Protest in Kurdish and Persian Literature: A Study of Kamran Mokri and Farrokhi Yazdi’s Poetry

Abstract

Kamran Mokri and Farrokhi Yazdi are two prominent poets of Kurdish and Persian literature. As committed and protesting poets, they have served their societies and tied to portray people's pain and suffering in their poetry. They have used their poetry only to protest against oppression and ignorance but also to encourage people to stand against the social, political, and religious oppression and ignorance. Although they have not lived in the same period, it is clear that their living conditions were remarkably similar in the Middle East between World War I and II. For this reason, comparing them seems to be of interest form the comparative literature viewpoint. Outstanding national thoughts and emotions; continues efforts to clarify the political and social conditions for the readership and the oppressed class, in particular; to face directly with the wrong behaviors and betrayals of the political and governmental figures; to criticize the interference of the foreign powers in the internal affairs; to attack the dishonesty and deceitfulness of the religious figures or those who seek their own social and economic interests in the name of religion, are the similar points representing protest, artistic feelings and deep political-social thoughts in the works of these two poets vividly. A comparison of their beliefs about religion and religious concepts indicates a minor difference in their viewpoints on religion. Religion as a social foundation and even a historical concept is used in Farrokhi’s works to bring different classes together, however, it is not depicted in this way in Mokri’s works and it is not even referred to negatively.

Keywords

• literary protest
• comparatie literature
• farrokhi yazdi
• kamran mokri