Examining the Engaged Approach in Shamlu’s Poetry (A Postcolonial Studies Perspective)
Subject Areas : پژوهشهای ادبیات معاصر ایران
Ziba Palizban
1
*
,
Zahra Dorri
2
,
Mah Nazari
3
,
Azar Daneshgar
4
1 - PH.D Student, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
4 - Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
Keywords: poem, commitment, intellectual, negative dialectics, Immanent critique, postcolonialism.,
Abstract :
Examining the Engaged Approach in Shamlu’s Poetry (A Postcolonial Studies Perspective)
Ziba Palizban*
Zahra Dorri**
Mah Nazari***
Azar Daneshgar****
There has always been a firm relationship between politics and literature, and the poets and writers haven't overlooked paying attention to socio-political events of their contemporary era. The aftermath of this approach is the emergence of committed social poems that are aware of their responsibility towards the citizens of the societies. Ahmad Shamlou can be considered an exemplary poet who had a committed approach towards his society while composing poetry, and this reality has made his poems good cases for scientific studies. This article tries to answer the main question that what Shamlou's committed approach stems from? As a hypothesis, the writers posit that Shamlou's committed approach stems from his specific definition of his identity as a dedicated organic intellectual who would always consider himself responsible towards the developments of his surrounding world and criticizing the status quo in the form of negative dialectics; the same thing that can be seen in the works of postcolonial writers. This article is written in the framework of postcolonial literary theory and utilizes Quentin Skinner's method of Intentional Hermeneutics.
Keywords: poem, commitment, intellectual, negative dialectics, Immanent critique, postcolonialism.
Introduction
Ahmad Shamlu is undoubtedly a celebrated name in socially committed poetry. The present research is based on this fundamental question: “What Underlies the committed outlook manifested in Shamlu's poems?” In addressing and presenting a hypothesis, Scholars believe that the socially committed poems of Shamlu stem from a specific sort of definition of his identity as an organic and conscientious individual that he perceives from the surrounding world, and obliges himself to do what his Neo-Marxist ideological counterparts call it as negative dialectics or immanent critique.
In the post-colonial literature framework and using the Intentional hermeneutic approach of Skinner, this study is pursuing to analyze Shamlu's socially committed poems within the context of Iranian developments and in his own era. For that purpose, the 1921-1979 historical span had been chosen, and as a matter of course, there will be no reference to progressions of his poems after the Islamic Revolution period. The study’s ultimate finding indicates that the poet’s political activities influence the socially committed poems of Shamlu in the primary decades of this time period, and also, owing to an open atmosphere and freedom of speech in the society following the fall of Reza Shah, it is more like political proclamations and speeches serving his affinity for the “Tudeh” party and Marxist principles. So the more we approach the latter stages of this time period, the committed approach of his, as a result of the climate of repression following the 1953 coup, despair and disillusionment of Shamlu and also his Farewell with party activism, and also with his allegiance shifts away from a specific political faction and with centering “human” and “human values”, with the approach of transnationalism and Third-Worldism, the more elevated, vaster and deeper it becomes, and also in terms of poetic structure and style, it acquires a symbolic allegorical and lyrical quality.
Theoretical Framework: Postcolonial Literary Theory
Postcolonial theory, which gradually began with the writings of figures like Frantz Fanon in the 1970s, then reached its peak in the 1990s and even the 2000s, is not a pure and exclusive approach within a single academic discipline. Instead, its prominent figures belong to diverse fields of knowledge, from literary criticism and literature to historiography, cultural studies, anthropology, psychology, and political science. What connects the diverse postcolonial tendencies, like a chain, is their transcendence beyond the mere examination of the political, military, and economic issues of colonialism, and their attention to the cultural dimensions of the colonizer-colonized relationship. This shift in focus aims to understand the deeper and more hidden impacts of colonialism on the colonized culture and society, and even on the colonizing societies themselves.
Ahmad Shamlu, although no one has yet placed his name alongside Frantz Fanon, Edward Saeed, or Spivak as a postcolonial writer, shares similar concerns and a sense of responsibility. Shamlu's specific definition of the intellectual, which strangely reminds us of Edward Saeed's statements, his commitment to critiquing the existing state of society under the rule of tyranny and oppression, his sense of duty towards the fate of the downtrodden in Iran and the world, his effort to echo their unheard voices, and his instrumental approach to poetry as a means of struggle, all make Shamlu a quintessential postcolonial poet. Consequently, postcolonial literary theory becomes an ideal theoretical framework for analyzing and examining his socially undertaking poetry, a task that the authors of this article have undertaken.
Results and findings
A poem—especially one with a social motif—is not composed in a void; rather, it is the aggregated effect of the poet’s perception of societal transformations. This means that social changes and events are what provoke a committed poet to respond, becoming the central themes of his or her poetry. Therefore, according to Skinner’s Intentional interpretation method, understanding Shamlu's intentions requires situating his works within the social context of his time, rather than merely focusing on the semantic meanings of words and phrases. To this end, and in line with the main argument of this article—that Shamlu’s self-conception as an "organic intellectual" led him toward writing socially committed poetry, as well as critiquing and negating the existing conditions—this study examines the evolution of his poetry under the influence of domestic and international events during the historical period 1921–1978 (1300–1357 SH).
The fundamental claim of this research is that the committed approach evident in Ahmad Shamlu’s socially engaged poetry stems precisely from his self-definition as a popular, organic intellectual deeply concerned with global developments, adopting a transnational perspective and a critical stance toward prevailing conditions. The authors’ analyses of Shamlu’s poetic evolution between 1921 and 1978, framed within postcolonial literary theory (given Shamlu’s intellectual affinities with postcolonial writers) and employing Skinner’s contextualist interpretive method, clearly substantiate the central thesis. it demonstrates that a sense of intellectual responsibility kept Shamlu consistently devoted to producing socially engaged, principled, and faithful poetry throughout this historical period.
However, the researchers’ findings indicate that despite the continuity of Shamlu’s intellectual commitment, there was a noticeable shift in the style and form of his poetry, influenced by changing socio-political conditions. Specifically, from the early 1940s to the late 1950s (early 1320s to late 1330s SH), Shamlu’s poems—due to his political activism as a supporter of the “Tudeh” Party and his allegiance to Marxist leftist ideals, as well as benefiting from the relatively open political climate and freedom of speech following Reza Shah’s abdication in 1941—largely took the form of political manifestos and declarations, expressed in a direct, explicit tone serving partisan interests.
Yet, from the late 1950s until 1978 (end of 1330s to 1357 SH), three factors led to a transformation, the renewed closure of Iran’s political space after the 1953 coup (28 Mordad coup), which triggered severe repression of opponents of the Pahlavi regime; Shamlu’s growing disillusionment and frustration with the state of his era; and his withdrawal from active political and party engagement. As a result, the element of commitment in Shamlu’s poetry moved into deeper, more introspective layers. Freed from partisan allegiance, his commitment became oriented toward broader humanistic concepts and universal human values. Stylistically, his poetry acquired symbolic, metaphorical, cryptic, lyrical, and even colloquial, fragmented qualities (shattered-writing). Moreover, throughout this entire period, Shamlu’s intellectual commitment, informed by a transnational and Third-Worldist outlook, was expressed not only toward the people of Iran but also toward the oppressed, victims, and marginalized populations across the globe, thereby sustaining his postcolonial identity.
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* PH.D Student, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2067-0384
** Corresponding Author: Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8669-7974
*** Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7302-3364
**** Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9048-4325
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