Sohrab Sepehri ( 7 October 1928 – 21 April 1980; ) was a notable

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. 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.

Biography

Sohrab was born in

Kashan Kashan (; ) is a city in the Central District (Kashan County), Central District of Kashan County, in the northern part of Isfahan province, Isfahan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. History Earlies ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

on 7 October 1928. He grew up in a family that was into art and poetry. Her grandmother, Hamideh-banou Zarabi, was poet. 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

and moved to

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

in 1943 to study at a teachers' college (Persian: ). 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 The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

(Persian: ) 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. 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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

for treatment, but he had to return Tehran because of the progression of his illness. Finally, he died in Pars Hospital in Tehran on 21 April 1980. He was buried in Kashan. Sohrab never married and his grave is frequently visited by many art lovers. Sepehri travelled to many European countries. In

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 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.

Poetry

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 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. He used a special symbolism in these poems that makes the objects talk to the reader, rather than describing those objects. Sepehri's poetry is full of humanity and concern for human values. He also achieved a new technique in painting which is called Texture, and was unknown to other painters for a long time. He used to create most of his pieces of art in isolated places like "Ghariyeh Chenar" and the deserts around Kashan. His poetry has been translated into many languages including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Swedish, Arabic, Turkish, Dutch and Russian. The first known translation into English of Sepehri's long poem, Seday-e Pay-e Ab (صدای پای آب) by Abbas Faiz and Martin Turner was published as "Water's Footfall" by Cambridge University Press in 1986. An English translation by Ali Salami of some of Sepehri's poems was published in 2003.

Timeline

*Born in 1928 –

, Iran *He hosted a painting exhibition – Tehran, 1944 *He published his first poetry book (The Death of Color), followed by a few other books, in 1951 *He graduated from the fine arts university with Bachelor of Arts degree in painting from Honar-haye Ziba University, Tehran – 1953 *He translated some Japanese poems into Persian and published them in a literary magazine called Sokhan – 1955 *He travelled to Ghazvin and attended the Paris Fine Arts School in lithography – 1957 *He travelled to Tokyo to further his studies in lithography and wood-carving – 1960 *He published three books of poetry – 1960 *On the way back to Iran from Japan, he visited India and became familiar with Buddhism – 1961 *He travelled to India again and visited several cities and provinces – 1964 *He travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan 1964 *He travelled to Europe and visited several countries, including Germany, England, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, and Austria – 1966 *He published some long poems after he returned to Iran – 1966 *He hosted a painting exhibition in Tehran – 1967 *He published another book of poetry – 1967 *He travelled to Greece and Egypt – 1974 *He published his final, comprehensive book called ''Hasht Ketab'' (), which collected almost all of his published poems in one volume – 1976 *He became ill with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

and travelled to England for treatment in 1978 *He returned to Iran, and died of the cancer in Pars Hospital in Tehran on 21 April 1980. Buried in Mashhad Ardehal, Kashan, Isfahan province, Iran.

Works

*''Hasht Ketab'' (Eight Books) 1976 *''The Death of Color'' 1951 *''The Life of Dreams'' 1953 *''Us nil, us a look'' Was not published until 1977 *''Downpour of Sunshine'' 1958 *''East of Sorrow'' 1961 *''The Wayfarer'' 1966 *''The Green Space'' 1967 (A poem from this book: The Oasis of Now'' (1965) translated by Kazim Ali with Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, BOA Editions, 2013.)

References

External links

Sohrab Sepehri
Official Website: Biography, Poems, Paintings and anythings about Sohrab Sepehri
Sohrab Sepehri
in Persian Language
Sohrab-Sepehri
Containing Biography, selected works and much more
A Tribute to Sohrab Sepehri

About Sohrab Sepehri

Sohrab Sepehri's Official Facebook Page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sepehri, Sohrab 20th-century Iranian poets 20th-century Iranian painters 20th-century Iranian male writers 1928 births 1980 deaths Iranian male poets People from Kashan