Persian Literature

Other Poets:
Houshang Ebtehaj
Sohrab Sepehri

A way and a sigh! BY: Houshang Ebtehaj

Please right-click HERE and choose 'SaveTarget As' to download the sound file in MP3

Who is Ebtehaj?

Houshang Ebtehaj was born in 1928 in Rasht , North of Iran. He published his first book when he was only 19 years old. He chose ‘Sayeh' /sa:yeh/ as his pen name, which means ‘shadow' / ‘shade'. Ebtehaj was active in different literary movements and gatherings and took considerable part in various literary magazines such as Sokhan and Kavian.
After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Sayeh spent some time in prison for his ideas.
He has several works in poetry almost all of which are well-known in the world of Persian literature. In his poems, he is shown as a highly motivated person in love, who has gone through years of pain and suffering.
He also worked and did some meaningful researches on Hafez poems that is of high value.
From among the contemporary Iranian poets, Ebtehaj has a great love and respect for Ostad Shahriar, the writer of Heidar baba / Heydar Ba Ba - a long and deep poem in Turkish, who seems to have played an important role in his life.
There is no doubt that Ebtehaj has had an undeniable impact on our modern Persian poetry.
In 1987, like many others who did not receive respect and attention at home,Houshang Ebtehaj or /he ælef sa:yeh/ left Iran and is now living in Germany with his family.