Shakhaziz, Smbat Simonovich

Born Sept. 5 (17), 1841, in the village of Ashtarak, near Yerevan; died Dec. 24, 1907 (Jan. 6,1908), in Moscow. Armenian poet and teacher.

In 1860, Shakhaziz graduated from the Moscow Lazarev Institute, where he then taught Armenian for 30 years. His verse collection Leisure Hours (1860) is typified by romantic longing. Shakhaziz maintained close ties with editors of the journal Iusisapail (Northern Lights) and was influenced by S. Nazarian and M. Nalbandian. It was natural therefore that he turned toward patriotic themes, for example, in the collection of verse The Sorrow of Levon and Other Poems (1865). Shakhaziz’s lyric poem “The Dream” became a folk song. In the narrative poem The Sorrow of Levon he describes a teacher-hero.