The Study of Sociopolitical Themes in Dehkhoda's Divan

The Iranian Constitutional Revolution was the result of Iranian peoples intellectual growth and development, as well as the advent of idealistic and people-oriented ideas and libertarian movements. Among the backgrounds of such developments are Iranian peoples travels abroad for the purpose of education or recreation and their written accounts of their memories and observations. Comparing and contrasting Iran with other countries motivated people to claim their fundamental human rights and strive to achieve freedom. Such ideas spread across the nation by means of newspapers, magazines, and other forms of advertisement and unified people on their path towards achieving freedom, independence, and prosperity for the country. Among others, a certain figure who played a crucial role in the enlightenment of the public is Ali Akbar Dehkhoda. He is a prominent politician, journalist, researchers, and literary figure, and his personality is interesting in each of the mentioned areas. In this thesis entitled The Study of Sociopolitical Themes in Dehkhodas Divan, an attempt has been made to study and analyze the social and political themes used by him in his poems. This research encompasses an introduction and three chapters, the first chapter deals with Dehkhodas biography and the description of his works, the second chapter is concerned with Irans sociopolitical conditions during his life, and, the third chapter focuses on the sociopolitical themes used in Dehkhodas poems. The results indicate that sociopolitical themes are the most central ones in his poems. All that Dehkhoda is concerned about are people and the society, it is precisely for this reason that, at times, he deeply sympathizes with people, and on occasions that his passion ebbs away, shows nothing but contempt toward them. Some frequently used themes in his poems are issues such as freedom, homeland, anti-authoritarianism, political party-oriented ideas, and humor and satire. In his view, poetry is not a way of looking at life, but a way towards liberty and equality for his people and the whole humanity.