The late Iranian poet Hushang Ebtehaj’s daughter, Yalda Ebtehaj, announced her father’s passing on Wednesday on her Instagram page.
How Did Iran’s poet Hushang Ebtehaj Die?
Iranian poet of the 20th century Amir Hushang Ebtehaj, also known by his pen name H. E. Sayeh, lived through many of Iran’s political, cultural, and literary revolutions.
Iranian poet Hoshang Ebtahaj, often known as “H.A. Sayeh,” passed away at the age of 94.
Due to kidney problems, he was hospitalised in Cologne, Germany.
Who was Hushang Ebtehaj?
Ebtehaj was born on February 25, 1928, in Rasht, Iran, where he also completed his elementary education before relocating to Tehran. When he was 19 years old, his first book of poetry—which included a preface by renowned poet Mehdi Hamidi Shirazi—was released.
Sayeh became active in a number of literary communities and contributed to publications including Sokhan, Kavian, Sadaf, Maslehat, and others during Iran’s post-World War II free period.
Sayeh maintained his social and political awareness but abstained from becoming more active in politics and left-leaning causes, in contrast to many other literary figures of the era. He continued to write while working at the National Cement Company for 22 years.
Hushang Ebtehaj Poetic works
In the Iranian province of Gilan in the north, Sayeh released his first book of poems when he was still a high school student. But because of his obsession with fine craftsmanship and precise wording, his overall output remains modest.
Sayeh was a fierce supporter of the poetry of social commitment in the political context of the 1940s. His early poetry demonstrates his interest in purposeful reading.
Sayeh has also produced a number of classically styled lyric poems (ghazals). Here, he exhibits a simple grasp of classical forms, particularly the lyrical ode, which he used to honour both the sacred and the secular moments of life.
Although Sayeh’s poetry can be quite emotional at times, it is always notable for its compelling directness and overt emotion. Famous Iranian singers including Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Alireza Eftekhari, Shahram Nazeri, Hossein Ghavami, and Mohammad Esfahani have performed a number of his lyric poetry, ballads, and poems.
Poet Hushang Ebtehaj career
Early in the 1960s, Hoshang Ebtahaj served a year in prison due to his political beliefs and his ties to the Tudeh party. “I was in prison and with a fellow countryman, the song “Iran e Serai Omid” was played from the prison speakers, and I cried when I heard it,” he adds of Sepideh’s ballad. Why are you crying, my friend questioned? I declared that I was the song’s poet. So why are you in jail after singing this song, he questioned?
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He worked with numerous performers during his artistic career and founded the Golchin Habat music programme on Golha Radio.
Poetic works
- The First Songs, 1946
- Mirage, 1951
- Bleak Travails I, 1953
- Nocturnal, 1953
- Earth, 1955
- Pages from the Longest Night, 1965
- Bleak Travails II, 1973
- Until the Dawn of the Longest Night, 1981
- Memorial to the Blood of the Cypress, 1981
- Bleak Travails III, 1985 )
- Bleak Travails IV, 1992
- Mirror in Mirror, Selected Poems, 1995
(selected by M.R. Shafie-Kadkani)
- Dispirited, 2006
Other
- Hafez, by Sayeh, 1994
In his poetry Merg Degar, Hoshang Ibtahaj states:
“Death is always painful, but not for me.
The absence of death makes me adore it more.
Like a candle going out in a dark, silent night”
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