Mohammad-Taqi Bahar

Mohammad-Taqi Bahar محمدتقی بهار
Born	10 December 1886 Mashhad,Iran
Died	22 April 1951(1951-04-22)(aged 64) Tehran,Iran
Occupation	Poet, politician and journalist
Literary movement	Persian literature
Notable works	Tārikh-e Sistān Tārikh-e Mokh'tasar-e Ahzāb-e Siāssi Sabk Shenāsi Moj'malal ol-Tavārikh val Qesās Javāme' ol-Hekāyāt(Anthology of Stories),
Spouse	Sodabeh Safdari ​ (m.1919)​
Children	6, includingMehrdad
Parents	Mohammad Kazem Sabouri
Website
bahar-site.fr

Mohammad-Taqi Bahar(Persian:محمدتقی بهار;alsoromanizedas Mohammad-Taqī Bahār; 10 December 1886 inMashhad– 22 April 1951 inTehran), widely known asMalek osh-Sho'arā(Persian:ملکالشعراء) andMalek osh-Sho'arā Bahār( "poet laureate," literally:the king of poets), was a renownedIranianpoet, scholar, politician, journalist, historian and Professor of Literature. Although he was a 20th-century poet, his poems are fairly traditional and strongly nationalistic in character. Bahar was father of prominent Iranist, linguist, mythologist and Persian historianMehrdad Bahar.

Biography

Mohammad-Taqí Bahār was born on 10 December 1886 in the Sarshoor District ofMashhad,the capital city of theKhorasan Provincein the north-east ofIran.His father was Mohammad Kazem Sabouri, thePoet Laureateof the shrine in Mashhad who held the honorific title ofMalek o-Sho'arā( "King of Poets" ), while his mother was a devout woman named Hajjiyeh Sakineh Khanum.Bahār was ofGeorgiandescent on his maternal side.His mother's forebears were Georgian notables who had been captured by the troops ofAbbas Mirzaduring theRusso-Iranian Warsand were taken to mainland Iran, where they eventually converted to Islam.Bahār's paternal great-great-grandfather was Hajj Mohammad-Baqer Kashani, who in turn was the son of Hajj Abd ol-Qader Kharabaf ofKashan.

Bahār began his primary education when he was three, with his father, Mohammad Kāzem Sabouri, as histutor.In addition to his private schooling, Bahār attended one of the traditional schools,Maktab Khāneh,in Mashhad. To enhance his knowledge ofPersianand Arabic, he further attended the classes of Adib Nai'shābouri, a traditional poet and literary scholar who promoted the style of the poets of Khorasan in the early Islamic era, in the tradition of the so-calledbāzgasht-e adabī(literary regress).It has been said that Bahār knew by heart a very good portion of theKoranat a very early age. According to Bahār himself, at seven he readShahnamehand fully grasped the meaning of Ferdowsi's Epic poems.

Bahār composed his first poem at age eight, at which time he also chose the nameBahār,meaning Spring, as his pen name (takhallosin Persian). It is known that Bahār chose this pen name afterBahār Shirvāni,a poet and close friend of his father's, after Shirvāni's death. Shirvāni was a renowned poet duringNasser-al-Din Shah Qajar.

At 14, Bahār was fluent in Arabic, and later he achieved spoken and written fluency in French. At 18, he lost his father and started to work as aMuslimpreacher and clergy. It was during this time that he composed a longode(Qasidehin Persian) and sent it to Mozzafar-al-Din Shah who became so deeply impressed by this ode that he immediately appointed Bahār as his Poet Laureate and byRoyal Decreeconferred on him, at the age of 19 (1903), the title ofMalek o-Sho'arāat the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashad.

At the onset of theConstitutional Revolution of Iran(1906–1911), Bahār laid down his position of Poet Laureateship and joined the revolutionary movement for establishing the parliamentary system of democracy in Iran. Bahār became an active member of the Mashhad branch ofAnjoman-e Sa'ādat(Society for Prosperity) that campaigned for establishment of Parliament of Iran (Majles). He published the semi-covert newspaperKhorāsān,in collaboration with Hossein Ardebili,Nou-bahār(New Spring), andTāzeh-bahār(Fresh Spring), both in collaboration with his cousinHaj Sheikh Ahmad Baharwho operated a printing company and who acted as the Senior Editor first in Mashhad and later inTehran.

Bahār published numerous articles in his newspapers in which he passionately exhorted his readers to stand up and help bring about the establishment of a functioning Parliament.He equally forcefully advocated the creation of new and reformed public institutions, a new social and political order and of new forms of expression. After the triumph of the Constitutional Revolution, Bahār was repeatedly elected as a Member of Parliament.

In 1918, whenAhmad Shah Qajar,the seventh and the last ruler of the Qajar dynasty, was in power, Bahār reinvented himself: he ceased all his clerical activities and became an entirely new man. At the same time, he together with the writer and poetSaeed Nafisi,the poet and historianGholam-Reza Rashid Yasemithe historianAbbas Eqbāl Ashtiāni,and his talented friendAbdolhossein Teymourtashfounded The Literary Association of the academy (Anjoman-e Adabi-ye Dāneshkadeh). The Magazine of the academy (Majaleh-ye Dāneshkadeh) was the monthly publication of this Association, in which, in addition to works of prose and poetry, other very informative and useful articles were published, under such diverse titles as "Literary Revolution", "How other nations view us" and "The Literary History of Iran". In fact, this magazine became Bahār's vehicle for publication of the results of his literary researches and introduction ofWestern Literatureto Iranians. The magazine also played a key role in developing and strengthening the present-day form of Persian Literature.

