Statements of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Meeting with Poets

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

As always, dear poet friends, you have made our night of Eid more festive and sweeter; God willing, may you be successful. The poems that were recited were mostly good; some had notable qualities as well. We hope, God willing, that the caravan of poetry, especially ghazal poetry, progresses in the country with speed, precision, and the right direction, and that through your poems, our dear country and the Persian language can once again offer its valuable gift to global civilization and regional culture.

I will mention two or three brief points. One is that poetry has progressed well in our country; however, there is a fundamental point: poetry must serve values. I do not deny that poetry is a mirror of the poet's feelings, and the poet has the right to express his poetic feelings and understanding in the form of poems that God has granted him the talent to create. I fully accept this; however, poetry, as a noble art, a superior art, as a great divine blessing, has a responsibility; it has a duty. Beyond expressing feelings, poetry also has a responsibility. In my opinion, that responsibility is to serve religion, the revolution, ethics, and knowledge. If poetry fulfills this responsibility, then the right has been realized; that is, a rightful act has been performed, a just act has taken place. Our poets must strive to create themes in this direction, to channel their bursts of creativity and inner feelings toward this end. Of course, today, especially in this gathering, fortunately, there is no shortage of such things; however, I insist that in the overall movement of poetry in the country, one should observe this more noticeably.

You see, the duty of poetry as an art, and the duty of the poet as an artist, must be defined in relation to creation, to God the Exalted, and to Islamic and revolutionary commitments, and this duty must be fulfilled. This duty is to guide God's servants toward God; to elevate and enhance the ethics and knowledge of society. Of course, poetry has other duties as well, but this is fundamental. Poetry must be able to serve the knowledge of the people, the religion of the people, the ethics of the people, and the revolutionary movement of our nation - which is a very valuable, precious, and rare phenomenon. These must be considered in poetry.

Of course, I emphasize ghazal poetry; I do not say to compose qasida (odes). Not that qasida or pieces are not acceptable; they are, but since the ghazal form is the most impactful form of poetry, it is better that the concepts we want to disseminate through poetry be expressed in the ghazal form. One might think, well, if we come and speak of ethics from the beginning to the end of a ghazal, then what kind of ghazal is this? Where do our feelings go? I do not say you should express mystical themes throughout a twelve-verse ghazal like Bidel; or fill all the couplets of an eight-verse ghazal with ethical concepts like Saeb - of course, this is not an easy task for anyone to accomplish - I say if you dedicate one couplet in a seven or eight-verse ghazal to a revolutionary, ethical, or knowledge-based theme, this ghazal is a revolutionary ghazal; this ghazal is an ethical ghazal and will have its impact. Imagine if a math teacher, during a math lesson, mentions a word about monotheism, about creation, about the infallibility of the prophets, I believe sometimes its effect is greater than an hour of religious education. I want these brief mentions in your ghazals. Speak your ghazals; pour all your feelings, all your emotions, all your love and passion into the verses of the ghazal; however, let two couplets of this seven or eight-verse ghazal be dedicated to a pure Islamic, revolutionary, and ethical theme. This is one point, which is indeed an important one.

Another point is that, in fact, the ghazal relies on three pillars: word, theme, and feeling. None of these should be weak. Tonight, as gentlemen and ladies recited ghazals, I saw, fortunately, the words have improved. Some of the poems recited by our youth lack the necessary strength and appeal in terms of words. Sometimes good themes come to their minds, but the words are grammatically incorrect; that is, they are not only not excellent, they are even wrong; the verb should come, but it hasn’t; the verb has come inappropriately; the verb should match similar cases, but it does not. Sometimes there are such errors. You must strive for the ghazal - poetry in general, now our discussion is about ghazal - to be correct in terms of words, to be solid, to have a strong arrangement of words; that is, to have stability and firmness; and to have delicacy in it; because after all, it is art. The art of poetry is these things. This is regarding the words.

The theme is also an important issue. In our view, the theme never runs out. Just as Saeb said:

"A lifetime can be spent speaking of the beloved's curls, Do not be bound by the notion that themes have run out."

Indeed, the theme is inexhaustible; because the human mind is inexhaustible. We become lazy, we cling to themes that others have expressed and repeat them; however, the theme is truly inexhaustible. Sometimes one observes completely original and unprecedented themes in the poems of these youths; well, this is very valuable. Therefore, the theme must be taken seriously; that is, pursue theme creation and theme development, and - as the ancients said - theme discovery. The theme can also be drawn from the text of life. Now, there were things in the past; for example, there was a candle, but today there is a spotlight. They made the candle the center of hundreds of themes; you can, with thought and contemplation, make the spotlight and electric light the center of themes. That is, theme creation is understood by looking around. Of course, internal study and inner birth and mental birth play a very important role.

One more thing is feeling. In the ghazal, feeling is very important; which is now called love; but it is not always love; sometimes it is love, sometimes it is anti-love; for example, consider anger; but it is feeling. The ghazal cannot exist without feeling. Observe these three aspects. Then the concepts - as we mentioned - should serve those three main elements; that is, revolution, ethics, and knowledge.

