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by Paul Smith (Translator), Ahmed Yesevi (Author)
AHMED YESEVI FIRST TURKISH SUFI POET Selected Poems (Large Print & Large Format Edition) Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Ahmed Yesevi, born in Sayram in 1093, and died in 1166 in Hazrat-e Turkestan, (both cities now in Kazakhstan), was a Turkish poet and Sufi or Dervish who exerted a powerful influence on the development of mystical orders throughout the Turkish-speaking world. Yesevi is the earliest known Turkish poet who composed poetry in an early Turkish dialect, Chagatai. He was a pioneer of popular mysticism, founded the first Turkish order, (the Yeseviye), that quickly spread over the Turkish-speaking areas. Yesevi had numerous students/followers in the region. His poems created a new genre of mystical folk poetry in Central Asia and influenced many Sufi/Dervish poets including 'Attar, Rumi, Hafiz (who both knew Turkish) and Yunus Emre. The book of his poems, the Divan-e Hikmet (Book of Wisdom), consists mainly of gazels and murabbas (foursomes), Kosmos (robi'as srung together) and munajat (prayers). All are generously represented in this translation in the correct forms for the first time in English. Introduction: On Turkish & Turkish Sufi Poetry & The Life & Times & Poetry of Ahmed Yesevi, On the Gazel in Turkish Sufi Poetry, Selected Bibliography. Large Print (18pt) & Large Format (8" x 10") Edition. 370 pages
