Shahriar | |
|---|---|
شهریار | |
 Shahriar in his later years | |
| Born | (1906-01-02)2 January 1906 |
| Died | 18 September 1988(1988-09-18) (aged 82) |
| Burial place | Maqbarato'sh-Sho'ara,Tabriz, Iran |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Known for | Azerbaijani poetry |
| Notable work | Heydar Babaya Salam |
| Spouse | Azizeh Abde-Khaleghi(1947–1953) |
| Children | 3 |
| Signature | |
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Seyyed Mohammad-Hossein Behjat Tabrizi (Persian:سیدمحمدحسین بهجت تبریزی,romanized: Seyyed Moḥammad Ḥoseyn Behjat Tabrīzī; 2 January 1906 – 18 September 1988),[i] known by hispen nameShahriar,[ii] was an Iranian poet who composed works in bothAzerbaijani andPersian.His most important work,Heydar Babaya Salam, is considered to be the pinnacle ofAzerbaijani literature which gained great popularity in the Turkic world and was translated to more than 30 languages.[1]
Contrary to many other figures of his time, Shahriar barely involved himself with political problems and ideologies. He was, however, known for his avidnationalism; in his work, numerous metaphors commendingPersepolis,Zoroaster andFerdowsi are made. Many of his writings were also motived by his religious beliefs, and he composed very popular poems in praise ofAli ibn Abi Talib, the firstImam ofShia Islam.[2]
Mohammad Hossein Shahriar was one of the first Azerbaijanis of Iran to write a significant collection of poetry in the Azerbaijani language. Born in 1906 inTabriz, he received his elementary education, includingthe Divan of Hafez, under his father's supervision. Shahriar's first formal education was at the Motahhari (former Mansoor High School) Secondary School in Tabriz. He subsequently studied at theDar-ol-Fonoun (former higher education school) inTehran. Although he studied medicine in college, he dropped out just before getting his diploma and went toKhorasan, where he found a job as a notary public and bank clerk.[3] He returned to Tehran in 1935 and started working in theAgricultural Bank of Iran.[2]
During the 1945–1946Soviet occupation of Iranian Azerbaijan and ascendancy of the separatistAzerbaijani Democratic Party, Shahriar composed poems in glorification of Iran's national unity.[2]
He received an honorary professorship from theUniversity of Tabriz inliterature in 1967.[2]
He initially published his poems under his given name, Behjat, but later chose the name Shahriar. He published his first book of poems in 1929.[3] His poems were mainly influenced byHafez, a famousPersian poet, andKhasta Qasim, an old Azerbaijani poet.[citation needed]
His most famous work in Azerbaijani is Heydar Babaya Salam, published in 1954, which won immense popularity and has been translated into more than 30 languages and numerous plays all over the world.[3]
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The poet began by composing tragic poetry. Many of his bittersweet memories are reflected in his books Hazyan-e Del, Heydar Baba, and Mumiyai. Heydar Baba, composed in Azeri and later translated into Persian, was for a long time on the top ten best-seller list inTehran. Heydar Baba is the name of a mountain where the poet spent his childhood. He also wrote a book of epic poems, Takht-e Jamshid.[3]
He was interested in humanistic issues and in his poem "A letter toEinstein" he criticised the result of his scientific work that was abused as the nuclear weapon.[3]
Shahriar was a critic of the usage of the Latin alphabet for Turkic languages, writing a poem on the topic calledŞeyṭān Alifbāsı (Azerbaijani:شیطان الفباسی,lit. 'Satan's Alphabet') in 1986. In the poem, he called theArabic alphabet [az] the script of theQur'an, while calling theCyrillic [az] andLatin alphabets the scripts of Satan, calling on Turkic-speakers to reject the usage of the latter. He also declared in it that Iran is in a similar situation to theBattle of Karbala, referring to the then-ongoingIran–Iraq War, and called Turkic-speaking Muslims tojihad.[4][5] The poem was broadcast via Radio to both theSoviet Union andTurkey, with Shahriar reciting it in bothIstanbul Turkish and Azerbaijani in two separate recordings that were disseminated.[6]
Shahriar's verse takes diverse forms, including lyrics, quatrains, couplets, odes, and elegies. One of his love poems, Hala Chera, was set to music byRuhollah Khaleqi. The composition for orchestra and solo voice became one of his most well-known works. One of the major reasons for the success of Shahriar's work is the sincerity of his words. Since he uses colloquial language in the context of poetry, his poems are understandable and effective for a broad segment of the public.[2]
Shahriar was a talented calligrapher who wrote his own copy of the Qur'an,[2] played thesetar very well, and had a keen interest in music.[3] He was a very close friend of the Persian musician and highly respected teacher, Abdolhossein Saba.[citation needed]
His day of death is named the "national day of poem" in Iran.A television series about his life, directed byKamal Tabrizi, aired onIRIBchannel 2.[citation needed]
He died on 18 September 1988 in one of theTehran's hospitals and his body was transferred toTabriz and was buried inMaqbarato'sh-Sho'ara (Mausoleum of Poets).[3][2]
