Мохаммед Таки Бахар: Поэт-лауреат и гордость Ирана

Iranian poet and scholar

Mohammad Taqi Bahar (محمدتقی بهار; also romanized as Mohammad Taqī Bahār; 10 December 1886 in Mashhad – 22 April 1951 in Tehran), widely known as Malek osh Sho'arā (ملک‌الشعراء) and Malek osh Sho'arā Bahār ("poet laureate," literally: the king of poets), was a renowned Iranian poet, 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 historian Mehrdad Bahar.

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 for Iran and his persistent opposition to fanaticism, 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 modern Persian 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 in Western 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 wrote Panegyric (Setāyeshi or Madiheh), Epic (Hamāsi), Patriotic (Mihaní), Heraldic and Mystic (Ramzi or Sufi'āneh), Romantic (Āasheghāneh), Ethical (Akhlāghi), Didactic (Āmuzeshi or Pandi), Colloquial (Goft o gu'í), and Satirical (Tanzi or Hajvi). Bahār's Official Website has made a selection of Bahār's poetry available to the general public, which the interested reader may wish to consult.

"The Chained White Beast" is a poem by Bahar, written in 1922, in which he praises Damavand, 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.