Reading poetry through dialogue with the author's life and context

¶ … arduous labor than people imagine it to be, and yet this labor is worthwhile if one wants to gain optimum pleasure and involvement from the poem and with the author. Reading the poem can be compared to engaging in conversation with the author -- as though one were having a back-and-forth -- and just as the techniques of conversing enable one to understand the speaker and the conversation better, a poem accords a similar situation. Conversation essentially involves three tools: 1. Knowing the speaker; 2. Knowing the context of the poem; 3. Thoroughly listening.

To understand the poem better, it would be helpful to imagine as though I were in a dialogue with the author. As in real life, to engage in a dialogue with any individual, I find that the better I know the individual -- his or her personal and larger social history, environment in which he/she engages, and other aspects of personality -- the more can I accord in-depth meaning to the conversation. To elaborate: each individual sees the world from her particular perspective invariably according her articulations a unique perspective. To understand the intentions behind those words, it would be helpful to have some cognizance of her resume.

Secondly, any conversation occurs in the background of some context. For instance, negotiation occurs within the context of the individual seeking something. To better engage in this conversation, it would be helpful to understand the object of the individual's request / negotiation plea as well as the reasons for her stance, and so forth. Similarly, a poem occurs within the context of some specific situation that has caused the author to write this specific poem. It would be helpful to understand the relationship of the object of the poem to the author, the elements that impelled the author to craft her poem, underlying emotion of the subject of the poem to the author and so forth.

Thirdly, active listening is a component of any successful conversation, and poems involve a component of active listening too although in a different sense. When reading the poem, I am alive to changes in the authors' words, nuances in his language, tone, phraseology, rhyme, or meter, and am following her as closely as possible in order to gain as complete a comprehension as I can of what he is endeavoring to tell me.

As reader therefore who seeks a better grasp of this poem, I will do three things: briefly review detail of Baraheni, his life, his philosophy, and an overview of his works to see if commonalties exist. Secondly, research background information of the poem to see if a history of the poem exists and if so what it is; and thirdly to read the poem as closely and as carefully as possible so that I gain an enhanced understanding.

B. Body

Reza Baraheni

Baraheni has had an eventful life. Born in Tabriz, Iran, in 1935, past president of PEN Canada, and now living in Canada, he has written more than fifty books in Persian and English many of which recount his days in prison under the Shah of Iran.

In 1973, Baraheni was arrested and imprisoned in Teheran where he spent 102 days in solitary confinement in 1982, as well as later on (during the cultural revolution of 1980) expelled from the University of Teheran, briefly arrested twice, and deprived the right to work. Solitary confinement over even a short length of time makes an impact on a person. For 102 days - this must have made a deep and enduring impact and, accordingly, we can expect reflections of this experience to penetrate Baraheni's work. His experience is described in "God's shadow: prison poems."

Other important information to note about Baraheni is that he promoted literary criticism as an important endeavor, and was active, throughout his life, in condemning the political and social life in Iran. Many of his poems, therefore, indicate themes of his political struggle and work.

As founding member of the Writers' Association of Iran, Baraheni's focus has been on three major themes: 1. Free thought and articulation of this thought; 2. Equal rights of minorities in Iran; and 3. Equal rights for women in Iran.

Conclusion

Baraheni's poem, in a straightforward sense, seems to describe a typical autumn day in Tehran, but if one reads a poem as per a conversation, one can arrive at a deeper, more profound understanding of the author's intentions.

To understand a poem better, it would be helpful to practice three techniques: 1. Understanding the history of the author, 2. Understand the context of the poem, 3. Active listening.

Baraheni was a dissident who fought and suffered all his life for human freedom, particularly freedom in Iran, and his philosophy and goals suffused his writings.

In connection to Baraheni's Autumn in Tehran one could read the poem as descriptive (hints of approaching Autumn) or, when employing the three tools, allusive to the approaching political conditions and consequences of those conditions. As in a conversation, meaning depends on the recipient as well as on the sender. And here too: the poem could be read and understood in a straightforward manner, as descriptive, but, treating the poem as a vibrant conversation with a living mortal and understanding that human, it could also be injected with deeper meaning and, accordingly, be seen as allusive to political conditions in Iran.

Reference

Reza Baraheni, a Bio-bibliography http://www.vazhe.com/baraheni_bio.htm