AHMED YESEVI, YUNUS EMRE & NESIMI THE THREE GREAT EARLY TURKISH SUFI MASTER POETSSelected Poems: Translation & Introduction Paul SmithAhmed Yesevi was born in Sayram in 1093 and died in 1166 in Hazrat-e Turkestan, (both cities now in Kazakhstan). He 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 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) and kosmos (combined roba'is) and munajat (prayers). All are generously represented in this translation in the correct forms for the first time. Yunus Emre (d. 132o) is considered one of the most important Turkish poets having a great influence on Turkish literature from his own time until today. His poems concern divine love as well as human love of the Divine as God and the Perfect Master, Beloved, Friend and human destiny and weakness. Little is known of his life other than he became a Sufi dervish Perfect Master (Qutub). A contemporary of Rumi, it is told the two great souls met. Nesimi (1369-1417) is one of the greatest mystical poets of the late 14th and early 15th centuries and one of the most prominent early masters in Turkish/Azerbaijani literary history. For Nesimi at the centre of Creation there was God, who bestowed His Light on man. Through sacrifice and self-perfection, man can become one with Him. As a direct result of his beliefs he was skinned alive. His tomb in Aleppo remains an important place of pilgrimage to this day. His work consists of two collections of poems, the most important in Turkish that consists of gazels and roba'is and some mesnevis.. After his death his work continued to exercise an influence on Turkish language poets and authors. The 600th anniversary of his birth was celebrated worldwide by UNESCO. This illustrates his simple approach that has made him loved by many. Here is the largest selection of their poems translated into English. The correct rhyme-structure has been kept as well as the beauty and meaning of these powerful, mystical poems. Included... Introductions on their Life & Times and the Form and History & Function of the gazel, roba'i and mesnevi, a chapter on Sufism & Poetry, Turkish Poetry and the Turkish Language, Selected Bibliographies. Large Format Paperback 7" x 10" Pages 816.Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Shah Latif, Bulleh Shah, Mahsati, Lalla Ded, Rahman Baba, Iqbal, Jigar, Ghalib, Makhfi, Ibn al-Farid, Abu Nuwas and many others, and poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and a dozen screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com