Abuzar
Research Scholar (PhD)
Centre of Persian and Central Asian Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Abstract:
We see that in Persian literature, women have always had a secondary position compared to men. But due to the influence of Western literature, especially after the constitution came into existence, modern issues such as human equality in general and equal rights between men and women in particular began to take root in Persian literature. Women writers began to speak out and write for their rights that have been denied to them due to the patriarchal and patrimonial system of traditional Iranian culture, where Behbahani’s poetry is a mirror of the persecution of her social life.
Behbahani is one of the great contemporary female poets whose writings focus specifically on women’s issues. Through her writings, she describes gender stereotypes, cultural monopolies, human depravity, and various forms of censorship, as she believed that women are deprived of all freedom in the name of tradition and modernity in a male-centered society. She is therefore one of the few Iranian female poets whose name is preserved in Persian literature beyond the borders of Iran. In this study we have tried to analyze the different aspects of gender, freedom, and the social barrier through the poems selected from Behbahani’s poetry with reference to the contemporary Iranian society.
Key Words: Women Issues, Discrimination, Freedom, Stereotypes, Temperate Style
Introduction
Simin Behbahani, who brings new insights into the Ghazal (sonnet) in Persian literature, was born in 1927 in Iran. She was a daughter of Abbas Khalili, a great poet, writer and the editor of Iqdam newspaper and her mother Fkhr-e-Ozma Arghoon, was one of themost prominent women of her decade in terms of a human rights activist. She was familiar with Arabic and French very well, as well as Persian language and literature. She grew up in such a culturally rich environment, but her mother got separated from her husband before she was born, which had this effect on her, as she speaks of herself that “before my birth, my mother had left her husband with his business and return to her father’s house”[1]. In fact, Arghoon was a very intelligent woman of her time, who supported her daughter to be educated with her two brothers at a time when reading and writing were, reasoneda sin for women.
Behbahani was a revolutionary poet and was touched by the writings of Nima Yushej, the father of modern Persian poetry, but she easily created her own particular style in Ghazal which was very close to the traditional form of writings and her poetic outlook was quite new and progressive. When genre of Ghazal was about to disappear, she reinvented it in the classical frame work with fresh and new themes. As Farzaneh Milani, who along with Kaveh Safa has translated many of Simin’s selected poems in her book “A Cup of Sin” says that “Behbahani is known for her ghazals, sonnet like love poems distinguished by their special rhyme scheme and lilting lyrics. Traditionally, the ghazal featured a male poet romancing a woman. Behbahani reversed the roles; in her poems, men are the objects of desire”.[2]She closely followed all the social issuesof her country very closely since her childhood till the end and tried to bring them in her ghazals but she is not defined only by her ghazals. She was one of the most active and freedom loving women of modern Iran, who always followed these two parallel paths but in a moderate way to fight against the cultural monopoly in her personal and literary life.
As we can see everywhere in Iran and the world, the voice of freedom resonates around the three respected words “زن، زندگی، آزادی” woman, life, freedom. In this context, if we look at the themes of Behbahani’s poems, we can find that she encompasses the themes such as; nationalism, woman, war, poverty, freedom of speech, and equal rights between men and women. She always presents the identity of contemporary woman and represents this identity as it should be. She has always respected the words woman’s life and freedom through her poems under the pretext of feministic criticism but her approach towards masculine literature is quite different from that of other femalepoets of her time. She always seeks to find a moderate form of feminism for the social reform for both men and women. With this explanation, we will continue to examine some issues related to women’s life and freedom that are reflected in Behbahani’s poems.
Social Issues and Resistance
Behbanani belongs to a land where no artist is considered more beloved than a poet. She was born when Pahlavi reign under the kingship of Reza Shah just came into power after the 150 years of Qajar dynasty. Shah was a military man, but under the influence of western civilization, he tried with all his might to westernize Iran. He ordered the unveiling of the Hijab and imposed some values related to western civilization forcefully which resulted in a massive protest against the Shah and his destructive policies in a traditionally rich country. The people who participated in this protest, had only one desire: to have a fair election, so that the elected person could not dictate them and after the promising words of Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, every protesting group even the communist group of Iran supported him.Now,45 years have passed since the Islamic Revolution, but the situation of Iranian people,especially women, remains questionable.
