Jewel
- studded Land - VIEW
THE POEM
I've won,
I registered myself,
adorned myself with a name, an identity card,
and my existence has become defined with a number.
therefore, long live 678, resident of Tehran,
long live 678, issued at precinct 5.
my worries are over now
This poem presents
Farrokhzad as a spokesperson, as a critic of life in Westernized North
Tehran in the 1960s. Its title, "O Jewel-studded Land,"
was the title of an official Pahlavi-era anthem, which Farrokhzad
here satirizes along with the modernized and westernized culture the
Pahlavi monarchy fostered. references in the poem to Iranian identity
cards, national lottery drawings on Wednesday afternoons, traditionalist
poets searching in the refuse heap of history for inspiration, and
the traditionalist versifier Ebrahim Sahba (Abraham, the western form
of his given name deliberately given) make the poem very culture-specific.
The poet even uses her own name for the speaker, although the poem's
details are not personally autobiographical. Farrokhzad expresses
in "O Jewel-studded Land" the critical view shared by many
non-establishment, secular-minded intellectuals of her day.
Iranian
Culture (A Persianist View) Michael C. Hillmann page 154
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