18-19 century Azerbaijani literature
editDue to political events, the 18th century was a period of decline in the Turkish literature of the Iranian province of Azerbaijan. In the north, however, the forerunners of modern Turkish literature of Azerbaijan, Molla Panah Vaqef (1717-97) and Vedādi (1709-1809), were active. In fact, a contrast is seen in this period in that whereas bilingualism continues to be practiced in the Iranian province of Azerbaijan, writing is almost exclusively in Azeri Turkish in the urban centers located north of it.
Encyclopaedia Iranica. H. Javadi and K. Burrill. Azeri Turkish Literature. [1]
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In this new development, which continued through the 17th and 18th centuries, an important part was played by the political, social and cultural movements then afoot in Adharbaydjan. Classical literature began to develop side by side with the literature of the people, in the semi-independent khanates then coming into existence. Among the products of this folk-literature were romantic poems such as Kor-oghlu, Ashlk Gharib, Shah Ismail and Asli we-Kerem. This genre, known as ashikh (ashik) literature, made great advances in Adharbavdian and formed a bridge between the classical literary language and the local dialects. The progress made by folk-literature had its effect on the development of the classical literature, as is particularly evident in the language of the 17th-and 18th-century poets Mesihi, Sa'ib Tabriz! [q.v.}, Kawsi, Agha Mesih Shirwani, Nishat, Widadi and Wakif. Of these, Kawsi and Mesihi are especially noteworthy for their poetic power. Above all, the creative writers Widadi and Wakif (18th century), who were steeped in the ashikh literature, secured a large public for their poems among the broad mass of the people. Widadi, a prolific lyric poet, greatly enriched Adhari literature. His contemporary, Molla Panah Wakif (1717-97) is considered the founder of the modern school. He chose his themes from life and appears in his poems as an historian and a realist. The simplicity, sincerity and melodiousness of his sweet songs in praise of his beloved and other beauties, replete with the lyricism of the people, have won him a great and abiding fame among the Adharis. In the same category is Dhakir (1774-1857), the greatest master of 19th-century comic poetry in Adhari. The foremost stylist of Adhari literature, he exposed in biting lampoons the injustices and shortcomings of the age.
After Wakif a new stage begins. Adhari literature underwent a virtual revolution, acquiring a number of new genres, thanks to the mature genius of Akhund-zade [q.v.]. For the first time we find historical works, drama and prose-writings. Abbas-Kuli Agha Kudsi (Bakikhanli: 1794-1847), poet, scholar and lover of learning, is noted for his lyrical and satirical works. The literary coteries founded by Mirza Shefi "Wazeh", Nebati and Natawan Khanim (1837-97) on the one hand, and in Karabagh and Shamakhi on the other, and continued by such poets as Sayyid Azim, Asi, Newres, Kudsi, Safa and Salik, contributed by their rivalries to the enrichment of Adhari literature. Seyyid Azim (1835-88), who was recognized as a master of the ghazal and the casida, joined Ekindji, the progressive newspaper founded in 1875 by Hasan Bek Zerdabi (1841-1907) and devoted his poetic powers to castigating the fanaticism of the people.
Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. 1, 1986, p. 193. Adhari
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Modern Azeri Poetry
In Azeri-speaking regions during the 18th and 19th cs., cl. trends survived. The Rus.-Iranian wars of 1813-28 and subsequent treaties dividing Azeri-speaking populations on both sides of the Araxes River did nor impede cultural and social interactions. Poets such as Molla Panah Vagif (1717-97), Mirza Shafi Vazeh (1792-1852), Seyyid Azim Shirvani (1835-88), and Ali Agha Vahid (1896-1965) continued to write love poems, many glorifying earthly love in cl. aruz meters, and achieved fame throughout the area with poems often set to music.
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition. Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 1474
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Eurasian Turkic literature
In the eighteenth century the division between the northern Azerbaijani (in the south Caucasus) and the southern (Iranian) Azerbaijani territories begins with the establishment of numerous small khanates in the north breaking away from the weakening rule of the Safavids and later the establishment of another state under the Qajar dynasty (also of Turkic origin) in 1785. Many khanates also became centers for the patronage of literary activity and many khans also wrote poetry themselves, including Feth Ali Khan, Ebul-feth Khan (pen name: Tuti), and Abbas Kuli Agha Bakihanli (pen name: Kutsi). Several poets who lived in the eighteenth century were regarded as precursors of modern Azerbaijani literature, which would begin a century later. One of these forerunners, Molla Penah Vakif (1717-1797), was not only a reformer and founder of many schools, but he introduced realism in Azerbaijani poetry. Vakif and his close friend Molla Veli Vidadi (1709-1809) drew upon Turkic folk genres and styles to write poems using Turkic syllabic meters in a purer Turkic literary language. Many other poets became their followers.
