Abstract
HUMOUR IN A DIVAN BY ENDERUNİ VASIF
In this study, humorous poems contained in the Divan of Enderuni Osman Vasıf will be discussed. Born in the mid-18th century and deceased in 1824, Vasıf was renowned as a talented calligrapher and composer-although his compositions have never reached our day-in addition to his noteworthy poetry. His sole work, published under the title of Divan-ı Gülşen-i Efkar-ı Vasıf-ı Enderuni after his death, was a rich divan which could be considered to be a high volume work containing examples from almost all types of verses found in the classical poetry. As a result of various duties, Vasıf had spent most of his life in the Ottoman palace. Nevertheless, as in some of his predecessors, Vasıf had made use of the popular taste and daily language of the common people in the divan literature. Being fond of eating and drinking, pleasure-seeking, frivolous, and even disdaining life, Vasıf had reflected his personal habits and interests in his poetry from time to time, and had used a satirical style in some of his poems especially those written on ramadan and religious festivals. In this study, Divan written by Vasıf will be discussed as a whole and the humorous style of the poet will be evaluated based on the couplets provided as examples.
Keywords
Enderuni Vasıf, Divan, humour, satire.