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Fuzuli:
Muhammed Suleyman Oglu |
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Fuzuli,
the great exponent of the court or Divan
school of Ottoman
poetry, was born around 1494 in what was then part of the
Safavid
(Persian) Empire and is now northern Iraq. His nome de plume
means presumption /virtue/perfection, and Fuzuli was indeed
an ambitious man, proud of his versatility in Azeri (a Turkish
dialect), Arabic and Persian. His three great collections
(Divans) are in these languages, but the most famous is
the 4,000 couplet-long rendering of the
Middle
East favourite
Leili and Mejnun in Azeri Turkish. Though outwardly
a sentimental tale of thwarted passion, Islamic writers
have created a philosophical and dramatic exploration of
love in all its mystical and worldly
forms, celebrated as much in dance and painting as in literature.
Reputation notwithstanding, Fuzuli himself lived in continual
want, and died of cholera in Kerbela in 1556.
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Ottoman poetry |
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The Ottomans
were one of the many Turkoman peoples who migrated into
Anatolia (eastern Turkey) from the 11h
century AD. They gradually converted to Islam,
and created an empire
that stretched from Azerbaijan
to
Algeria. Until the nineteenth century, when writers
turned to Europe for inspiration, Turkish poetry belonged
to three great schools. The court or Divan school modelled
itself on Arabic
and Persian,
often Persianizing Turkish words in the process. The Tekke
or religious poetry was written in theological centres,
being best known in the west through the mysticism of Rumi
(1207-73). Folk poetry drew its inspiration from pre-Islamic
traditions, and is still continued by countless storytellers.
Fuzuli
was only one of a galaxy of outstanding Divan poets, women
included — Baqi,
Sultan
Suleyman, Hayali,
Tashcali Yahya Bey, Ruhi-i Baghdad, Naili,
Nedim,
Seyh Galip.
Similar lists compiled for the other schools would at least
mention Suleyman
Celebi and Yunus
Emre.
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Turkish
poetry |
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The problems of appreciating Ottoman
poetry are those of any foreign culture: differences in
outlook,
history,
tradition
and verse
forms. Since the Divan poets did not seek novelty or
individual expression, moreover, their excellence lies in
the depth
to which they exploited Arabic and Persian forms —
which means that all-important subtleties are often lost
in translation, one poet sounding like another. After 1923,
and the importation of western ideas — nationalism,
surrealism,
modernism — Turkish poetry
adopts the concerns of western literature, and its poets
often read well in translation:
Ahmet
Hasim, Nazim
Hikmet, Bedri
Rahmi Eyubogl, Cahit
Sitki Taranci, Behcet
Necatigil, Ilhan
Berk, Orhan
Veli Nazim
Hikmet and Cemal
Sureya to name a few.
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Reading Turkish poetry: resources |
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The long Ottoman decline
was halted in the 1920s, Turkey becoming a republic and
adopting westernized customs, dress and script.
Nonetheless, Turkish
is not
a European
language and is based on syllable
roots. Try
these
Internet
courses, CDs,
tapes,
books,
and language
schools. Native speakers will enjoy turkce
siir turk
siir sayfalari, aruz,
gonul
nameleri imece,
yitikulke,
turkish music
and siir demeti.
Turkish poetry is translation is found at ottoman
souvenir, turkish
poetry, turkce
siir and turkish
poetry in translation, Recommended books include Penguin
Book of Turkish Verse (1978), W.J.W. Gibb's A
History of Ottoman Poetry (1900-09), W.G. Andrews's
An Introduction to Ottoman Poetry (1976) and Poetry's
Voice, Society's Song: Ottoman Lyric Poetry (1985),
and J. Goodwin's Lords of the Horizon: A History of the
Ottoman Empire (2001)
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