| Turkish literature |
|---|
| By category |
| Epic tradition |
| Folk tradition |
| Ottoman era |
| Republican era |
 | This article includes alist of references,related reading, orexternal links,but its sources remain unclear because it lacksinline citations. Please helpimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Thepoetry of the Ottoman Empire, or OttomanDivan poetry, is little known outside modernTurkey, which forms the heartland of what was once theOttoman Empire. It is, however, a rich and ancient poetic tradition that lasted for nearly 700 years, and one whose influence can still be felt in themodern Turkish poetic tradition.
Even in modern Turkey, however, Ottoman Divan poetry is a highly specialist subject. Much of this has to do with the fact that Divan poetry is written inOttoman Turkish, which was written using a variant of theArabic script and made extensive use of Arabic and Persian words, making the language vastly different from modernTurkish. In its own time, knowledge of this form of literary Turkish was largely limited to the educated classes.
The Ottoman Divan poetry tradition embraced the influence of the Persian and, to a lesser extent,Arabic literatures. As far back as the pre-OttomanSeljuk period in the late 11th to early 14th centuries CE, this influence was already being felt: theSeljuks conducted their official business in the Persian language, rather than in Turkish, and the poetry of the Seljuk court was highly inflected with Persian.
When the Ottoman Empire arose in northwesternAnatolia, it continued this tradition. The most common poetic forms of the Ottoman court, for instance, were derived either directly from the Persian literary tradition (thegazel; themesnevî), or indirectly through Persian from the Arabic (thekasîde). However, the decision to adopt these poetic forms wholesale led to two important further consequences:[1]
Out of this confluence of choices, the Ottoman Turkish language—which was always highly distinct from standard Turkish—was effectively born. This style of writing under Persian and Arabic influence came to be known as "Divan literature" (Turkishdivân edebiyatı), asdivân was the Ottoman Turkish word referring to the collected works of a poet.
Beginning with theTanzimat reform period (1839–1876) of Ottoman history and continuing until thedissolution of the empire in the early 20th century, the Divan poetic tradition steadily dwindled, and more and more influence from bothTurkish folk literature andEuropean literature began to make itself felt.
Kaside is generally about God, religious or government leaders and their values. Most famous poets areAhmed Paşa,Necati,Bâkî,Nedîm, most importantlyNef'i.
Terminology:
