The Poems Depicting Poverty Belonging to Galatalı Safvet Admiring Poem but Striving for Lucre

Abstract

The 19th century was a period of rapid transformation in classical Turkish literature. Galatalı Safvet Mustafa (d. 5 Shawwal 1282/21 February 1866) was one of the poets of this era. Galatalı Safvet, who is mentioned as a talented poet in tezkires, grew up under Hatif (d. 1823) and Lebib (d. 1867). Galatalı Safvet, who was in contact with different literary milieus and was mentioned among the famous poets of his time. However, Safvet did not compile a divan. His extant poems can be found in Tezkire-i Fatîn, Kemâlü’s-Safve and Son Asır Türk Şairleri. Some of Safvet’s poems are to be found scattered in various mecmuas. There are traces of this orientation in the extant verses of the poet, who tried to solve his subsistence problems by writing eulogies to the important names of his time. This study focuses on the poet’s chronograms found in various documents in the Ottoman Archives of the Prime Ministry. Archive and some of his poems in his Divançe, which is included in the National Library in 06 Mil Yz A 3672/2. The poet’s Eid and New Year greetings written for Reshid Pasha (d. 1858), Cemâleddin Pasha (d. 1880) and other politicians, the death of the Russian Tsar Pavloviç (d. 1855), the chronograms he wrote on the birth of the Sultan Abdülmecid’s (d. 1861) princes Mehmed Fuad and Ahmed Kemaleddin Efendi and Arif Efendi’s (d.?) grandson, and his three ghazals are written in transcription alphabet. The fact that Safvet’s biographical records state that he wrote his poems on commission has been analysed, especially in the case of his poems recorded in archival documents, and the fact that the poet’s writings became an additional source of subsistence to his poverty-stricken salary, which was so small as to cause him difficulties, has been revealed with historical documents. This study brings together some of Safvet’s poems in author’s handwriting. In the article, based on Safvet’s poems, the troubles of a poet living in the 19th century in daily life, his interlocutors, his being affected by the Ottoman-Russian War, the effects of the Bursa Earthquake in 1855 on the poems and Safvet’s transfer of all these to his poems are discussed. The study will contribute to the field in the way that it deals with Galatalı Safvet Mustafa’s poems written in his handwriting in a collective manner and presents a cross-section about the general theme of the poet’s poems.

Citation: İlhan Toker, Bilge (2025). “The Poems Depicting Poverty Belonging to Galatalı Safvet Admiring Poem but Striving for Lucre”, Erdem, December, Issue:89, pp. 117-158