Parvin E'tesami's Life

May 23, 2008

Culture

The following is a short biography from Parvin E'tesami adopted from "A Brief Note on Parvin E'tesami's Life", by Iraj Bashiri:

Parvin E'tesami was born in 1907 in Tabriz, Iran. Her formative years were spent in Tehran where her family had moved and where she lived an extraordinarily simple and tranquil life close to her father, Yusif E'tesami (E'tesam al-Mulk). Here she gained her knowledge of the Arabic language and a solid grounding in Arabic and Persian literatures. Reportedly, she started composing poetry when she was eight years old.

Within the second decade of her life (1920), E'tesam al-Mulk founded a literary magazine called "Bahar" to which Parvin contributed regularly. In fact, in the long run, this magazine became a main vehicle for the promotion of her literary talent in a male-dominated society. Parvin's themes of humanism and liberalism struck a special cord with her audiences.

E'tesam al-Mulk, however, was not satisfied with the amount of knowledge that his daughter had gained from his personal instruction. Neither was he satisfied with the traditional curricula offered at the public and private schools in Tehran. Eventually, he entered Parvin in the American College for Girls where she learned English and became familiar, first-hand, with the cultures of the West. Parvin graduated from the American College for Girls in 1925. Then, after a short stint as instructor at the College, she decided to return to her family and devote her entire time to composing poetry.

A learned man with a considerable amount of influence in Tehran of the 1930's, E'tesam al-Mulk held literary gatherings in his house. The participants, including Malak al-Shu'ara Bahar and Shahriyar, discussed aspects of Iranian life and culture, including education, the situation of the serfs, the plight of women, and the oppression of Reza Shah's regime. Parvin, reportedly, participated in these meetings and contributed to them by reciting her poetry.

There seems to have been only three men in Parvin's relatively short life. The most important one, of course, was her father whom we can easily identify as the mainstay of her life. The second in importance seems to have been her husband of a very short time. The couple got married and moved to Kermanshah in 1934. Within two and a half months the marriage ended in divorce and Parvin returned to Tehran. The third man is her cousin, Abu al-Fath E'tesami, who assisted her in the publication of her divan in 1936. Her completed works were not published until 1954.

Three years after the death of her father Parvin, too, died (April 1941) of typhoid fever. She was thirty-five years old. They buried her next to her father in Qum. The following graces her tombstone:

Beneath this soil which verdure refuse, Lies Parvin, literary star and muse; Who, While suffering the bitterness of Times, Composed charming, sugar-laden rhymes.

You can download her couplets from here. If you want to search her poems, see here. I selected one of her great poems for you. I see a tight similarity between Parvin's life and Forough's life, any idea?

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