Kishvari | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nematullah Kishvari |
| Died | |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Language | |
| Notable works | Kişvarī Dīvānı |
Nematullah Kishvari[a] (Azerbaijani:Nemətulla Kişvəri,نعمتالله کشوری) was a 15th- and 16th-century poet. He is considered one of the leading poets ofAzerbaijani literature during that time and his poems played a significant role in the development of the Azerbaijani literary language.
Born inSalmas in modern-dayIran, little is known about Kishvari's life. He spent a part of it in the palace ofAq Qoyunlu rulerYaqub Beg inTabriz, where he was in the company of other prominent poets. However, he left the palace when he was repeatedly asked to write eulogies for Yaqub Beg and moved toSamarkand to live withTimurid poetAli-Shir Nava'i, whom he referred to as his master in his poems. After Yaqub Beg's death in 1490, he returned to Tabriz but faced financial difficulties. In his last years, he dedicated eulogies toIsmail I of theSafavid dynasty ofIran and died in Tabriz a few years after his return.
Kishvari's only surviving work is adīvān (a collection of poems) written mostly in Azerbaijani, with somePersian poems included. His poetry is primarily about love and was heavily influenced by Ali-Shir Nava'i and the 14th- and 15th-century Azerbaijani poetNasimi.
Not much is known about the life of Kishvari, including his exact birth date.[2] The majority of information about him is derived from his poetry.[3] Born in Dilmagan (nowSalmas) in modern-dayIran,[4] his poems suggest that he likely lived during the latter part of the 15th century and the early part of the 16th century.[5] His given name was "Nematullah", and his surname, as well as the name he used in his poems, was "Kishvari".[6] Kishvari's poetry was first brought to light by the Turkish literary historianİsmail Hikmet Ertaylan [tr] in 1928.[7] In 1946, his only known work, adīvān (a collection of poems), was discovered.[8]
At some point of his life, Kishvari relocated to Tabriz. There, he resided in the palace ofYaqub Beg (r. 1478–1490) of theAq Qoyunlu, where he lived alongside other Azerbaijani poets such asAhmadi Tabrizi [az],Khatai Tabrizi [az], andHabibi,[9] with whom he was friends.[10] However, he left the palace after being compelled to continuously composeqaṣīdahs (eulogies) for Yaqub Beg and relocated toSamarkand to live withAli-Shir Nava'i, aTimurid poet, whom he referred to as his master in his poems. After Yaqub Beg's death in 1490, Kishvari returned to Tabriz because of his old age and the difficulties of living abroad. His poems reveal that he experienced financial hardships after his return and expressed a longing for the "old days".[9] His final years coincided with the reign ofIsmail I (r. 1501–1524), the founder of theSafavid dynasty ofIran. The poet dedicated oneghazal (a form of amatory poem) and onerübā'ī (a four-line poem) to Ismail I.[11] He died in Tabriz a few years later, although the exact year of his death remains unknown.[9]
The only known work of Kishvari is adīvān, titledKişvarī Dīvānı (lit. 'dīvān of Kishvari').[5] Primarily written inAzerbaijani, this work also includes somePersian poems[12] and features a variety of poetic forms, such as 799ghazals, 42rübā'īs, threetarjī'bands [tr] (poems with repeating verses), and severalqiṭ'ahs (a form ofmonorhyme poetry).[7] In the work, Kishvari often creates new vocabulary by adding Turkic suffixes to Persian orArabic words, or by appending Persian suffixes to Turkic words.[13] Many of his poems praise the officials and their families in the countries where the poet resided, including Yaqub Beg, his mother Selçuk Şah Begüm, cousins of Yaqub Beg, and the Safavid king Ismail I.[7] The main theme of his poetry is love, with a few mystical poems included.[14] Love and the beauty of nature are also the focus of hisghazals.[7] Six copies of thedīvān are known to exist and are located inBursa andIstanbul (Turkey),Baku (Azerbaijan), Samarkand andTashkent (Uzbekistan), andTehran (Iran).[15] The Bursa and Tehran copies were first researched by Jale Demirci, a scholar of Turkic literature, in 1994.[5] The Baku copy, which dates back to 1690, is almost identical to the Tashkent and Samarkand copies. Demirci concluded that this is because the Tashkent and Samarkand copies were made from the Baku copy.[16] Ümran Ay Say, a scholar ofTurkish literature, states that thedīvān does not follow the prescribed order of verse forms, but it does follow the alphabetical order in itsghazals.[7] The primary poetic form in thedīvān is thebayt (aline divided into twohemistichs of equal length, each containing between 16 and 32 syllables); the main poetic genre, on the other hand, is theghazal.[17]
Kishvari's poetry was heavily influenced by Ali-Shir Nava'i, as well as the 14th- and 15th-century Azerbaijani poetNasimi.[18] Ay Say states that the "abundance ofnazires [tr]"[b] (poems written in the style of another poet's work) Kishvari composed for Nava'i "clearly demonstrate the influence of Nava'i on the poet's literary personality".[7] Demirci considers Kishvari to be one of the two Azerbaijani poets most profoundly influenced by Nava'i, the other being the 16th-century poetFuzuli.[20] According to Demirci, Kishvari's poems express his admiration for Nava'i's "greatness and influence", as well as his desire to serve him.[21] Nava'i's influence is also evident in the language of Kishvari's poems, which show a strongChagatai influence, a Turkic literary language once widely spoken throughoutCentral Asia and whose greatest representative was Nava'i.[22] The influence of Chagatai can be observed in the vocabulary, phonetics, and morphological elements of thedīvān.[13]Folk literature's influence can also be seen in Kishvari'slyric poems.[5] He incorporates numerous words and phrases from the Turkic spoken language and various regional dialects into his poetry.[23]
Muharrem Kasımlı, a Turkish scholar of literature, found Kishvari's poems to be indicative of his deep understanding of both Turkic and Islamic cultures.[24] Demirci characterises Kishvari's poems as having a "flowing, simple, and sincere" style,[25] while Arasly distinguishes it by "the simplicity of the language" and "the richness of the ways of representation".[26] The Azerbaijani scholarRoza Eyvazova [az] regards Kishvari's poetry as "very artistic and interesting".[27] She characterises his verses as vibrant and full of life, marked by their "simplicity of language, clarity of thought, sincerity, [and] fluidity".[10]
Kishvari's poetry played a significant role in the development of the Azerbaijani literary language during its formation period in the 15th and 16th centuries.[28] He is considered one of the most prominent representatives ofAzerbaijani literature during this time.[25] Eyvazova views his poetry to be "one of the most valuable resources" to the evolution of the Azerbaijani literary language, and as a cornerstone in establishing the historical grammar of the language. She also believes that hisdīvān holds special importance for the historical comparative study of Turkic languages, because of the variety of Turkic forms used within it.[29] Kishvari's poetry also influenced future Azerbaijani poets.[25] He is considered to represent a transitional period between the eras ofNasimi andFuzuli, two poets regarded as among the greatest in Azerbaijani literature.[17] According to Demirci, the existence of copies of the poet's work from Turkey to Central Asia demonstrates the wide popularity his poetry enjoyed.[30]
AzerbaijaniWikisource has original text related to this article:Kişvəri