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The Dialectic of Poetry and Power in Iran 3 3 The Dialectic of Poetry and Power in Iran Jumada1 2015 February Fatemeh Shams PhD Candidate, Wadham College, University of Oxford he Dialectic of Poetry and Power Tin Iran Fatemeh Shams PhD Candidate, Wadham College, University of Oxford No. 3 FEBRUARY 2015 1 3 2 © King Faisal Center for research and Islamic Studies, 2015 King Fahd National Library Catalging-in-Publication Data King Faisal Center Dirasat (the dialectic of poetry and power in Iran). / King Faisal Center, - Riyadh, 2015 40p; 24cm ISBN: 978-603-8032-57-2 1- Iran - F0reign relations I-Title 338.2728 dc 1436/4400 L.D. no. 1436/4400 ISBN: 978-603-8032-57-2 Table of Contents 1. The Rise and Demise of Persian Court Poetry: From 5 Emergence to the Constitutional Period 2. From the Rise of Constitutional Poetry and Free 10 Verse to Pro-revolutionary Poetry (1905–1979) 3. The Rise of State Poetry after the Islamic Revolu- 15 tion (1979–present) 3.1. State Poetry in Ayatollah Khomeini’s Era Conclusion 35 About the author 38 3 3 4 Abstract The present study tackles the question of the relationship between po- etry and power in Iran in three periods, with a specific focus on the third one. The first period stretches from the rise of Persian court poetry in the medieval period to its demise in the wake of the constitutional movement (1905–11). The second reaches from the rise of constitutional and modern poetry to the emergence of prorevolutionary poetry at the outset of the 1979 revolution, and the third features the emergence of state-sponsored poetry in postrevolution Iran, which has reached its climax since the inauguration of poetry nights attended by the current leader of the Islamic Republic in 2000. Through these three episodes, and bringing the poetic precedents of each period into discussion, I argue that the emergence of state-sponsored poetry during the postrevolutionary period has to be understood and ana- lyzed in light of its poetic precedents and the ongoing dialogue of poetry and power in Iran. 1. The Rise and Demise of Persian Court Poetry: From Emer- gence to the Constitutional Period As scholars of medieval Persian literature have often noted, court poet- ry in Persia “dates from pre-Islamic times, when the poet-minstrel enjoyed an important and influential position at the court of the Iranian emperors.”1 Perhaps the earliest account of the engagement of Persian kings with po- etry goes back to the court of the Parthian period and to the Achaemenids, a time in which Persian epics and oral poetry were important sources of knowledge and education for the Persian kings and a significant way of communicating and maintaining the ethics and morality of the aristocratic elite.2 The history of Persian court poetry before the ninth century cannot be properly chronicled mainly because of major gaps in the documentation of earlier periods.3 Prior to the fall of the Sassanian Empire and following the Arab conquest (644-51) there was no clear distinction between the positions of the poet and the minstrel in the court. With their musical and verbal skills, poets generally played the role of the minstrel, whose main duty was to entertain the king 1- For more on the history of Persian court literature, see J. S. Meisami, Medieval Persian Court Poetry, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987, p. 3; M. J. Cook, “The Rise of the Achaemenids and Establishment of Their Empire,” in R. Nelson Fre, ed., Cambridge History of Iran, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985, p. 200, 291. 2- J. T. P. de Bruijn, “Courts and Courtiers: x. Court Poetry,” in Encyclopaedia Iranica, available online at www.iranicaonline.org; M. W. Thackston, A Millennium of Classical Persian Poetry from the Tenth to Twentieth Century, Bethesda, MD: Iranbooks, 1994. 3- As stated in Encyclopaedia Iranica, the main primary sources for medieval Persian court poetry include chapters 35 (on Sha’iri) and 36 (on khunyāgarī) in the Andarznamih (q.v.) of Kaykavus b. Iskandar (pp. 189–97) and the second essay in Nizami ʿAruzi’s Chahar maqalih. 5 3 6 during his leisure time. The information regarding the role of poet minstrels in this period has been obtained primarily through epic books such as the Shahnamih (“The book of kings”) of Firdawsi. Even sources such as these seem to be limited to the poet’s imagination of pre-Islamic courtly life. From the mid-eleventh century onward, the status of the poet (shaʿir) began to separate gradually from that of the court minstrel. Compared to minstrels, poets enjoyed a far higher social standing in the court. Works such as the Qabusnamih of Kaykavus b. Iskandar explained that poets had to educate themselves, to improve their writing abilities and to learn court- ly behavior, while minstrels were not necessarily educated or capable of writing. While poets were often present in the court and would sometimes even enter the inner circle of the king’s trust, the minstrel was not allowed to be present in the court except on especial occasions.4 Works such as Tarikh-i Bayhaqi and the Chahar maqalih of Nizami ʿAruzi state that the court poets of the medieval period functioned not only as boon compan- ions but also as a source of counsel and moral guidance in the court. They were expected to be simultaneously masters of language and of morals.5 Court poets were also meant to ensure the fame of the king and his salvation in the afterlife. Rudaki’s role for Amir Nasr Samani,6 4- Kaykavus, ʿUnsur al-Maʿali, Qabusnamih, ed. G .Yusufi, Tehran: ʿIlmi-Farhangi, 1973, pp. 196–97. 