Of Poetry and Power: Sanā’ī and Sultan of Ghazna

Summary

A close relationship between poetry and politics is quite common in the modern Islamic world. Whether or not they really are able to influence the course of events, many modern poets see themselves in the first place as activists for political causes. They want their poetry to be “a weapon for the people” (imrūz shiʿr ḥarba-yi khalq-ast), as the Persian poet Aḥmad Shāmlū has put it. They take pride in having sided with the masses, sharing their struggle against imperialism, oppression and social injustice.

The understanding of poetry as a weapon against unjust rulers is a recent one in the history of Muslim literatures. There can be no doubt that its origins should be traced to a modern concept of the poet who accepts responsibility to society, a concept that developed in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of Romanticism and nationalist ideas. As far as Persia is concerned, it is possible to indicate precisely the moment when this influence began to be felt. Around the turn of the twentieth century social and political upheavals in Persia, which culminated in the constitutional revolution (1906–1912), shook the foundations of traditional society. One of the institutions affected by the winds of change was poetry. Several poets who had been trained in the old ways suddenly adopted attitudes that thus far had been unheard of in their profession. They turned against the established order represented by the autocratic shah and the foreign powers backing him. Using modern means of political agitation, such as journalism and public rallies, they took up their place in the vanguard of popular uprising.

What were the “bold ways” of poetry so drastically abandoned by the poets of Iran at the dawn of the modern era? Were they lacking in any political relevance whatsoever? On the eve of the constitutional revolution the framework of literary life was more or less as it had been for centuries, although it had lost most of its vitality. As a rule, to be a poet still meant to be dependent on the protection of powerful men, especially royal patrons who were willing to reward poems of praise through gifts and the bestowal of resounding titles. To escape from this bondage to the established elite a poet could do nothing but retreat into a strictly personal occupation with mysticism.