TEHRAN – After an absence of over 300 years, Mirza Hossein Moshref Esfahani, a Safavid-era poet who was most famous for his nonsense verses, comes to life every night at a Tehran theater.

Parizad Seif is the director of “The Blissful” (“Khoshdelan”) written by Saeid Pursamimi, a star of the acclaimed drama “Leila’s Brother”, who also has a role in the play.

Seif also plays a role in “The Blissful” starring Masud Keramati, Elham Pavenejad, Bahram Ebrahimi and Reza Molai.

The play will remain on stage at the Nazerzadeh Keramni Hall of the Iranshahr Theater Complex until June 29.

Mirza Hossein Moshref Esfahani lived under Shah Sultan Hossein, a Safavid king who ruled Persia in the early 18th century. He also had charge of the shah’s stable and a really good sense of humor.   

One day, the poet attended a court circle and said that he could compose a collection like those created by the Persian poets Nezami Ganjavi and Amir Khosrow Dehlavi, that no one could find even one meaningful verse. He said that if he could succeed in dealing with the challenge, he should be awarded with gold and if they did find any eloquent verses in his composition, they should punish him by pulling one tooth for each such verse and hitting him over the head with it.

He managed to compose the collections and in the end, he had to have three teeth yanked out for three eloquent verses found in his poetry. Meanwhile, he was rewarded for the nonsense verses of his books.

Moshref Esfahani is known as a leading figure of literary nonsense in the history of Persian literature.

Literary nonsense or nonsense literature is a broad categorization of literature that balances elements that make sense with some that do not, with the effect of subverting language conventions or logical reasoning.

Photo: Director Parizad Seif (L) and her troupe perform “The Blissful” at Tehran’s Nazerzadeh Keramni Hall on May 23, 2023. (Tiwall/Kiarash Mosayyebi)

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