Amir Hushang Ebtehaj (Persian: هوشنگ ابتهاج, with the pen name of H. E. Sayeh (Persian: ه. ا. سایه, lit. Shade) is an Iranian poet of the 20th century, whose life and work spans many of Iran's political, cultural and literary upheavals.

Contents

• 1 Life
• 2 Poetry
• 3 Works
• 4 Poems in translation
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Life

Ebtehaj was born February 25, 1928 in Rasht, Iran, and had his primary schooling there before moving to Tehran. His first book of poetry, with an introduction by eminent poet Mehdi Hamidi Shirazi, was published when he was 19 years old. During Iran's open period following World War II, Sayeh got involved in various literary circles and contributed to various literary magazines such as Sokhan, Kavian, Sadaf, Maslehat, and others. Unlike many other literary figures of the time who got deeply involved in politics and left-leaning activities, Sayeh stayed true to his social and political consciousness but refrained from deeper involvement. He was employed at the National Cement Company for 22 years while continuing his literary activities. Later he was invited by the National Iranian Radio to produce the traditional music program "Golhaye Taze" and "Golchin Hafte."

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the ensuing suppression, Sayeh spent a year in prison for his writings. After he was released, he began work on "Hafez, by Sayeh," a verse-for-verse study of the various publications of Hafez. In 1987, he moved to Cologne, Germany, with his family and lives there, but he comes to Iran several times a year.

Poetry

Taken from Daftar-e Honar magazine article by Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, 1996.

Sayeh published his first collection of poetry while he was still a high school student in the northern province of Gilan, Iran. His total output, however, remains small because of his preoccupation with high craftsmanship and exact phraseology. In the political climate of the 1940s, Sayeh was an ardent advocate of the poetry of social commitment. His own early poetry reveals his concern with purposive literature.

Sayeh has also written a collection of lyrical poems (ghazal) in the cl*ical style. Here, he reveals an easy mastery of traditional forms—the lyrical ode, in particular—which he uses to celebrate both the sacred and the secular moments of life. Sayeh's poetry, at times highly emotional, is always remarkable for its convincing directness and unconcealed sentiment.A number of his lyric poems, ballads and poems have been performed by famous Iranian singers such as Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Alireza Eftekhari, Shahram Nazeri, Hossein Ghavami and Mohammad Esfahani.

Works

Poetry

• The First Songs, 1946 (نخستین نغمه‌ها)
• Mirage, 1951 (سراب)
• Bleak Travails I, 1953 (سیاه مشق ۱)
• Nocturnal, 1953 (شبگیر)
• Earth, 1955 (زمین)
• Pages from the Longest Night, 1965 (چند برگ از یلدا)
• Bleak Travails II, 1973 (سیاه مشق ۲)
• Until the Dawn of the Longest Night, 1981 (تا صبح شب یلدا)
• Memorial to the Blood of the Cypress, 1981 (یادگار خون سرو)
• Bleak Travails III, 1985 (سیاه مشق ۳)
• Bleak Travails IV, 1992 (سیاه مشق ۴)
• Mirror in Mirror, Selected Poems, 1995 (آینه در آینه)

(selected by M.R. Shafie-Kadkani)

• Dispirited, 2006 (تاسیان) (non-ghazal poems)

Other

• Hafez, by Sayeh, 1994 (حافظ به سعی سایه)

Please note: English names of books are not official, but the Wikipedia author's translation. See talk page.

Poems in translation

Translations by Mojdeh Marashi and Chad Sweeney:

• “Arghavaan.” Washington Square Journal, 2008
• “Search/Circle” and “Moan of the Mirror.” Poetry International 12, 2008
• “Kayvaan Was a Star,” “Sterile,” “The Fall,” and “Bird in the Cage.” Pingpong, Henry Miller Library Journal, Issue 3, 2008.
• "Sunset on the Green" and "Image." Subtropics, Issue 6, Fall 2007.
• “Fright,” “Life” and “The Few Thousand Hopes of the Children of Adam.” Crazyhorse Issue 72, 2007.
• “Night’s Alley.” American Letters & Commentary 19, 2007.
• “The Art of Stepping Through Time” and “Black and White.” Indiana Review 29.2, Winter 2007.
• “Maybe,” “Story” and “Dove’s Wings” Seattle Review, Spring 2007.
• “Numbers” and “Red.” Fourteen Hills, Fall 2005.

