Statements in Meeting with Poets and Cultural Figures of Persian Literature

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, and God's curse be upon all their enemies.

The image I have of today's poetry in my mind, which I had last year as well, has become clearer and more established tonight. Poetry, thanks be to God, is advancing and reaching its peak in our country, in the true sense of the word, not just in terms of quantity; this must be appreciated and pursued.

I would like to present a few points. One is that poetry is a "medium." Today, the challenges and conflicts in the world are media challenges. More than missiles, drones, airplanes, and military tools can push back the enemy, it is the media that has an impact and influences hearts and minds. The war is a media war; whoever has a stronger media will be more successful in their objectives—any objective. Therefore, the duty of poetry and poets is clear. Our poetic heritage is unparalleled in the world. The reason I do not say "unique" is that I am not aware of many civilizations and such; to the extent that I know, I do not recognize a parallel in terms of poetic heritage, except for Arabic poetry, which is also very prominent and has its peaks. Therefore, with this literary and poetic heritage, our poetic media weapon is powerful, strong, impactful, and penetrating.

The next point is that this impact has conditions; the condition is that poetry must be, in the true sense of the word, art, a crafted art. We have poems that are called "poetry," but they either lack artistic substance or have very little; these are not impactful. Poetry must be an artistic work. In Persian poetry, for instance, you see that the poetry of Hafez, which is truly at the peak of our artistic poetry, influences Goethe, influences Iqbal, influences those who do not know Persian. Iqbal did not know Persian; the famous Iqbal who has a collection of Persian poetry never read Persian, and his family did not know Persian either; he became acquainted with Persian through the poetry of Hafez and similar works, which enabled him to compose that extensive collection of poetry in Persian. This is the impact of poetry; artistic poetry has this kind of effect. Or Goethe and others whom you all know well.

Now, if we want poetry to be artistic, what should we focus on more? It is clear: on body and soul, on words and themes. With weak words, with not-so-strong and stable and meaningful words, artistic work cannot be created. Sometimes I read poems in some newspapers that if one reads the entire piece of poetry—whether it is a ghazal or whatever—it truly makes one angry; that is, its effect is only to make one angry and upset, it has no artistic aspect in its words.

Moreover, the theme; the theme arises both from the subject and from the quality of expressing the subject. If you bring a subject—which is not a significant subject—into poetry but do not mention it with a novel and impactful expression, this does not elevate the poetry. You see that many subjects that exist in the poetry of Indian poets like Saeb or Kalim are also present in the poetry of others, but the quality of their expression elevates the rank of the poetry. Therefore, both theme discovery and strong words—these two elements—are necessary.

Another point regarding the message. Now that we have chosen the theme and also selected good words for it, what message do we want to convey to our audience? Now, for instance, suppose the message of some is this lamentation about the situation, which most poets throughout history have had; that is, you can hardly find a poet who does not complain about the state of his time; some are more intense, some less; [but] this is not a message that has a significant meaning and acceptable benefit for the audience; yes, some of these show a bit of history—just that much; not more—but what is intended that can be a good message is the message of religion, the message of ethics, the message of civilization, [for] us Iranians, our message of Iranian identity. We have many messages, many things to say; we have countless civilizational messages that our religious knowledge, our ethical knowledge, our Iranian knowledge, the message of the courageous steadfastness of the Iranian nation, all of these are things that can be conveyed; these must be included in the message [of poetry]. Now, one of the sources of credibility for the Iranian nation is its courageous steadfastness against oppression, against bullying and greed in the world, which now manifests in America and the Zionists and such. [The Iranian nation] clearly, without hesitation, without ambiguity, expresses its position; well, this is a very important issue, this is very desirable in the world. Political elements of our country [like] some presidents and others, when they went to countries, not so much with governments, but when they faced people in mosques and gatherings and spoke of these matters, people became excited. I myself gave a speech in Pakistan in front of several thousand [people], their president was also sitting there; this session was truly a session that was like a pulse that has a beat and moves, it was moving like that! [This] is because of the content, when the steadfastness of the Iranian nation and the steadfastness of the Iranian nation is expressed. And others have also been of this kind that we have heard and are aware of. Therefore, these must be conveyed; our message is these: the message of steadfastness, the message of civilization, the message of Islam.

