Shahriyar, a Traditionalist Facing the Modernists: A Reflection on His Secrets with Nima

The name of Shahriyar, “the love-ridden poet,” is tied with the Persian traditional sonnet. He was, on the one hand, a traditionalist moving in the direction of the modernism; but, on the other hand, most of the modernists believe him to be the best traditional sonneteer in contemporary Persian poetry. Love and frenzy are the essence of his sonnets. In his early youth, he fell deeply in an earthly love, but this love failure led him to a divine spiritual love. His sonnets describe this separation between him and his beloved. Besides this, he owes his reputation to his rural-social poem “Heydar Baba Salam” in which he narrates his past pleasant and unpleasant memories in a simple language. Among the modernists, Shahriyar particularly favored Nima. Though Shahriyar was in love with Hafez’s poetry, Nima’s legendary poetry introduced him into a new world. Sharing his secrets with Nima and his conversation with him full of love and kindness in his three poems “The Poet of Legend” (Shaere Afsaneh), “The Two Pheasants” (Do Morghe Beheshti), and “The Flying Pheasant” (Parvaze Morghe Beheshti) reveal how deeply these two well-known poets share their thoughts and feelings. In his “The Two Pheasants” (Do Morghe Beheshti), Shahriyar, inspired by Nima’s “The Legend” (Afsaneh), describes his meeting with him.