Mirza Alakbar Sabir
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Mirza Alakbar Sabir (Azeri: Mirzə Ələkbər Sabir), born Alakbar Zeynalabdin oglu Tahirzadeh (30 May 1862, Shamakhy – 12 July 1911, Baku). Sabir was a public figure, philosopher, teacher and a poet-innovator, he set up inspiring attitude to classical traditions, rejecting well-trodden ways in poetry. Never before did the people’s attitude to the world, the voice of Azeri people find so splendid and complete embodiment, devoid of stylization, as in Sabir’s writings.
If the artistic thought of the Azerbaijani people found its fullest epic completeness and perfection in Nizami’s verses and Fuzuli’s works have been the exemplars of lyric to this day, the satirical trend in Azerbaijani literature and, especially, in poetry is inseparable from the name of Sabir – the true symbol of Azeri realistic poetry.
Sabir was brought up in the patriarchal-religious atmosphere. But when twelve yearl old, young Alakbar managed to enter school of Seyid Azim Shirvani, a brilliant poet and teacher. Personal contacts with this man greatly influenced formation of Sabir as a poet.
Throughout all his life poverty was Sabir’s curse. He was bound to take care of his family’s well-being, hardly earning a living himself and his household. No time was left for literary activity, the more so as the spectre of poverty took more and more distinct shape. Sabir tried to become a merchant, but the poet’s spirit badly suited for this job and he did not succeed. Instead, he traveled a lot about the Central Asia and the Middle East and it seems that his traveling about the Moslem East had strengthened his desire to write satirical works, since he saw the appalling situation of people, their backwardness and stagnant life.
The Russian Revolution of 1905 had a powerful effect on Sabir’s writing, infusing it with a revolutionary spirit. This revolution, which was followed by spreading of the democratic trends throughout the Russian Empire, marked the beginning of a new era in Sabir’s literary activity. The shock waves of upheaval brought about a host of satirical publications. The most prominent of them was the Molla Nasraddin magazine, which was popular in all over the Caucasus, Middle East and Central Asia, its publisher being a great enlightener of Jalil Mammadguluzadeh. It was this journal that Sabir’s best, most creative mature years are associated. His pen did not miss a single political event, a single problem typical for still the feudal-patriarchal Azerbaijani society and he embodied his ideas in stirring, thought-provoking images. Sabir’s verses were merciless. He wrote about the arbitrariness of Tsarist officials, landowners and beys ignorant to their people, backwardness of the clergy, the down-trodden status of women and the social situation of the working people. Sabir’s poetry won him people’s respect tremendous popularity, at the same time, placing him in a very risky and dangerous position. He was exposed to persecution, attacks and insults of the officials, mullahs and qochus (bouncers), who threatened him with reprisals. That’s why Sabir (this pen-name of the poet mean patience) had more than fifty pen-names, but even this could not help him from escape from persecution.
Poverty, overstrain, endless caress of his large family and persecution, which wore out the poet’s nerves had not passed without leaving a trace in his health. He boiled soap for living and was often ill. In 1910 the Sabir’s disease of livers took a serious turn that later on was found irreversible. Even when ill, Sabir continued to write. Not long before his death he said to his friends who stood at his bed-side: "I laid my flesh down for my people. But if God would give me more time, I would lay my bones down too"...
