitutional monarchy and the ancient literature of the country.
But
minds that had become accustomed to the limited and monotonous
music of
East could not digest new thoughts and new melodies. "Afsaneh,"
inharmonious and rejected. Nima knew that the structure of his
poetry was
not solid enough to make him universally accepted, but many
literary
figures were conscious that a new talent and trend were emerging.
The
masterpiece is full of imagery and pathos, the heroes are alive
or, at
least, the ghost of lovers in ancient lyrical poetry lift their
heads
within the lines of the poet's fluent verse.
A selection from his poem "The Jail" introduced his
method of composition
and dialog. It was presented to the public in his contemporary
selections.
The poet, although producing a series of disastrous poems in 1927,
remained confident of his talent. In a comment about his own
poetry during
that period, Nima said, "The styles used in each of these
pieces were
poisonous darts at that time, aimed at followers of the old
classic style.
Those who favored the classic literature did not consider them
printable
or publishable. Nevertheless, in 1963, my poetry occupied many
pages of
selected anthologies of contemporary poets. My first versified
tale, "The
Pale Story," which was only juvenile effusion, was among
those resembling
works of established authors. This angered the poets and the
literary
elite."
Of the different classic styles, Nima most preferred the quatrain.
It is
the framework which has been used by the majority of major
Persian poets,
among which Khayyam has excelled. It is short and solid in
structure. With
the exception of mystical quatrains, the majority of quatrains in
Persian
poetry speak from the heart about the passing moments of life.
This style
suited Nima's sensitive mentality and he used this framework
almost until
the end of his life. Using the quatrain format, Nima comments
about the
nature of his poetry.
A poem is an imaginary verse of the field,
a pest in the depth of ocean concealed.
I told death: "Why is the verdict, oh say?
He said it is that which our natures thrilled.
In 1926 Nima married Aliye jahanjir, daughter of Mirza Jahangir
Sooresrafil and had a son with her. As he did not have a regular
job, the
family moved to Port Astara on the Caspian Sea coast, where he
began to
teach. In 1933 he moved to Tehran and began teaching literature
at the
local high school. In 1938, Nima joined Mohammad Zia Hashtroudi,
Abdolhossein Noushin and Sadegh Hedayat on the editorial board of
Music
Magazine. A number of his poems were published in the magazine.
He became
employed by the Ministry of Education and continued teaching for
the rest
of his life. In 1950, "Afsaneh" was published with an
introduction by
Ahmad Shamlou. In 1954, a collection of his poems was published
in book
form, under the title "Who is Nima Youshij?" The great
pioneer in Persian
modern poetry died in 1959.
Nima was no more reformed than other poets who found fault with
the
ancient classic poetry and suggested methods for amending it. But
his
awareness of the delicate pathos of the Persian language, his
exposure to
French literature and his emancipation from archaic terms allowed
Nima to
offer more attractive samples of work. His response to criticism
was in
verse:
There is none who isn't acquainted with my tongue
Or marches not the path that I've trident long;
I hear my own words flowing from other's lips,
But still thou say thou are not pleased with my song.
***
I've fought with the ups and downs with my heart;
Whether I've reached my goal or failed in my art
Or my poems have not appealed to the taste,
This a poetry of time that flows from my heart.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
