[2] Sobir's poetic style is known for its imagery, nationalism, patriotism, its inclusion of the history of the Tajik people, and also for its strong political views.
After his poem We are of Siyovush's Bloodline (Az Khuni Siyovushem) was set to music, it became the de facto Tajikistan national anthem.
[5] The Democratic Party was the secular component of the Democratic-Islamic coalition that governed Tajikistan in 1992, until it was overthrown by pro-communist forces with Russian military support.
After his father died at an early age, he was sent to study at a boarding school in Hisor in western Tajikistan, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the capital of Dushanbe.
Thereafter, he worked at various newspapers and magazines in Soviet Tajikistan, including Education and Culture (Tajik: Maorif va Madaniyat), Voice of the East (Sadoi Shark), and Justice (Adolat).
[12] At their request, he edited and improved the poems of almost all famous Tajik poets throughout his lifetime, though he worked at the Writers' Union for ten years.
The poems of Bozor Sobir are characterized by their novel form, penetrating lyricism, high spirituality, and a tense search for truth and beauty in work and love.
Defining motifs are: the ancient and recent history of Tajikistan's people; the formation of national identity in the complex, changing world of the end of the 20th century; the comprehension of modernity through the moral experience of a man of the post-war generation; the beauty of his native land; and intimate lyrics with features of the mythological understanding of women and nature.
[15] According to a study of his works by Shahlo Tohiriyon, a notable feature of Sobir's poetry is that its style reveals the essence of the concept, the case and the images through comparison and contrasts.
[15] While a majority of his early poems have romantic elements and imagery of his birthplace, from the late 1970s there is a change in direction: themes of Tajik ancestry, their ancient Zoroastrian religion, history, and patriotism.
[18] The feeling of having been robbed throughout history is prominent in this poem, as is the resentment about the fact that Bukhara and Samarkand, the ancient Iranian cities and the traditional centers of the Tajiks' literature and culture, were in 1929 allotted to Uzbekistan by the foundation of the Soviet Republics.
Bukhara and Samarkand feature as lost Tajik treasures, and ancient pre-Islamic Zoroastrian heritage is placed in the foreground (as can be seen by references made to the Shahnameh figures Rostam and Sohrab, the Soghdians).
The poet saw religion as a menace to development and progress of society, and felt that religious leaders had contributed nothing concrete toward improving the lives of humans.
[20]One poem ironically praised Vladimir Lenin and compared him to religious leaders and prophets for similar contributions to the development and progress of Tajik people and Tajikistan.
His support and push for independence and democracy, and as one of the leaders of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) during the Tajikistani Civil War, led many of the known poets to write a collective letter, which was published and submitted to authorities, calling Sobir an extremist and requesting his arrest.
The hostage-taking charge related to an incident in April 1992 when Sobir, addressing the opposition demonstrators in Dushanbe, criticized a group of parliamentary deputies who were subsequently taken hostage that same day.
"[24] The trial opened in the Supreme Court of Tajikistan in Dushanbe on 20 September 1993, and proceedings were interrupted multiple times due to threats of violence against the defense lawyers.
[28] Dr Ayniddin Sadykov, a neurosurgeon and member of the Democratic Party, disappeared after being detained by armed men in Dushanbe on 21 April 1993.
On the morning of his disappearance he had been carrying a medical report on Sobir, intending to present it to the authorities in an attempt to secure his release from prison.
[30] Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmonov had signed a decree pardoning Democratic Party leaders, ordering their release from jail.
Specifically, the decree pardoned party chairman Shodmon Yusupov and his two deputies, poet Bozor Sobir, and Oinihol Bobonazarova.
[31] The Tajik authorities said that they presented the pardon of the three opposition leaders as a goodwill gesture to facilitate the resumption of the fifth round of inter-Tajik negotiations.
[36] A strong proponent of secularism, Sobir's views, poems and articles continued to influence politics and policy, and he remained popular despite his exile.
[39] Solidifying his secularist view in defense of closing the Islamic party, Sobir said that "many unnecessary demagogues have emerged in Tajikistan, which must give way to sober-minded forces".
Following the publication of the statement, the IRPT invited Sobir to discuss matters at a joint conference, which he declined:[40] What is my business with Islamists?
Other popular poems set to music by renowned Tajik composers include To Build You the Second Time, Homeland (Dubora Sozamat Vatan), Why Don't You Come?
His secularist views and criticism of religion continue to stir people in a Muslim-majority Tajikistan and also in Iran and Afghanistan, where Tajik language and culture are practised.
His arrival and a meeting with the president at the Palace of Nations on 30 May 2013 were televised internationally by MIR24, the channel encompassing all former Soviet bloc countries.
[49] In a televised announcement, Rahmon ordered the country's US and UN representatives to see that Sobir was visited and "to assist in ensuring his intensive care, comprehensive support and early return of the poet to his homeland.
The highly artistic and inimitable words of the national poet Bozor Sobir will forever remain in the memory of present and future generations.Sobir's body was transported with full state honors to his homeland and buried in Dushanbe.