Bahār's tomb inZahir-od-dowleh cemetery,Tehran

Following establishment ofTehran Universityin 1934 (during the reign ofReza Shah Pahlavi), Bahār became Professor of Persian Literature at the Faculty of Literature of this university. In the course of his tenure as Professor, he dedicated most of his time to writing and editing books on Persian Literature and History. Notable amongst numerous works written and edited by Bahār are:

• Tārikh-e Sistān(History ofSistān),
• Tārikh-e Mokh'tasar-e Ahzāb-e Siāssi(A Concise History of the Political Parties),
• Sabk Shenāsi(Methodology), which concerns the variety of styles and traditions of Persian prose,
• Moj'malal ol-Tavārikh o val Qesās(Concise Histories and Tales),
• Javāme' ol-Hekāyāt(Anthology of Stories),
• Two volumes of verse, consisting of his own poems.

In 1945, duringMohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's reign, Bahār served for a short period as the Minister of Culture and Education in the Cabinet of the then Prime MinisterAhmad Qavam(also known as Qavam os-Saltaneh). Earlier in the same year he and Ahmad Qavam had created theTiranDemocratic Party(Hezb-e Demokrāt-e Tirān).

In the last years of his life, Bahār suffered fromTuberculosis.He sought medical treatment inLeysin,Switzerland,in a sanatorium, where he stayed between 1947 and 1949. It was not long after his return to Iran that his health quickly deteriorated. He died on 21 April 1951,at his home inTehran.He is entombed inZahir o-dowlehCemetery inDarband,located inShemiran,north of Tehran.

His poems

Although Bahār was a 20th-century poet, his poems are quite traditional and decidedly patriotic. Many scholars have strongly emphasized and documented that Bahār's style of writing and the beauty of his poetry, in addition to his deep passion forIranand his persistent opposition tofanaticism,have indeed made him one of the greatest cultural icons of modern Iran. Although he worked for some period of time as a clergyman and preacher, his first and foremost passion had always been writing, especially of poetry, as well as carrying out historical researches and teaching.

Through his literary magazine, The Magazine of the academy (Majaleh-ye Dāneshkadeh), Bahār had a significant impact on the development of modernPersian poetry and literature.One may argue that, to varying degrees, almost all the early advocates of modernism in Persian Poetry and Literature found their inspirations in the new developments and changes that had taken place inWestern literature.Nonetheless, such inspirations would not have easily resulted in changes without the efforts and support of such figures as Bahār, whose literary contributions were, and remain consonant with Iranian culture. In Bahār's collection of poems, one finds poems composed in almost every tradition of Persian Poetry. To name a few, he wrotePanegyric(SetāyeshiorMadiheh),Epic(Hamāsi), Patriotic (Mihaní),HeraldicandMystic(RamziorSufi'āneh),Romantic(Āasheghāneh), Ethical (Akhlāghi),Didactic(ĀmuzeshiorPandi),Colloquial(Goft-o-gu'í), andSatirical(TanziorHajvi). Bahār's Official Websitehas made a selection of Bahār's poetry available to the general public, which the interested reader may wish to consult.

The Chained White Beast

"The Chained White Beast" is a poem by Bahar, written in 1922, in which he praisesDamavand,the highest mountain in Iran, and presents it as a symbol of patriotism. The opportunity had come for the nationalists to take the floor and criticize the regime. Bahar's symbol for provoking patriotic upheavals is a reflection of the growth of the notion of nationalism which had been introduced to Iranians only few decades before. Bahar describes Damavand as a beast, and asks it to rise and wipe out injustice, and let the real Iran flourish.

Sources

• Loraine, M. B.; Matīnī, J. (1988)."BAHĀR, MOḤAMMAD-TAQĪ".Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 5.pp. 476–479.
• Samiʿi, Ahmad; Melvin-Koushki, Matthew (2013)."Bahār, Muḥammad Taqī".InMadelung, Wilferd;Daftary, Farhad(eds.).Encyclopaedia Islamica Online.Brill Online.ISSN1875-9831.
• Mohammad-Taqi Bahār's Official Website, in Persian:Malek o-Sh'sho'arā Bahār.
• Manuchehr Saadat Noury,First Iranian scholar who challenged the Islamic fundamentalism,Persian Journal, 4 June 2006:[1].
• ملکالشعرا بهار;his biography
• his biography

Further reading

• A Brief History of Persian Literature,Iran Chamber Society.
• The Poet's Daughter,[2].

External links

• Malek o-Sh'sho'arā Bahār,Mohammad-Taqi Bahār's Official Website, in Persian:[3].
• Note:At present this website offers the following biographical section also in French:[4].
• Ali Mostafavi, editor, Selected poems from the poetical works of Malek o-Sh'sho'arā Bahār (Gozideh-ye Divān-e Ash'ār-e Malek o-Sh'sho'arā-ye Bahār), in Persian, 56 pages, Bahār's Official Website,pdf.
• M.T. Bahār,Iran Yellow Pages, Iranian Poets,[5]Archived29 October 2004 at theWayback Machine.

See also

• Mehrdad Bahar,Mohammad-Taqi Bahār's son.
• Five-Masters
• Sayyed Hasan Taqizadeh
• Abdolhossein Teymourtash