Hıfzî was a divan poet of Merzifon who lived in the second half of the nineteenth century. His real name is not given in the sources; he is known by his pen name and by the title "Gazi" (veteran warrior) that he earned in the War of 93. All that is known about him rests on Orhan Bilgin's book Merzifon'lu İki Şair (Eyüb Sabrî-Hıfzî), published in 1992, and on the entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Names in Turkish Literature) that draws on this book. The other poet of the book is Eyüb Sabrî, the young poet of Merzifon who died at twenty-four. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi contains no entry for Hıfzî of Merzifon; the poet is therefore among those names whose sources depend on a single study.

His Life

Hıfzî was born in Merzifon in the month of Ramadan 1267, that is, in the summer of 1851. İsmail Hakkı Aksoyak's entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü opens by noting that information about the poet is rather limited. In his youth he went travelling with his father and wandered through many places; during these journeys he came to know many people and read many books. These travels suggest that the poet acquired his learning largely by reading and seeing; but which towns he saw and who his father was are not known.

The only concrete event documented in the poet's life is his part in the Russo-Ottoman War of 1293 (1877-78), known among the people as the War of 93. Because of the heroism he showed in the war he was given the title "Gazi". On which front and in which unit he served is not recorded in the source. The general story of those from Amasya and Merzifon who took part in this war is told in the site's article The War of 93 and Amasya. Hıfzî died in 1310 (1892), at the age of forty-one. Where he was buried is not known.

His Connection with Amasya

Hıfzî's connection with Amasya comes from his birth in Merzifon. Merzifon was then a district (kaza) of the sanjak of Amasya and was the scene of a lively poetic life in the nineteenth century. Bilgin's treatment of Hıfzî in the same book as Eyüb Sabrî also shows that the two poets came from the literary circle of the same town. Hıfzî was eight years younger than Sabrî and was fifteen when Sabrî died in 1866; there is no record of whether the two poets knew each other.

His Poetry

According to Aksoyak, besides poems in the verse forms of divan poetry Hıfzî also has poems written in the forms of folk poetry. This feature brings him close to the other Merzifon poets of the same century, especially Eyüb Sabrî, who used aruz (quantitative metre) and syllabic metre side by side. All his poems were published in Bilgin's book; no online copy of the book could be found.

The only complete text in our hands is the ghazal "Nâr-ı sevdâ şiddet-efzâ-yı melâl olmuş sana", which Aksoyak quotes from Bilgin as a sample. This ghazal of six couplets addresses a sorrowful beloved; in the pen-name couplet the poet advises himself not to stop composing verse and says that his nature has become for him the cupbearer of eternal grace. The couplet beginning "Şi'ri rengînim gibi", like my colourful poetry, also shows the poet's confidence in his own verse. The ghazal is given on a separate page in this category with the original text, a modern rendering and commentary.

The State of the Sources and Poets of the Same Pen Name

The only basis for information on Hıfzî is pages 83-85 of Bilgin's book, reached here through Aksoyak's entry. His family, education, profession and real name are therefore unknown. The pen name Hıfzî had long been used in Amasya, and the Merzifon poet should not be confused with others who bore it. Hüsameddin records Mevlânâ Şehrî Ali Çelebi, who used the pen name Hıfzî and was in Amasya during the governorship of Prince Bayezid (later Bayezid II), and Hıfzî Abdurrahman Efendi, son of a deputy judge (nâib) of Amasya, who died in 1103 (1691-92); a ghazal of the latter is preserved in Abdî Efendi's Amasya tezkire (biographical anthology of poets). These two poets belong to the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries and have nothing to do with Gazi Hıfzî of Merzifon.

Chronology

Ramadan 1267 (June-July 1851): Hıfzî is born in Merzifon.

1293 (1877-78): He takes part in the Russo-Ottoman War and receives the title "Gazi".

1310 (1892): Hıfzî dies.

1992: Orhan Bilgin publishes the poet's poems together with those of Eyüb Sabrî.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Books

Online sources