Ari Siletz

Some replies

Ali P: The ghamari systems seems primitive to me too, with the months drifiting through the seasons. If all history were written in the ghamari calendar with all its issues, we could end up wondering why Napoleon's troops froze to death in the middle of the Russian summer! Whoever wrote this calendar converter, khoda omresh bedeh.

Dr. Saadat Nouri: Many thanks for the powerful Lahooti poem. I found it well worth reading the link you provided. And within that link I find the reference to Kadkanis studies on Lahooti worth the effort to dig up.

Hooshang: Thanks. It's always a pleasure to find another Lahooti fan. Regarding precedence for she'r e no, as with any other innovation I distinguish between the originators and the popularizers as two separate categories of pioneers, each deserving recognition in their own way. Of course the popularizers are by definition better known, and the inventiveness of the earlier geniuses less recognized. 

Mir Zadeh Eshghi as the first modern poet of Iran

This is a claim by Mr. Mohamad Ali Sepanlo, in his book "The Four Poets of the Constitutional Revolution."

Sepanlo also has a very critical take on Lahoti's last years in USSR, and mentions some of the poems that Lahoti had written in praise of Cheka (Soviet secret police).

At the same time all agree that Lahoti was the first poet of the Workers' Movement in Iran. All my life I've really enjoyed his poetry, except his last phase of course.

Ari jaan, thanks for reminding us of this great, militant Iranian poet, cheers

لاهوتی نخستین سراینده شعرنو درایران

با سپاس از ارسطوی ارجمند برای تهیه ی این یاد واره ، گفته شده است که شعر وفای به عهد  از ابوالقاسم لاهوتی نخستین شعر نو در ایران است

اردوی ستم خسته و عاجز شد و برگشت
برگشت، نه با میل خود، از حمله‌ی احرار
ره باز شد و گندم و آذوقه به خروار
هی وارد تبریز شد از هر در و هر دشت
از خوردن اسب و علف و برگ درختان
فارغ چو شد آن ملت با عزم و اراده
آزاده زنی بر سر یک قبر ستاده
با دیده­ای از اشک پر و دامنی از نان ...
//vazna.com/article.aspx?id=2149

ghamari and shamsi

What a pain in the neck this 'ghamari' calendar was/is!

Made no sense at all.

God bless whoever (was it Reza Shah?), who got rid of it, at least for us, Iranians.

Ali P.

P.S. Great blog, BTW!

Thanks Souri

My blog gives 1887  (not 1877) as Lahooti's birthdate which puts his escape from Iran at about 1925.

Along those lines, there are always date transcription issues with Iranian history that sometime come from writers mixing ghamari and shamsi without identifying which is which. For this reason you have to cross check with other historical events to see which one makes sense. For example, a 1910 date in the divan seems like a date trasnscription mixup because the Bolshevik revolution hadn't happend yet and Lahooti did not escape to Tzarist Russia. Also, from considerations about Reza khan and his campaigns, 1922-3 is probably a better date than 1925 for Lahooti's escape. Like you, I'm too tired to sort it out right now, maybe other readers can help here. Also please note that Bigdeli gives 1269 as Lahooti's birthday and Farsi wikipedia gives it as 1264. So...

The dates are not correct

Ari jon

From what I have read here, the information doesn't sound correct (or I am too tired to understand, because of the late night calcul :))

If he was born on 1877 and he moved to Russia at the age ofn 38, then it makes the year 1915.

In that link  

یک دیوان هم، چاپ مسکو

There are poems which are referred as to be written in 1910 in Moscow!

Obviously there's something wrong with that document.

But i read those poems and like many of thems. Thanks for sharing this article with us.