Simin, as an active sociologist and a vigilant poet witnessed the real difficulties and problems of Iranian people, mainly the concerns of women in a patriarchal society of Iran, because she was familiar with issues such as; freedom of thought and expression, the use of women’s character as a tool, gender discrimination, polygamy, marital life, domestic violence, patriotism, and poverty; in other words, her poetry deals with human issues in general and women issues in particular. In fact, many of her poems are mirrors of human life. For example, in a poem called Woman in a Gold Prison(زن در زندان طلا), she criticizes the patriarchal system because she believes that patriarchy is the main barrier and its removal is the need of time so that women can actively participate in any social work as she says:
Do not look on my smiling face مرا زین چهرۀ خندان مبینید
Because my heart is full of pain and agony که دل در سینه ام دریای خون است
I feel ashamed in a palace where مرا عار آید از کاخی که در آن
Neither I have liberty nor freedom آزادی نه استقلال دارمنه
I face it from the very beginning of creation مرا این عیش از اندوه خلق است
Alas! I have a dumb tongue ولی اوخ زبانی لال دارم
(Behbahani: 1988, 80)
The above verses clearly illustrate the dishonesty that women have to face in the patriarchal structure. Where they are not allowed to participate any activity but a man can roam freely. Through these verses she also expresses that she is not against the man’s participation in any way rather wants woman to be allowed to work alongside men for the betterment of any ideal society and therefore she protests against coercive action against women and strives hard to empower women and lead them towards freedom.
A moderate style of feminism
There is no doubt that Simin is a feminist poet of Iran but it is quite evident from her works that her feminism is by no means anti-male, extremist and rational. In other words, she is a liberal feminist who always tried to find out a moderate and balanced way to reform the Iranian society because she believes that laws should be createdto address this inequality infavor of women that createsequal opportunities for them and her poems calledO Woman ای زن and O Manای مرد are among her romantics and social poems that clearly demonstrate the poet’s tendency towards moderate femininity. For example, in her poem O Woman, she criticizes the injustice faced by women in amale dominated society and questions about their absence from social arenas, as she says:
چو چنگ نغمه ساز فرو خواندی Like a melodious lyre, singing
در گوش مرد، نغمۀ همتای In man’s ear, a syncretism song
گفتی که :(جفت و یار توام، اما You said: I am your pair and sweetheart
نی بهر عاشقی و نه شیدای Not for being in love and fascination
اینسان که در جبین تو می بینم I see in your brow in such a way
کرسی نشین خانه ی شورای You are the seater of the council
بر سرنوشت خویش خداوندی You are lord of your destiny
در کار خویش، آگه و دانای In your work you are ware and wise
(Behbahani, 2007: 94-95)
In her other romantic and social poem called “OMan”which is also a clear example of her temperate feminism, asks women to join men in social works for building a better society, so that the laws of equality prevail there, as she says from her perspective of moderate feminism:
یک دست بوده ای تو یک دست بی صداyou have been one hand and other is silent
دست دگر به پیکر نام آورت شدم I became another hand for your reputed body
بیرون ز خانه همره و همگام استوار I became a firm comrade and friend outside
در خانه، غمگسار و نوازش گرت شدمAt home, your companion and caresser
(Behbahani,2007:386)
Now in these aforesaid stanzas, she is trying to make a man believe that without women’s participation any society cannot be an ideal society.
Gender Stereotype
Behbahani is a poetess who always shouted loudly against the subjection of women and tried to represent the women’s community. She did not adopt the policy of silence regarding the events and incidents around her. For example, she is trying in her poem واسطه The Middleman to show us the pictures of misusing of women’s character and criticizes the male centric society which sees women as a sexual commodity.
ابرو به هم کشید و مرا گفت He told me twitching his eyebrow
دیگر شکار تازه ای نداری؟ Do you not have a fresh catch?
اینان تمام نقش و نگارند These characters have become old
جز رنگ و بوی غازه نداری which have nothing but the same color and smell
دوشیزه ای به یار که او راBring for me a virgin girl
حاجت به رنگ و بوی نباشد Who does not need rouge box
(Behbahani, 2003:26)
Here we can see in the verses mentioned abovewhere she puts her finger on the real situation of women in a male centric society like Iran and portrays men as a capricious and ferocious, who at the time of social interaction without thinking much about human relationship, only seek to hunt them and always strive to dominate her sexually and more importantly they want to take away their freedom in the name of tradition or under the pretext of modernity.
