Participant Sharareh Kamrani, a writer and translator, made a speech in which she explained how Etesami’s poetry has influenced contemporary Persian literature.
She noted that Parvin Etesami had forged a path for female poets and through her works had introduced the Iranian woman as an entity having her own ideas and thoughts about the world.
Hamidreza Shekarsari talked about the characteristics of Etesami’s verse and noted that she had had a great impact on Persian poetry and literature both during her lifetime and afterwards. She was the first Iranian poetess to enter the literary world on an equal footing with men, he added.
Shekarsari said, “Etesami was different from other poets. On first reading her poetry it is not obvious whether it has been written by a man or a woman. In fact, unless she had signed it, one would probably think that it had been composed by a man. In the work of other Iranian poetesses one can sense the femininity of the emotional content, but this is not noticeable in Etesami’s poems.
Parvin was brought up in a literary family and her father, Mirza Yusef Etesami, played a major role in the formation of her character. A poetess with her ability and character has not emerged since her time.”
Etesami (1907-40) was one of the most prominent Persian poets of the 20th century. She composed her first poem in a classical style at the age of eight. Her first collection of poems was published in 1935 and she received the Medal of Art and Culture in 1936.
Her poems contain social, humanitarian, educational and mystical concepts, and no allusions to romantic love or feminine sentiments are found in her work.
RM/MA/HG
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MNA
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