There are important issues in our country that poetry can benefit from and serve these concepts. The concepts are not personal; they are national concepts. For example, today they are committing a great nuclear injustice against us. It is true that they do not massacre us like in Myanmar; well, they cannot reach us; if they could, they would do the same; they cannot; however, the actions they can take are being carried out in injustice against this nation and this country. Well, this is an important issue. Or suppose they martyr our scientists; this is not a small phenomenon, it is a significant phenomenon. They want to assassinate; they are terrorists; well, let them hit their heads; when a terrorist comes after a scientist, the issue goes beyond mere assassination; it becomes a matter of confrontation and enmity with knowledge, with the cultivation of knowledge in the country, with the cultivation of scientists in the country; the issue takes on broad dimensions. So this is a national issue, a major issue; these must be reflected in poetry. Just as you think you should, for example, write poetry for Myanmar or Egypt or Islamic awakening or Palestine or the thirty-three-day war - which you do, and it is good and necessary - the issues of your own country are also issues that you cannot overlook; these must come into the realm of poetry.

Well, there are some who do not care about the issues of the country at all. I have observed people who claim to be patriots and claim to love this land and soil, but do not care about the issues of this land and soil. For eight years, there was war in this country; this war was not initiated by the Islamic Republic; it was imposed on the Islamic Republic. Well, what position should those who oppose the Islamic Republic take in this war? What should they do? The government is the Islamic Republic; however, the nation is the Iranian nation; the city is Dezful, Khorramshahr, Tehran; why did they remain indifferent to that? Why did prominent poets, prominent artists, prominent novelists, prominent essayists, prominent intellectuals remain indifferent to this issue? Is this indifference not a flaw? This is the greatest flaw. Iran is Iran; did the enemy not attack this country? They have no means of defense. The maximum defense they can muster is to say we are against the Islamic Republic; this prejudice has prevented us from speaking a word about Iran, about Tehran, about Khorramshahr, about the youth of this country, in our poetry or prose or novels. This very defense - which is the maximum they can say - is the greatest disgrace for them that such a prejudice dominates the mind, spirit, pen, and heart of a group.

Today, it is the same. Today you see the front of global arrogance standing against the Iranian nation with all its existence, with all its power, with all its propaganda capabilities, with all its political organizational strengths, and is carrying out actions - now how much these actions have an effect or not, that is another discussion - ultimately, the enemy is doing its wickedness; it does not hold back; it is satisfying its vile, wicked, and accursed spirit by opposing the Iranian nation and the Iranian country; here, too, in opposition to it, chests are bared, standing firm, resisting, defending; well, this is a national incident; can you overlook this national incident? These must be reflected in poetry. I said; I do not insist that you write a fifty-verse qasida about this issue; no, write a seven or eight-verse ghazal, let one couplet, two couplets express this issue like a brief mention. These are necessary. Ultimately, in the struggle between truth and falsehood, one must have a position; one cannot be without a position.

The issue of ethics is also of the same kind. Commitment and emptiness is one issue. Some, because they are against revolutionary commitment, against religious commitment, invite to emptiness and nihilism, to neglecting important matters; while what they reject is commitment to religion and revolution and ethics; it is not commitment to the foreigner. Now, in the poetry of Mr. Amiri, we heard this point. They never reject commitment to the foreigner and commitment to the demands of the foreigner; they are committed to it. Therefore, there is commitment, but commitment to the enemy, commitment to the foreigner! Commitment to religion and ethics and knowledge and the issues of the country and the issues of the revolution seems to be a negative point that they must flee from; hence, they tend toward emptiness and invite to emptiness. In the face of this situation, one must have a position and confront the threats against the religion and culture and ethics of society.

One more sentence I want to say. Our young poets - may God protect you all, and I truly pray for you to remain steadfast on the straight path and continue - be aware that negative poles and harmful poles should not try to attract you to themselves. This effort is currently underway. Some of those nihilists, those who are against revolutionary, religious, and national commitments - who are not as committed to the enemy of the revolution and the enemy of the country; they also tend to lean toward them! - may show you the green garden. I saw a beautiful ghazal from our dear Mr. Fazel:

"They take you from the garden to illuminate you, So that they can make you the pine of winter celebrations."

Barak Allah! Now I read "they take you"; someone might read "they cut you"; however, if it is "they cut you," it requires "so that"; "they take you from the garden so that they can illuminate you." If it is "they take you," then "so that" is no longer necessary; for example, they take you to make you a groom, or to make you a bride. Hence, I read "they take you" for this reason.

"They take you from the garden to illuminate you, So that they can make you the pine of winter celebrations."

The theme of another couplet is: Joseph! When you come out of the well, do not be happy; they will take you to imprison you.

In any case, be careful to maintain the lines, boundaries, and measures. You are a large front defending truth and spirituality; you are striving for truth and spirituality and investing; you are spending your artistic capital; some of you even say we are willing to spend our lives in this path. Be careful that in this front, perseverance and steadfastness are very important, and God willing, you will achieve results. We hope that God the Exalted keeps you all safe.

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