Dīvān-i Parvīn Iʻtiṣāmī

The Dīvān of Parvīn Iʻtiṣāmī brings together poems in classical Persian forms, accompanied by an introduction by Malik al-Shuʻarā-yi Bahār. Qaṣīdahs, short narrative poems, dialogues and occasional pieces explore knowledge, effort, poverty, injustice and the responsibilities of human life. Animals, plants and everyday objects become speakers in debates that turn familiar scenes into reflections on conduct and social relations. Poems such as Ashk-i yatīm and Mast va hushyār sit alongside meditations on youth, ageing, destiny and the passing of time. Bahār discusses the poet’s language, her relationship to earlier Persian masters and the distinctive use of dialogue in her verse. The collection combines moral counsel with sympathy for vulnerable people, giving abstract questions concrete voices and situations. Its varied forms and subjects offer a sustained view of a poetic imagination grounded in inherited literary conventions and attentive to the inequalities of ordinary experience.