As I said that her poetry is full of agony and misery of Iranian people,especially women, and her poem (رقاصه) The Dancer, is also a clear sign of the sufferings of women in a male dominated atmosphere. She narrates that how a dancer is being trapped by a group of capricious people and how they mistreat her chastity and do not feel ashamed while calling it modernization.
در دل میخانه سخت ولوله افتاد It fired up the pub when
دختر رقاص تا به رقص در آمد the dancer started dancing
(Behbahani, 2003:56)
Though, this is the first couplet of a long poem called The Dancer but it gives a clear account of a woman who is trapped in the circle of men in the name of modernity and freedom and if we go through all the couplets, we can clearly examine the disloyalty of men towards women, as she mentions it at the end of this heart wrenching poetry. She protests and questions about the helplessness of women in patriarchal society and seeks help from intelligentsia to empower women and also provide them with a free and fearless environment so that they can live a healthy life like other men in the society. For instance, she says:
کیست؟ بگویید! از شما چه کسی هست tell me! Who is there?
تا ز خراباتیان مرا برهاند who can emancipate me from desolation
زندگیم را ز نو دهد سامان and give me a new life
دست مرا گیرد و به راه کشاند where he could be my fellow traveler
(Behbahani, 2003:26)
Here, again we can examine the temperate style of her feminist tendency, though she criticizes male domination but her main motive through this poem is to find ways and remedies that will empower women rather than criticize, that is why in the last three four couplets of this long poem she asks peace loving people to come up with the ideas of reform that could be helpful in bringing Iranian society to its great height where anyone can feel equallyproud.
Women and Domestic Violence
Simin a poet who is widely aware of women’s sufferings in Iranian society, has indicated in many of her poems which she has witnessed from a very young age. Iran with the other middle eastern countries has a long history of domestic violence against women and Behbahani as an active social worker has examined the oppression very closely and identified herself as one of its victims. She never remained silent, but protested against any kinds of shortcomings in Iranian society and defended the rights of women by questioning it through her poetry, as she complains in her poem فعل مجهولThe Passive Behavior against the passive behavior of a man who miss uses his power, takes advantage of the physical weakness of his wife and children and throws them out of the house, hence roams free without any accountability.
بچه ها صبح تان بخیر سلام Hello and Good morning children
درس امروز فهل مجهول است Today we would learn about passive voice
فعل مجهول فعل آن پدری استIn which the Subject would be a Father
که دلم را ز درد پر خون کردWho filled my heart with pain
خواهرم را به مشت و سیلی زد beaten up my sister with fist and slap
مادرم را ز خانه بیرون کردAnd kicked my mother out of the house
(Behbahani, 2003:483)
Indeed, she is an author as well who narrates the story of a society where a man is considered the first class citizen and has zero accountability about his passive behaviors towards female character in great detail. She has portrayed this story of unfair and cruel exercise of men against women in this poem and criticized the patriarchal system symbolically by using passive voice where subject is unknown and the verb is attributed to object, that’s why she while using this title actually has questioned the irresponsibility of man sarcastically. According to Simin, though this poem has a specific connection with the reality of herown life but in general it shows a clear image of all Iranian women.
Now, there is no doubt that she has been an active social reformer throughout her literary journey. Though she has not provided any practical solution related to women’s issues but by questioning it, she has opened the doors to reforming Iranian societies,unsettled matters specially women’s concerns, because in the time of lies it is a revolutionary act to tell the truth, which is whatshe did in her 87 years of life. In this context her poem آشناThe Acquaintanceis a good example of her revolutionary act in which she does not hesitate to tell the mystery of lust, fornication and unfaithfulness of men against women, as she complains about it in a loud voice:
ای آشنا چه شد که تو بیگانه خو شدی؟ O my mate what happened that you became stranger?
با مهر پیشگان ز چه رو کینه جو شدی؟ Why have you became vindictive for someone else?
با همچو غنچه یک دل و یک روی مانده ایمwe have been one heart and one body
با ما چرا چو لاله دورنگ و دو رو شدی؟Why did you become hypocrite like Tulip?
