# Sohrab Sepehri

Sohrab Sepehri (October 7, 1928 – April 21, 1980; Persian: سهراب سپهری) was a notable Iranian poet and painter. 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, Iran on October 7, 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 Kashan and moved to Tehran in 1943 to study at a teachers' college (Persian: دانشسرای مقدماتی). 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 (Persian: دانشکده هنرهای زیبا) 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 for treatment, but he had to return Tehran because of the progression of his illness. Finally, he died in Pars Hospital in Tehran on April 28, 1980. He was buried in Kashan. Sohrab never got married and his grave is frequently visited by many art lovers.
Sepehri travelled to many European countries. In Paris, 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 – Kashan, 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 (lit. 'The Eight Books'), which collected almost all of his published poems in one volume – 1976
* He became ill with leukemia and travelled to England for treatment in 1978
* He returned to Iran, and died of the cancer in Pars Hospital in Tehran on April 21, 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.)