Abolqassem Aref Qazvini ( fa, ابوالقاسم‌ عارف قزوینی , 1882 – January 21, 1934) was an Iranian poet, lyricist, and musician.

Biography

He was born in Qazvin. He composed many poems about Iran and was called a ''national poet''. Along with his powerful poetry, he also wrote lyrics for numerous songs and played music. He was a revolutionary during the

Iranian Constitutional Revolution The Persian Constitutional Revolution ( fa, مشروطیت, Mashrūtiyyat, or ''Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh''), also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911. The revolution led to the establishment of a par ...

and made many political and pro-revolutionary songs. He moved to

Hamadan Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') (Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ham ...

later in his life and died there in January 1934 at the age of 52. After his death his complete works were published in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. One of his poems is called "- ناله مرغ اسیر" (imprisoned bird's moaning)" in which he invites his fellows to fight for their freedom in the first sixth verses. He believes that their country is not supposed to be developed by the help of foreigners. Instead, he believes that people should sacrifice their lives in order to protect and save their country. In the end, he states that the Shah, who has been assigned as the most influential person is actually the people's enemy. He wrote this poem during the Constitutional period affected by the patriotic feelings and the love to Iran. The anti- colonial attitudes and nationalist beliefs which were becoming widespread at the time was the source of inspiration for the poet. Iran was moving towards modernity and worldwide culture, but intellectuals did not want to be dependent on Russia and England. Birds are the symbol of freedom, the image of a caged chicken represents the state of liberal people who could not express themselves freely at the time of the poem. By using this image, the poet tries to inform his countrymen not to stay silent; otherwise, they would become depressed and hopeless like the caged birds. Another image is "wind" which is the symbol of liberty in Persian literature, and is used as a hopeful sign to spread the message of freedom. Furthermore, the wind blows at all the people without exception which shows the necessity of all Iranians' contribution to save the country. These images, which are the intrinsic elements of this poem, are set to question the bourgeoisie system; this text as a social institution denies the ruling class ideology, because the poem addresses the fellow countrymen, intending to empower this group to fight the authorities.

External links

* J. Matīnī, M. Caton
''ʿĀref Qazvīnī''
/

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

(1986—2011). *
Abolqassem Aref Ghazvini
', Rouhollah Khaleghi Artistic Center /
Kanun-e Honari-e Rouhollah Khaleghi
' 1882 births 1934 deaths People from Qazvin 20th-century Iranian poets Persian-language poets Iranian lyricists People of the Persian Constitutional Revolution 19th-century Iranian poets {{Iran-poet-stub