Sohrab Sepehri

Sohrab Sepehri
Sohrab Sepehri
Born	October 7, 1928; Kashan, Iran
Died	April 21, 1980 (aged 51); Tehran, Iran
Resting place	Mashhad-e Ardahal, Kashan, Iran
Occupation	Persian poet and painter
Signature

Sohrab Sepehri (Persian: سهراب سپهری; October 7, 1928 – April 21, 1980) was a notable Iranian poet and a painter. He is considered to be one of the five most famous Iranian poets who have practiced modern poetry alongside Nima Youshij, Ahmad Shamlou, Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, and Forough Farrokhzad.[1] Sepehri's poems have been translated into several languages including; English, French, Spanish, Italian and Lithuanian.Samira Gilani has published several articles on Sohrab Sepehri's poems at the universities of Tehran and Punjab.[2][3]

Biography

Sohrab was born in Kashan, Iran in 1928. He completed his elementary and secondary education in Kashan and moved to Tehran in 1943 to study at teachers' college (Persian: دانشسرای مقدماتی). He worked as a teacher for a few years, then enrolled as a student in the faculty of fine arts school at University of Tehran (Persian: دانشکده هنرهای زیبا) and graduated with honors. Sohrab Sepehri was very talented in fine arts and his paintings were displayed in many European exhibits. His paintings are about nature and one of his paintings was sold in Tehran in 2018. He is one of Iran's foremost modernist painters. Unfortunately, he moved to England for treatment but he had to return Tehran because of the progression of his illness. Finally, he passed away in ‘Pars Hospital’ in Tehran on April 28, 1980. He was buried in [Kashan]. Sohrab never got married and his grave is frequently visited by many art lovers.[4][5]

Sohrab Sepehri grew up in a family that they were into art and poetry. His father was working in a post office and loved art. His mother loved poetry and art, too. When he was a child, his father was suffering from paralysis and died in 1341. Sohrab missed his only brother who was his only playmate in childhood, too.

After moving to Tehran and educating in Fine Art College, he was employed in oil company. He left the company after 8 months. In 1330, he published his first collection of poems named "The Death of Color". In 1332, he was graduated from Fine Art College and he received the scientific first degree. During this time, he published his second collection of poems, "sleeps life".

In 1336, he traveled to some European countries. He visited France and Paris. He enrolled in lithographie in the school of Fine Arts in Paris. At the time when he was educating in Paris, he didn't receive scholarship anymore, so he needed to work and make a living. He sometimes was hanging from tall buildings to wash the apartments' windows.

Poetry

Well-versed in Buddhism, mysticism, and Western traditions, he blended the Eastern concepts with Western techniques, thereby creating a kind of poetry unsurpassed in the history of Persian literature. He had his own style of writing in his poems that he used short sentences rather than longer ones which is used in Persian poetry for centuries. To him, new forms were new means to express his thoughts and feelings. In one of his works called 'Footsteps of Water' or ‘The Water’s Footfall’ Sepehri introduces himself, his family, and his way of thinking in a poetic form. This poem which is written like a biography has two aspects: the inner and outer. The Inner aspect of this poem is about God's recognition through the beauty of nature. Sepehri beautifully explains that he doesn't blindly do his religious duties. In most of his poems, Sepehri introduces a new form of literature by using romanticism and symbolism. The beauty of his poems is seen through his inspiration of nature and the use of tender and simple language. Abdolali Dastgheib, acclaimed literary critic writer, believes that Sepehri has reached great levels in poetic language following the publication of his later books such as ‘The Water’s Footfall’, ‘Traveler’ and ‘The Green Volume’. In the last one, "The Green Volume" there's a famous poem called "Beyond the Seas". As Sepehri is famous in writing about nature and its elements in a very simple but meaningful way. There are many examples of personifications, or symbols in his poetry.[6] In his poem "Let's not Spoil the Water", he talks about water, the necessary and basic element of life which people must keep clean. He has used a special symbolism in these poems that makes the objects talk to the reader, rather than explaining those objects.[7] Sepehri's poetry is full of humanity and concern for human values. He also achieved a new technique in painting which is called Texture and was unknown for the other painters for a long time. He used to create most of his pieces of art in isolated places like "Ghariyeh Chenar" and desserts of Kashan. His poetry has been translated into many languages including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Swedish, Arabic, Turkish and Russian. An English translation of his selected poems by Ali Salami was published in 2003.