This annual session of ours is a very good session, a blessed session. There were also prominent figures in this session who honored it; these great figures whom you mentioned have repeatedly attended this session, participated, and recited poetry; the session is a good session. What is in my mind is that this session should not be ornamental; we do not want to say that in the Islamic Republic, for example, a poetry session of this level is held! The issue is not that; we want this session to have continuity; that is, it should help pursue the objectives that exist in the field of poetry, to be followed up, and poetic circles, poetry associations, and poetry gatherings should be formed, and the matters that are now raised in this session—whether you raise them in your poetry or I raise them in my remarks—should have continuity.

I have noted a few recommendations that are very good. One is the issue of translation; we are weak in terms of translation. Some famous Arab poets are known in Iran, everyone knows them, because their poetry has been translated into Persian. We do not seem to see any works of our poets in Arab countries, in non-Arab countries; now, I may not be aware, but as far as I know, there are no works; why? Well, this poetry is very good, it should be made available for the public thoughts of the world. As the poet says: A pure wine, but from the solitude of the jug When you do not come into the cup, what is the benefit?

This poetry and this expression of yours should be utilized; the world should benefit, thoughts should benefit. Therefore, we must create a movement for the translation of poetry.

Translating poetry is different from translating prose; as you know, poetry is usually not translated with poetry, it is translated with prose. Sometimes people have tried to translate, for example, the poetry of Molavi into Arabic and we have seen that they could not. I have a book of Arabic translation of Masnavi and have looked at it sometimes; Abdulaziz Jawaherkalam—brother of the famous poet Jawaheri, a well-known poet from Iraq—who lived in Iran, came to me and I had seen him, he translated the Masnavi, and honestly, he is a good poet, but he cannot. It becomes very difficult to translate poetry with poetry. The late Sayyid Mahdi Bahr al-Uloom, who was one of the scholars of the thirteenth century AH, when he reached the position of marja' (source of emulation), made a pilgrimage on foot from Najaf to Karbala. Scholars of Najaf sometimes did this, that they would walk from Najaf to Karbala; he also made a pilgrimage on foot at the beginning of his marja'iyat, and a number of his companions were with him. He himself was fond of poetry and had taste and was a poet—he wrote poetry in both Arabic and Persian—he had taken a few poets with him. This is also a point that a source of emulation does not travel between Najaf and Karbala without the companionship of a poet; three or four poets [were with him]. They reach a place, he becomes tired; others wanted to go, he said I can no longer, then he recites this couplet of Taleb Ameli: From weakness, wherever we reached became home And from crying, wherever we passed became a garden

He recites this poetry; the Arab poets say what does this mean, he explains it to them, then he suggests that they create this. In the books, there is a poem that they have created; they translated this couplet of Taleb Ameli into Arabic and made it into poetry, they were first-rate Arab poets, [but] when one looks, one sees that there is a significant distance between their poetry and the poetry of Taleb Ameli. The late Sayyid Mahdi Bahr al-Uloom also creates; he also created, which is in these books. [Translating poetry] cannot be done with poetry; it must be done with prose, but poetic prose, clear prose, strong prose. Who can do this? Someone who is proficient in both languages and in my opinion, the target language of translation should be their mother tongue; this [is how] it should be. In my opinion, this is an important task, it is also a task for the government; that is, this task is not the work of individuals, it is a difficult task. Therefore, one recommendation was the recommendation of translation.

Another recommendation is the entry of poetry into textbooks, which pertains to the Ministry of Education; poetry should be included in textbooks. Of course, it exists, [but] it should come more than this. A child should become familiar with poetry from childhood to adolescence and to youth; poetry is a significant part of our civilization and culture and knowledge; many of our knowledge is expressed in poetry.