Literature: A World History, Volumes 1-4. John Wiley & Sons, 2022. ISBN: 978-0-470-67190-0, p. 858
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Traditional Islamic Turkic Literature, 1800s to 1850s
The traditional Islamic Turkic literature continued to flourish in the nineteenth century in the Azerbaijani language in both the southern Caucasus (the cities of Baku and Tbilisi) and Iran (Tabriz), in the Tatar language in the Volga-Ural region (Kazan, Ufa, and other cities), and the Chagatay language in Central Asia (Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, Khiva, and Kokand). For traditional Azerbaijani Islamic literature, following the poetic school established by Molla Penah Vagif (1717-1797) in the late eighteenth century, it is worth mentioning two poets, Heyran Khanim (1786-1838) in the northwestern region of Iran and Khurshidbanu Natevan (1830-1897) among other poets in the southern Caucasus under tsarist rule. The poetry of these two poets differs sharply from the other (male) poets of the time for their effort to bring a female voice and feelings to the male-dominated voice in Azerbaijani poetry.
Literature: A World History, Volumes 1-4. John Wiley & Sons, 2022. ISBN: 978-0-470-67190-0, p. 1311
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During the 17th-20th centuries a rich Azeri literature continued to flourish but classical Persian exercised a great influence on the language and its literary expression. On the other hand, many Azeri words (about 1,200) entered Persian (still more in Kurdish), since Iran was governed mostly by Azeri-speaking rulers and soldiers since the 16th century (Doerfer, 1963-75); these loanwords refer mainly to administration, titles, and conduct of war. This long-lasting Iranian-Azeri symbiosis must be borne in mind if one is to understand the modern history of Iran and its language correctly.
Encyclopaedia Iranica. G. Doerfer. Azeri Turkish. [2]
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Turkic literatures of Central Asia
Meanwhile in the west, in the regions of Azerbaijan and Eastern Turkey, another literary tradition had developed. During the 15th century two Turkoman dynasties, the Qaraqoyunlu (1410-67) and the Aqqoyunlu (1467-1502), came to power. Their literature, strongly influenced by various Islamic mystical orders as well as by Shi'ism, produced outstanding authors in Jahan Shah (fl467) and the poets Hata'i (Shah Ismail; 1485-1524) and Fuzuli*. Shah Tahmasb (1524-76) and Shah Abbas II (1642-77) of the Safavid dynasty in Persia were also excellent poets in the Azeri language, but with the fall of the Safavids, not a great deal of literature in Azeri appeared in Persia itself during the 18th-19th centuries. In Azerbaijan, however, the tradition was strong in the founder of modern Azeri literature, Vaghif (1717-97; pen-name Molla Penah); in the satirist Khalkali and his successor Qasim Beg Zakir (1784-1857); in two poetesses, Hayran Khanim of Tabriz and Banu Natevan Khanim (1837-97), daughter of the last King of Qarabagh; and in Mirza Feth Ali Ahundzade (1812-78), who wrote a number of popular short novels.
Cassell's Encyclopaedia of World Literature. United States: Morrow, 1973, p. 569
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Translations of Akhundzadeh. Darbare-ye Nazm va Nasr (On Verse and Prose), an introduction to the poetry collection of Vagef and Zaker
However, during my travels in the Qarabagh region, I became acquainted with some of the ideas of Molla Panah Vagef in which the aforesaid criteria were in some measure evident.17 I also met Qasem Beg Serajlu Javanshir whose verse in Turkish truly astounded me, inasmuch as the criterion I identified is amply seen in his verses.18 In my opinion, from the Hegira till today the only poets among the Turks have been these two persons.
17 Molla Panah Vagef (1717-97), Azerbaijani poet.
18 Qasem Beg Zaker (1752-1874), an Azerbaijani poet, contemporary and friend of Akhundzade.
Parsinejad, Iraj. A history of literary criticism in Iran, 1866-1951. United States: Ibex Publishers, 2003.