Sohrab Sepehri

Sohrab Sepehri (October 7, 1928 – April 21, 1980) was a notable Iranian poet and 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.

Sepehri's poems have been translated into several languages, including English, French, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian and Kurdish.

He was a practitioner of New Poetry which had been introduced by Nima Yushij.

Like other practitioners of this form, he used new means to express his thoughts and feelings.His tendency toward Far Eastern mysticism can be overtly observed in his poetry.

Many of the vocabularies seen in Sepehri’s poems cause readers a sense of ambiguity.

Being aware of Buddhism and its effects on Sepehri’s poetry can help readers to comprehend his works more correctly.

Sohrab was born in Kashan, Iran on October 7, 1928.

He grew up in a family that was into art and poetry.

His father worked in a post office and loved art.

His mother loved poetry and art, too.

When he was a child, his father suffered from paralysis and died in 1941.

Sohrab missed his only brother who was his only playmate in childhood, too.

He completed his elementary and secondary education in Kashan and moved to Tehran in 1943 to study at a 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 at the University of Tehran (Persian: دانشکده هنرهای زیبا) and graduated with honours.

After finishing his education, he was employed in an oil company, which he left after 8 months.

He soon published his first collection of poems named "The Death of Color", followed by a second collection, "Life Sleeps".

Sohrab Sepehri was very talented in fine arts and his paintings were displayed in many European exhibits.

Finally, he died 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.

Sepehri travelled to many European countries.

In Paris, he enrolled in a lithography course at the school of Fine Arts.

However, after he stopped receiving a scholarship, he needed to work and make a living.

He sometimes worked hanging from tall buildings to wash the apartments' windows.

Well-versed in Buddhism, mysticism, and Western traditions, he blended the Eastern concepts with Western techniques, thereby creating a kind of poetry unprecedented in the history of Persian literature.

He had his own style of writing poetry, using short sentences rather than long ones, the latter having been frequently 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 evocation of nature and the use of tender and simple language.

Abdolali Dastgheib, acclaimed literary critic and writer, believes that Sepehri reached great levels in poetic language following the publication of his later books such as ‘The Water’s Footfall’, ‘Traveller’ and ‘The Green Volume’.

There are many examples of personifications, or symbols in his poetry.

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.

His paintings are about nature; one of them 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.