(Behbahani, 2003:181)
In sum, Behbahani’s poetry focuses on Iranian people’s lives and especially on the shortcomings of women’s lives, and these aforementioned couplets are good examples of that in which she exemplifies a man’s character like a tulip flower and metaphorically criticizes men’s passive behavior because in Persian literature, the tulip is often a manifestation of suffering and love. The circle’s blackness is like a heat in the cup’s middle, so it’s sometimes seen as a lover’s burning heart. Thus, these stanzas are a clear example of the disloyalty of men with regard to the lives of women.
Conclusion
Thus, if we take everything from the perspective of Simin Behbahani, it must be said that at the beginning of her literary work, she used to compose poetry on topics such as poverty, corruption, censorship and marginalization of women, but after the 1979 revolution, she began to touch on issues such as freedom of speech and thought, equal rights for women and also the rights of prisoners, which can be seen in abundance in her works.
Simin is a courageous poet who, through her poems, has offered courage to the Iranian people, especially women, by questioning the abuse and persecution of women in a male-dominated society so that they can live freely and fearlessly. She did not fear punishment from any authority and remained determined in her work, which led her to create the most amazing thing in the world of resistance.
In fact, she was a voice of dissent and a furiously active defender of human rights, primarily women’s rights, because when justice needed a voice, Behbahani stood up and spoke against the subjugation of women and their elimination from social spheres on behalf of all Iranian women and defended their rights until her last breath. She is always interested in finding a moderate form of feminism for the social reform for both men and women. She was a woman who sought and spoke the truth and wrote the history of the Iranian people, especially women, through her striking poems in the post-Islamic revolution.
References
- AbuMahboob, Ahmad (2003), Gehwara-e-Sabzafra, zindagi-o-sher-e-Simin Behbahani. Tehran: Salis
- Ahmadi, Pegah (2006). Woman’s Poetry from Beginning to Today. Tehran: Cheshmeh Publication.
- Behbahani, Simin (1988). Selected poems (1st ed). Tehran: Morvarid Publications.
- Behbahani, Simin (1993). Selection of Simin Behbahanis poetres. Tehran. Negah.
- Behbahani, Simin (2007). Collection of Poetries. Tehran: Negah.
- Behbahani, Simin (2003). Collected poems. Tehran: Negah Publications.
- Dehbashi, Ali. (2005). A Woman with a Skirt full Poetry. Tehran: Negah.
- Ebrahimi, Mokhtar (2011). Literary Terms. Ahwaz: Motabar.
- Haghshenas, Ali Mohammad (1992). Literary Articles, Linguistics. Tehran: Nilofur.
- Hossenpur Jafi, Ali Mohammad (2006). Contemporary Persian Poetical Trends. Tehran: Amir Kabir. First Edition
- Lahiji, Shahla (2009). Recognition of the Identity of Iranian Women. Tehran.
Articles and Interviews
- Bromley, Anne. (august 25, 2014) <Her Voice is Undying>:Farzaneh Milani Remembers ‘Lioness of Iran’ , UVA Today.
- Boustany, Nora. A poet who never sold her pen or soul, The Washington Post, June 9, 2006
- ابراهیمی، مختار. (1392ش). <گرایش فمینیستی در شعر سیمین بهبهانی>. فصلنامۀ علمی پژوهشی زن و فرهنگ. سال4. شمارۀ 16. صفحات 69-81.
- حسن لی، کاووس. (1385ش). <بررسی عناصر زندگی معاصر در شعر سیمین بهبهانی>. مریم حیدری. مجلۀ علوم اجتماعی و انسانی دانشگاه شیراز (ویژه نامۀ زبان و ادبیات فارسی) دورۀ 25. شمارۀ3. صفحات 85-100.
- WATCH: Milani discusses Behbahani’s writings on PBS “NewsHour” http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment-jan-june10-poet_05-17/
- Iran Islamic Revolution: 13 feb, 2024
Youtube/@bbchindi
[1]Behbahani, Simin (1988). Selected poems (1st ed). Tehran: Marvarid Publications, p 9
[2]Boustany, Nora (2006). A poet who never sold her pen or soul, The Washington Post, June 9,