See also

• Poetry portal

• Intellectual movements in Iran

References

• "Houshang Ebtehaj - Sayeh - خانه". sourehcinema. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
• "IIran's Contemporary Poetry with Hushang Ebtehaj(Sayeh)". sourehcinema. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

External links

• about Hushang Ebtehaj(in Persian)
• Voice of Sayeh reading his poems (includes photos) on Iranian.com.
• نگاهی به کتاب "تاسیان" سایه (in Persian)

Novels

• Ali Mohammad Afghani
• Ghazaleh Alizadeh
• Bozorg Alavi
• Reza Amirkhani
• Mahshid Amirshahi
• Gh*em Hashemi Nezhad
• Reza Baraheni
• Simin Daneshvar
• Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
• Soudabeh Fazaeli
• Reza Gh*emi
• Mohammad Hanif (Iranian writer)
• Houshang Golshiri
• Aboutorab Khosravi
• Zeyn al-Abedin Maraghei
• Ahmad Mahmoud
• Shahriyar Mandanipour
• Abbas Maroufi
• Mansour Koushan
• Iraj Pezeshkzad

Short stories

• Jalal Al-e-Ahmad
• Shamim Bahar
• Sadeq Chubak
• Abolh*an Etessami
• Javad Mojabi
• Simin Daneshvar
• Nader Ebrahimi
• Ebrahim Golestan
• Houshang Golshiri
• Sadegh Hedayat
• Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh
• Aboutorab Khosravi
• Mostafa Mastoor
• Jaafar Modarres-Sadeghi
• Houshang Moradi Kermani
• Bijan Najdi
• Shahrnush Parsipur
• Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi
• Bahram Sadeghi
• Goli Taraqqi

Plays

• Reza Abdoh
• Mirza Fatali Akhundzadeh
• Mohsen Yalfani
• Bahram Beyzai
• Bahman Forsi
• Amir Reza Koohestani
• Alireza Koushk Jalali
• Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi
• Bijan Mofid
• Hengameh Mofid
• Abbas Nalbandian
• Akbar Radi
• Pari Saberi
• Mirza Aqa Tabrizi
• Mohammad Yaghoubi

Screenplays

• Saeed Aghighi
• Mohammad Reza Aslani
• Rakhshan Bani-E'temad
• Bahram Beyzai
• Hajir Darioush
• Pouran Derakhshandeh
• Asghar Farhadi
• Bahman Farmanara
• Farrokh Ghaffari
• Behrouz Gharibpour
• Bahman Ghobadi
• Fereydun Gole
• Ebrahim Golestan
• Ali Hatami
• Abolfazl Jalili
• Ebrahim Hatamikia
• Abdolreza Kahani
• Varuzh Karim-Masihi
• Samuel Khachikian
• Abbas Kiarostami
• Majid Majidi
• Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• Dariush Mehrjui
• Reza Mirkarimi
• Rasoul Mollagholipour
• Amir Naderi
• Jafar Panahi
• Kambuzia Partovi
• Fereydoun Rahnema
• Rasul Sadr Ameli
• Mohammad Sadri
• Parviz Shahbazi
• Sohrab Shahid-Saless

Translators

• Amrollah Abjadian
• Jaleh Amouzgar
• Najaf Daryabandari
• Mohammad Ghazi
• Lili Golestan
• Sadegh Hedayat
• Saleh Hosseini
• Ahmad Kamyabi Mask
• Ahmad Shamlou
• Mohammad Moin
• Ebrahim Pourdavoud
• Hamid Samandarian
• Jalal Sattari
• Jafar Shahidi
• Ahmad Tafazzoli
• Abbas Zaryab

Children's literature

• Samad Behrangi
• Houshang Moradi Kermani
• Babak NikTalab
• Hengameh Mofid
• Poopak NikTalab
• Farhad Hasanzadeh

Essayists

• Aydin Aghdashloo
• Mohammad Ebrahim Bastani Parizi
• Ehsan Yarshater
• Ahmad Kasravi

Contemporary Persian and Cl*ical Persian are the same language, but writers since 1900 are cl*ified as contemporary. At one time, Persian was a common cultural language of much of the non-Arabic Islamic world. Today it is the official language of Iran, Tajikistan and one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.