User:Zhinous.Mikaieli

A Twig of a Wish

Historical and Cultural Moment

In “A Twig of a Wish,”(Persian: نهال آرزو) Parvin Etesami complains about the lack of respect and opportunities for woman. She asserts women’s importance in pointing out that women are in charge of nurturing and educating all children (male and female), they should have greater respect and an equal chance for education as men. Her poem “A Twig of a Wish” was written when it was not unusual for women to be forced into marriages at young ages. Women's lives were very restricted during that time in Iran, and poetry was the only art in which a woman could express her thoughts and feelings. In such an atmosphere, Etesami and other early modern women writers in Iran provided a strong feminist claim for women’s rights.

Poem

Why aren’t women given same chance as men?

Why are women’s names left out in the lists of different fields?

Mothers are children’s first teachers.

Children won’t be able to succeed with uneducated mothers. (Mikaieli trans.)


[Az che nesvan az hoghoghe khishtan bi bahre and

name in ghom az che door oftade az har daftari

Damane madar nokhost amoozgar e koodak ast

tefle daneshvar koja parvarde nadan madari]

About Poet

Etesami's poem “A Twig of a Wish” was written for her high school graduation ceremony from the Iran Bethel School in the spring of 1924. To the assembled audience at the girls’ school’s ceremony, it was daring for Etesami to speak out directly about the importance of women’s education and rights just before and during the Reza Shah era. What can be learned from her poems is that she had passion to learn and was aware of social issues. Her poems are full of spiritual truth and sympathy for the poor and the oppressed. Parvin Etesami (1907-1941) grew up in an intellectual environment under supervision of her father who had a literary personality. That is why she became familiar with the thoughts of literary society. She married her father’s cousin who was much older than her and soon after got divorced for his addition to drug and corruption. Her husband didn’t let her write poets. After her divorce, her poets were published in Bahar magazine.