Abstract
A Poet from Turkistan: Vâsıfî and Turkish Poems
In all the Turkish states established in history, scholars
and craftsmen were supported by other statesmen,
especially sultans. This situation, which has become a
tradition in Turkish states, has caused many scholars and
artists to grow and some cities have become centers of
culture and civilization. Especially after the second half of
the 15th century, the assemblies established under the
leadership of Timurian sultan Hüseyn-i Baykara and his
close friend and vizier Alî Şîr Nevâyî were effective in
bringing Herat as a scientific, literary and cultural
neighborhood. One of the important poets and prose
writers who succeeded in meeting Alî Şîr Nevâyî at a
young age and participating in his assemblies was Vâsıfî,
from Herat. Vâsıfî gained the appreciation of many
important state men, especially Nevâyî with his skill in
writing and solving enigma, and became the wanted
person of the assemblies. In the assemblies he had the
chance to participate in, he shared with him various stories
that he has seen and witnessed and listened to from others.
In this article, information about Vâsıfî's life, art and
works will be given and two Turkish poems which are
included in the book named Bedâyi‘u’l-vekâyi‘ written in
Persian at a time when Persian is used as literary language
was introduced.
Keywords
Vâsıfî, Bedâyi‘u’l-vekâyi‘, poetry, enigma, artistic prose.