5- For more, see A. Bayhaqi, Tarikh-i Bayhaqi, ed. A. Fayyaz, Mashhad: Firdawsi Univer- sity Press, 2003; N. ʿAruzi Samarqandi, Chahar maqalih, ed. M. Qazvini, Tehran: Jāmi, 1995. 6- For example, the story of the famous poem “Bū-yi jū-yi Mūliyān” (“The fragrant scent of Mūliyān”), written by Rudaki (858–ca. 941), highlights the significant effect of the poet as a truthful character to inspire the patron and to influence courtly administrative affairs. Rudaki initially wrote this poem to convince the patron of his time to move back to Bokhara after a long tedious stay in Badgheys in Khorasan. A considerable amount of such verse can be traced in the history of Persian court poetry, which proves the substantial role of the poet as an essential component of the power establishment during the medieval period. For more examples of Persian medieval panegyrics, see E. G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia From Ferdowsi to Sa’di, London: Taylor & Francis, 1906; Meisami, Medieval Persian Court Poetry. ʿUnsuri’s and Farrukhi’s influential positions for their Ghaznavid pa- trons, and Anvari’s and Muʿizzi’s positions in the court of Seljuq kings bear witness to the enduring relationship of poets with patronage. The mutual interest in poetry was an important factor in sustaining this re- lationship. A number of patrons, including Amir Nasr Samani, Sultan Sanjar of the Seljuqs, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, and Fathali Shah of the Qajar dynasty, paid special attention to poetry. Moreover, most of the Timurid princes “wrote poetry themselves and exercised critical judgment on the poets of their courts.”7 Poets were extolled even more when Mahmud of Ghazna established the post of poet laureate (malik al-shuʿarā), which brought with it authority and prestige both in soci- ety and in the court. The power of patronage played a significant role in providing fi- nancial support to poets. A large proportion of the most glorified Per- sian verse perhaps would not even have come into existence had the courtiers not offered support to the poets. Court poets who were in the service of patrons were frequently rewarded with a variety of gifts including cash, clothing, and robes of honor.8 Treating poets with gold, silver, and clothing, however, was not always the case. The bitter story of Firdawsi and the discounting of his world-famous Shahnamih by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, as chronicled by Nizami ʿAruzi, and that of Masʿud Saʿd Salman’s prolonged custody, which is narrated in his prison poems (Habsiyat), are but two of numerous examples of such ill-treatment.9 After the fall of the Sassanid Empire and following the Muslim con- 7- E. Yarshater, “Safavid Literature: Progress or Decline,” Iranian Studies, 7, 1974, p. 219. 8- Ibid. 9- For complete accounts of Masʿud Saʿd Salman’s and Firdowsi’s troubled lives see N. ʿAruzi Samarqandi, Chahar maqalih, ed. E. G. Browne, Hertford: Stephen Austin, 1899, pp. 95–109. 7 3 8 quest, Islamic customs began to influence the Persian court and the poetry connected to it. The Islamic calendar was adopted and used in the court. Beside ancient pagan feasts such as the first day of spring (Nawrūz) and the Mihrigān feast in the autumn, Islamic feasts such as ʿĪd al-fitr were celebrated in the Persian court. Similarly, Arabic literary forms such as the qasida became a preoccupation of Persian court poets. In their panegyric qasidas and courtly lyrics (ghazal), poets began to praise the king as the shadow of God on earth. In the sixteenth century, with the rise of the autocratic Safavid dynasty and particularly under the reigns of Shah Ismaʿil and Shah Tahmasp, the panegyric qasida acquired a more religious tone. The famous episode in Alamara-yi ʿabbasi by Iskandar Bayg Munshi tells the story of Muhtasham Kashani, the Safavid court poet, and his renowned religious strophic poem, which was initially a panegyric ode in praise of Shah Tahmasp. After being reproached by the king for praising temporal rulers, Muhtasham wrote his seven-strophe poem in praise of Imam ʿAli; the poem has mistakenly come to be regarded as an elegy for Karbala.10 According to Karimi-Hakkak, from the sixteenth century onward court patronage no longer endorsed nonreligious court poetry.
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