Timeline

Born in 1928 – Kashan – Iran
He hosted a painting exhibition - Tehran 1944
He published his first poetry book (The Death of Color) that followed by a few other books in the same year - 1951
He graduated from the fine arts university with Bachelor of Arts degree in painting from Honar-haye Ziba University,[8] Tehran – 1953
He translated some Japanese poetry into Persian and published them in a literary magazine called Sokhan – 1955
He traveled to Ghazvin and attended the Paris Fine Arts School in lithography – 1957
He traveled to Tokyo to further his studies in lithography and wood carving – 1960
He published three books in poetry – 1960
On the way back to Iran from Japan, he visited India and became familiar with the ideology of Buddhism – 1961
He traveled to India again and visited several cities and provinces – 1964
He traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan 1964
He traveled to Europe and visited several countries such as Germany, England, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria – 1966
He published some long poems after he returned to Iran – 1966
He hosted a painting exhibition in Tehran 1967
He published another book in poetry 1967
He traveled to Greece and Egypt – 1974
He published his final book called 'Hasht Ketab' (Eight Books), which was the collection of almost all of his published poems in one volume – 1976
He got Leukemia and traveled to England for treatment – 1978
Unfortunately, his attempt to defeat cancer brought him no result. He returned to Iran and died in Pars Hospital in Tehran on Monday April 21, 1980. Buried in Mashhad Ardehal, Kashan Province, Iran.

Works

Hasht Ketab (Eight Books) 1976
The Death of Color 1951
The Life of Dreams 1953
Us nil, us a look Was not published until 1977
Downpour of Sunshine 1958
East of Sorrow 1961
The Wayfarer 1966
The Green Space 1967 (A poem from this book: The Oasis of Now (1965) translated by Kazim Ali with Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, BOA Editions, 2013.)

gollark: That would be terrible. No.

gollark: > that's 5 times as likely to dieYes, a factor of 5 is quite significant.

gollark: As far as I know it's more like 99.5% or so?

gollark: That screenshot is *basically* unreadable.

gollark: Voting machines have notoriously bad software in general.

References

Behrooz, Anahit. "10 Inspiring Iranian Poets and Their Verses".
http://www.sohrabsepehri.com/main.asp
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328630950_Sohrab_Sepehri_1928-1980
http://www.sohrabsepehri.com/main.asp
Abdolali Dastgheib, 2006. The Green Garden of Poetry, Critical Review of poems by Sohrab Sepehri. Amitis Publishers, Tehran, Iran. ISBN 964-8787-08-5. (Title in Persian: باغ سبز شعر )
Roozbeh, Roohollah (2018-06-10). "William Wordsworth and Sohrab Sepehri: A Comparative Study of Identical Romantic Experience".
Dastgheib, Abdolali. The Green Garden of Poetry, Critical Review of poems by Sohrab Sepehri, 2006. Amitis Publishers, Tehran, Iran. ISBN 964-8787-08-5. (Title in Persian: باغ سبز شعر)
تبیان, موسسه فرهنگی و اطلاع رسانی (1 January 2019). "Sohrab Sepehri". سایت موسسه فرهنگی و اطلاع رسانی تبیان.

External links

Media related to Sohrab Sepehri at Wikimedia Commons

Sohrab Sepehri Official Website: Biography, Poems, Paintings and anythings about Sohrab Sepehri
Sohrab Sepehri in Persian Language
Sohrab-Sepehri: Containing Biography, selected works and much more
A Tribute to Sohrab Sepehri
About Sohrab Sepehri
Sohrab Sepehri's Official Facebook Page

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Behrooz, Anahit. "10 Inspiring Iranian Poets and Their Verses".

[2] ttp://www.sohrabsepehri.com/main.asp

[3] ttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/328630950_Sohrab_Sepehri_1928-1980

[4] ttp://www.sohrabsepehri.com/main.asp

[5] Abdolali Dastgheib, 2006. The Green Garden of Poetry, Critical Review of poems by Sohrab Sepehri. Amitis Publishers, Tehran, Iran. ISBN 964-8787-08-5. (Title in Persian: باغ سبز شعر )

[6] Roozbeh, Roohollah (2018-06-10). "William Wordsworth and Sohrab Sepehri: A Comparative Study of Identical Romantic Experience".

[7] Dastgheib, Abdolali. The Green Garden of Poetry, Critical Review of poems by Sohrab Sepehri, 2006. Amitis Publishers, Tehran, Iran. ISBN 964-8787-08-5. (Title in Persian: باغ سبز شعر)

[8] تبیان, موسسه فرهنگی و اطلاع رسانی (1 January 2019). "Sohrab Sepehri". سایت موسسه فرهنگی و اطلاع رسانی تبیان.