Poetry
The Eight Books
هشت کتاب
Sohrab Sepehri · 1976
Synopsis
Eight collections gathered in the order in which they had appeared, from the first poems still marked by Nima to the last, the most spare. In the middle, the long poem of the water that walks goes back over a childhood in Kashan and asks us to wash our eyes in order to see differently; in “Traveller”, a man who has arrived at a friend's house tells him of a journey of the soul through countries and centuries. Further on, a horseman asks the way to the friend's house, and a passer-by points him to an alley greener than God's dream.
Context
The author himself gathered, at Tahouri, eight collections published from 1951 to 1967 and a last unpublished one, with cuts and revisions, leaving aside his very first book of classical verse: Marg-e rang, Zendegi-ye khabha, Avar-e aftab, Sharq-e anduh, Seda-ye pa-ye ab, Mosafer, Hajm-e sabz and Ma hich ma negah. The two long poems in the middle had appeared in a journal in 1965 and 1966. The committed criticism of the time, Baraheni foremost, mocked an “aristocratic little Buddha” detached from his time. The volume has appeared in full in English in 2022; in French only selections exist, including Les Pas de l'eau, 1991.
Who it is for
A substantial volume in Persian, in which each poem can be read on its own. It should be known that the eight books follow one another in the order of their publication, and that the last are the most abstract.
Prizes and reception
Reprinted many times since its publication, it remains one of the best-selling books of poetry in Iran.