“WHEN PERSIA MEETS THE CAUCUSES THROUGH POETRY”: ASHRAF OF GILAN’S ALLUSION TO MIRZA ALAKBAR SABIR DURING THE IRANIAN CONSTITUTIONAL ERA

Abstract

Mirza Alakbar Sabir was one of the pivotal literary figures during the Iranian Constitutional revolution in 1907 and the unsuccessful revolution of 1905 in Russian, which affected the Caucuses. He was a role model of many poets of his time including some great Persian poets. In this article, T.S. Eliot’s famous stance towards borrowing from other poets “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal” has been adopted as the basis of our survey of some of the borrowings of one of the Persian political poets during the Iranian Constitutional revolution namely Ashraf to see if he has allusions to Mirza Alakbar Sabir. The results of the paper show that Ashraf’s poem is a pastiche of Sabir’s style. He is the translator of Sabir, but he makes some alternations of detail, arrangement, and number of lines tending to play down the presence of Sabir in his work remaining “auditory imagination”.

Keywords

• Azerbaijani Turkish literature
• Persian literature
• Mirza Alakbar Sabir
• Ashrafedin Hosseini Gilani
• Molla Nasraddin magazine

WHEN PERSIA MEETS THE CAUCUSES THROUGH POETRY”: ASHRAF OF GILAN’S ALLUSION TO MIRZA ALAKBAR SABIR DURING THE IRANIAN CONSTITUTIONAL ERA

Abstract

Mirza Alakbar Sabir was one of the pivotal literary figures during the Iranian Constitutional revolution in 1907 and the unsuccessful revolution of 1905 in Russian, which affected the Caucuses. He was a role model of many poets of his time including some great Persian poets. In this article, T.S. Eliot’s famous stance towards borrowing from other poets “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal” has been adopted as the basis of our survey of some of the borrowings of one of the Persian political poets during the Iranian Constitutional revolution namely Ashraf to see if he has allusions to Mirza Alakbar Sabir. The results of the paper show that Ashraf’s poem is a pastiche of Sabir’s style. He is the translator of Sabir, but he makes some alternations of detail, arrangement, and number of lines tending to play down the presence of Sabir in his work remaining “auditory imagination”.

Keywords

• Azerbaijani Turkish literature
• Persian literature
• Mirza Alakbar Sabir
• Ashrafedin Hosseini Gilani
• Molla Nasraddin magazine

References

1. Arianpour, Y. (1372/1993-94). Az Sabā tā Nimā (From Saba to Nima) (Vol. 2). (5th ed.). Zavvar. [In Persian]
2. Ashraf, S. G. (1371/1992-93). Koliyāt-e Jāvdāne-ye Nasim-e Shomāl (Collection of everlasting Nasim-e Shomal). Asatir. [In Persian]
3. Bahar, M (1336/1957-58). Divān-e Ashār-e Bahār (A poetry collection of Bahar). Amir Kabir. [In Persian]
4. Browne, G., E. (1914). The press and poetry of modern Persia. Cambridge University Press.
5. Faghih, E. (2017). Echoes of Iranian Azerbaijani-Turkish Poetry. (2nd ed.). Bridges Publishing.
6. Haughton, H. (2011) Allusion: the case of Shakespeare. In T. S. Eliot in context. Edited by Jason Harding. Cambridge University Press. pp. 157-168.
7. Hirsch, E. (2022, May 31). Political Poetry: Explore the glossary of poetic terms. https://poets.org/glossary/political-poetry.
8. Kasravi, A. (1370/1991-92). Tārikh-e Mashrute-ye Iran (History of the Iranian constitutional revolution). (6th ed.). Amir Kabir. [In Persian]

9. Sabir, M. A. (1914). Hophopname. Baku. [In Azerbaijani Turkish]
10. Seif, A., & Bakhshi, H. (2012). A Study of the Influences of Seyyed Ashraf Gilani on the Poetry of Mirza Ali Akbar Saber. Quarterly Journal of Persian Poetry and Poetry (Bahar Adab), 5(4): 203-215. [In Persian]
11. Shahriar, M. (1387/2008). Divan-e Shariar (A poetry collection of Shahriar). Negah. [In Persian]
12. Shahriar, M. (1377/1998). Divan-e Turkiye Shariar be Enzemam-e Heydar Babaya Salam (The Turkish poetry collection of Shahriar including Heydar Babaya Salam). Negah. [In Azerbaijani Turkish]
13. Shams Langaroodi, M. T. J. G. (1377/1998). Tarikhe Tahlili-ye Sher-e Now (An analytic history of Persian modern poetry). (Vol 1). (2nd ed.). Nashr-e Markaz publishing Co. [In Persian]
14. Tearle, O. (2022, May 31). The Meaning and Origin of ‘Immature Poets Imitate; Mature Poets Steal’. Interesting literature. https://interestingliterature.com/.