Christian Motifs in Forough Farrokhzad’s Works: A Comparison with T.S. Eliot’s Poetry

Forough Farrokhzad’s (1934–1967) film The House is Black (1962) is a visual poem set in a leprosarium in Iran. Farrokhzad was a prominent modernist poet who merged poetry with contemporary art forms, primarily cinema. In this film, she employed a camera to express her poetic vision, highlighting her signature style that prioritizes unique imagery. This emphasis on visual and literary images is often intertwined with themes such as religion. Notably, Farrokhzad recomposed verses from the Old Testament, infusing them with her poetic language to enrich the film’s narrative. This article explores her unique, Western-influenced interpretation of Christian motifs in her poetry and film. Many have compared this Western approach to one specific Western poet, the American-British poet T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). To put this claim to the test, this article will introduce the motifs from Farrokhzad’s film and poetry, focusing on her poems “The Earthly Verses,” comparing them with those from “The Waste Land” by Eliot.