Sems Kesmai (March 4, 1884 – November 3, 1961; ) was an Iranian poet known for her innovations in Persian

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

poetry.

Biography

Sems Kesmai was born 1884 in

Yazd Yazd ( fa, یزد ), formerly also known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located southeast of Isfahan. At the 2016 census, the population was 1,138,533. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a Wor ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

. Her father was an immigrant from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

, and her family was broadly from Iran's nearby Gilan region. She pursued some studies in her hometown, but she was married off to a tea merchant, Hossein Arbabzadeh, at a young age and did not resume her education until she was 27 years old and living with him in

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...

. There, she studied Russian and became familiar with the activism of the period. When she was 35 years old, her husband became bankrupt, and they moved to

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...

Iranian Azerbaijan Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan ( fa, آذربایجان, ''Āzarbāijān'' ; az-Arab, آذربایجان, ''Āzerbāyjān'' ), also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a historical region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq, Turkey, the Nakhchivan ...

. There, she started writing for activist newspapers—particularly '—arguing against British intervention in Iran. She also began to publish poetry in modernist magazines and women's rights publications, including the magazine ''Azadistan''. Kesmai is considered the first female Persian modernist poet, described as "the mother of modern Persian poetry." She and her modernist peers saw moving away from the "rhetorical acrobatics" of traditional Persian poetry as the only way to save poetry's essence, rejecting

Arabic prosody ( ar, اَلْعَرُوض, ) is the study of poetic meters, which identifies the meter of a poem and determines whether the meter is sound or broken in lines of the poem. It is often called the ''Science of Poetry'' ( ar, عِلْم اَلشِ� ...

. Her writing often incorporated unexpected vocabulary, including Russian and Turkish words. Her poetry also sometimes included elements of Iranian nationalism. In addition to poetry, Kesmai also wrote on feminist subjects, including opposition to

veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...

ing for women. However, after her son died in fighting during the Jungle Movement rebellion, and Mohammad Khiabani's uprising in Tabriz was crushed, she began focusing on pure poetry rather than activist writing. Eventually, at age 57, she returned to her hometown of Yazd, before spending her final years in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

. She died there in 1961. Despite her important early role in Persian modernist poetry, relatively few of Kesmai's poems survive to the present day.

External links

Sems Kesmai
on

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(in Persian)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kesmai, Sems 1884 births 1961 deaths People from Yazd Modernist poets 20th-century Iranian poets Iranian women poets Iranian feminists