TEHRAN -- The poetry of France from past to modern times was discussed during a session at the Iranian Literature Center on August 31.

At the event, expert translator Mohammadreza Parsayar spoke about the evolution of poetry in France.
“The first French poems, composed in the 9th and 10th centuries, did not survive and what we have today dates back to the 11th century,” he said.
The early poems in French had a religious theme and most of them were religious epics on the theme of death and martyrdom, he added.
Elements of loyalty permeated poetry during 12th century. Many poems were on the theme of praising women and they have a love tone. In this way the lyric substituted epic, he mentioned.
He went on to say that love with decorum was the main theme of most of the poems composed during this era and also the influential romance of Tristan and Iseult was composed in this period in France.
“The 14th and 15th centuries were an era when universities were established in Europe. The poems of the period were imbued with figures of speech the subjects of the poems did not change drastically,” Parsayar added.
Paris was well known for its literary salons in 17th century. Poets attended the salons in which their poems were recited accompanied by music, he said.
The poetry became a kind of entertainment and vulgarities were replaced with flowery language during this period, he mentioned.
“The 18th century was the epoch of great intellectuals like Voltaire and Rousseau and actually, 19th was the golden age of poetry in France,” he concluded.
The second review session will be held at the venue on September 7. The center is located at No. 31 Ardalan St. off Mofatteh Ave.