Another point I have noted is to stimulate the literary memory of the people and to make the minds of the people and youth creative. The literary memory of our people is weak; that is, in appropriate places, the poems that should come to mind do not come to mind; that is, they do not know. Sometimes they read poems, they read them incorrectly, which we sometimes hear on television; we sit in front of the television, the presenter reads a poem incorrectly that drives one crazy. Once an old man who was a musician told me that those who sing in a certain mode and then go out of [the mode], it is like driving a nail into a person's ear; this is how one becomes upset. Now, really, when they read poetry incorrectly, sometimes it is like this, as if a nail is being driven into a person's ear. This indicates that the literary memory of the people is weak. There is a way; they must find a way so that people become familiar with poetry, get acquainted with it.

One recommendation I have for our dear poets, especially the youth, is to study the poetic works and the highlights that exist in the poems. Now, you probably read Hafez, Shahnameh, or Khamsa of Nezami; you probably read these—if you read—but it is not just these. We have many poets who truly have outstanding poetry; these Indian style poets, these poets of the occurrence style, their poetry is sometimes at its peak; that is, one is astonished by the beauty of the poetry; that is, one is truly amazed at how beautiful and rich in meaning and eloquent this poetry is. They should read these: the works they have done, the arts they have displayed, these historical materials that some have mentioned; one is truly astonished. Around the old courtyard of Qom—so-called, the old courtyard of Qom or the small courtyard of Qom—there is an inscription, its name is "the miraculous inscription"; every couplet of this poem is the historical material of the construction of this courtyard. Every couplet is historical material, it has other details that I do not remember now, it is old; for example, when two couplets are combined, it becomes one way, when three couplets are combined, it becomes another way! Well, these are very important. The poetry is also strong poetry; that is, it is not light poetry, it is very good poetry. Qom has two courtyards; if you go to the old courtyard of Qom now—the small courtyard or the old courtyard that has the golden iwan and golden dome—this inscription that is written above [the iwan] is this poem, its name is also called "the miraculous poem"; it truly resembles a miracle. Well, our young poets should see these; this shows the power of the poet's words and meanings. Not that we want to recommend that you must go and create historical materials; no, pay attention to how strong this poet is that he creates and produces strong words and sound meanings with this limitation; this is very important. This is also a point we wanted to express.

One issue is the preservation of the Persian language. In my opinion, the Persian language is being oppressed. Recently, some works are being done, some are doing things in associations, but we need more than this to strengthen the Persian language. The Persian language is a language with great potential, it is among the languages that can develop, because it is a composite language and has beautiful combinations [that] do not get stuck in expressing any meaning. The precise scientific meaning, the precise spiritual meaning, and every precise and delicate concept can be expressed in Persian; with some languages, it truly cannot be expressed, but with this language [it can]. Some expressions are not translatable at all. Once I said: I am glad that from the rivals, you passed by, dragging your skirt Even if the dust of our fist has been blown away

Well, how do we translate "dragging your skirt" into Arabic? How do we want to translate this "dragging your skirt"? I am proficient in Arabic; how can this be translated? It cannot be translated, it is not translatable at all, but this [poet] has brought a delicate, subtle, important concept with this word "dragging" in this poetry; such things exist in the Persian language. We are neglecting the Persian language. Unfortunately, the onslaught of foreign languages has increased; the onslaught of European languages, Western languages, and especially English has increased, and they consume it indiscriminately. In my opinion, the opposite should be done; Persian equivalents should be promoted. We have turned "helicopter" into "balgard"; it is more beautiful than "helicopter," easier than "helicopter," Iranian, and shows the meaning. Of course, the Afghans translated it as "charkhbal," which was incorrect; "balgard" is better than "charkhbal." We do a lot of these things. A few people sent me writings for tonight's meeting, and I saw a word in Mr. Feyz's writing that I liked very much: "rayaneh-sepehr". I do not know who produced this; well, it is beautiful! Instead of "virtual space," it is called "rayaneh-sepehr." There are many such things. It should not seem strange; once a person gets used to it, they see it is very beautiful. In my opinion, this work should also be done, and we hope that friends can pursue these; that is, they should truly not allow the volume of foreign words in the Persian language to increase more than this; they should reduce some of this and give the Persian language a purity so that it is a pure Persian language, God willing.

In any case, tonight was a good night. We hope that all friends will be successful. Those of us who did not have the opportunity to hear their poetry, God willing, we will be able to benefit from their poetry later.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.