A Comparative Study of Sohrab Sepehri’s “Posht e Darya” and Constantine Cavafy’s “The City”

Human emotions universally manifest themselves in the forms of happiness and sadness. Sohran Sepehri has a poem named “Posht e Darya” in his work “Hajm e Sabz”. This poem has a resemblance to one of Constantine Cavafy’s poems named “The City”. This study takes a descriptive and analytic approach in comparing these two poems and finding their similarities and differences. In addition, this study aims to investigate which of the two poets was probably influenced by the other in writing his poem. The findings show that Cavafy wrote his poem before Sohrab Sepehri, and Sohrb was probably influenced by Cavafy when writing his poem, Posht e Daray. Sohrab’s poem is full of hope while Cavafy’s poem is full of hopelessness. Sohrab’s poem is long and spiritual while Cavafy’s poem is short and wordly. In Shorab’s poem, temporary hopelessness leads to departure; however, hopelessness in Cavafy’s poem leads to settling, growing old, etc… Contrary to Sohrab’s hope in his poem, Cavafy does not believe in hope in his poem, The City. Sohrab speaks of loneliness to remember paradise while Cavafy’s loneliness is the result of his worldly life. Contrary to the dark and frustrating atmosphere of the city, the atmosphere and wording of Posht e Darya is full of hope. The language of Sohrab’s poem is poetic and ambiguous while the language of Cavafy’s poem is colloquial and explicit.