Rakhshandeh E'tesami (17 March 1907 – 4 April 1941), better known as Parvin E'tesami, was a 20th-century Iranian Persian-language poet.
Parvin E'tesami was born on 17 March 1907 in Tabriz to Mirza Yussef E'tesami Ashtiani (E'tesam-al-Molk). Her paternal grandfather was Mirza Ebrahim Khan Mostawfi Etesam-al-Molk. Her grandfather Mirza Ebrahim Khan Mostawfi Etesam-al-Molk was originally from Ashtiyan, but moved to Tabriz and was appointed financial controller of the province of Azerbaijan by the Qajar administration.
E'tesami had four brothers, her mother died in 1973. Her family moved to Tehran early in her life, and in addition to formal schooling, she obtained a solid understanding of Arabic and classical Persian literature from her father. At the age of 8 she started writing poems.
She studied at the Iran Bethel School in Tehran, an American high school for girls where she graduated in 1924. Afterwards, she taught for a while at that school. For her graduation she wrote the poem, A Twig of a Wish (1924) about the struggles facing Iranian women, their lack of opportunities, and the need for their education.
In 1926, she received an invitation to become the tutor of the Queen of the new Pahlavi court, but she refused.
On 10 July 1934, she was married to a cousin of her father, Fazlollah E'tesami, and they moved to the city of Kermanshah. The marriage lasted for only ten weeks and they separated due to differences of interests and personality and she returned to Tehran.
She was a member of the Kanoun-e-Banovan and supported the Kashf-e hijab reform against compulsory hijab (veiling).
In 1936, E'tesami was awarded by Reza Shah Pahlavi the third-degree Iran Medal of Art and Culture, but she declined.
Between 1938 and 1939, she worked for several months at the library of Danesh-Saraay-e 'Aali, (currently known as Tarbiat Moallem University) of Tehran.
Her father died in 1938, and she died three years later of typhoid fever. She was buried near her father in Qom, near the Fatima Masumeh Shrine.
Parvin E'tesami's house became an Iranian national heritage site on 19 October 2006.
Parvin E'tesami married her father's cousin, Fazlollah E'tesami Ashtiani, on 10 July 1934, and four months after their engagement and marriage, they moved to Kermanshah. At the time of their marriage her husband was the head of the gendarmerie in Kermanshah. After living with her husband for nearly two months, Parvin returned to her father's house, and nine months later, on 5 August 1935, they separated. Abolfath E'tesami, Parvin's brother, cited the reason for the separation as mentality and ethical differences between the two, stating that her husband's military mindset was incompatible with Parvin's gentle and free-spirited nature.
Parvin never spoke about this unsuccessful marriage until the end of her life, and only composed a poem on the subject, the first three verses of which begin with these lines (translated from Persian):Oh flower, in the company of the garden, what did you see?
Other than reproach and the bitterness of thorns, what did you see?
You went to the meadow but a cage became your fate,
Oh captive bird, besides the cage what did you see?
Oh radiant candle, with all this light,
Other than a petty buyer in the market, what did you see?