Yesârî is a poet with four poems recorded in the Merzifon Cönkü. The article Metin Hakverdioğlu published in 2019 does not introduce the poet; it gives only the first verse units of his poems. The minstrel Yesârî of Çankırı, who lived in the same century, is known to have held poetic gatherings with Tokatlı Nûrî, and the cönk includes, beside Nûrî, other names from the Çankırı circle; it is therefore highly likely that the Yesârî of the cönk is Yesârî of Çankırı. This identification is an inference and is explained with its grounds in the discussion section at the end of the page.

Life

According to Süheyla Sarıtaş's entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, Yesârî came from the Tuht sub-district of Yapraklı in the province of Çankırı. Little is known of his life; his dates of birth and death are unknown, and he is thought to have lived in the nineteenth century. He is said to have been a Bektaşî; it is recorded that he often visited the lodge of Hacı Bektaş and stayed there for long periods. The sources describe him as a well-known Bektaşî bard and report that many of his poems were found in one of the miscellanies transferred from the Hacı Bektaş lodge to Ankara. According to the entry he became a tomb keeper after the year 1238 (1822-23). His works show that he spent time with his fellow townsman, the poet Zahmî. His name also appears among the minstrels who took part in the yârân gatherings held in Çankırı.

Sarıtaş also recalls that there are four saints bearing the name "Yesârî": among them are Mustafa Yesârî of Filibe, Yesârî Baba of Konya (Mengüşlü) and Yesârî Baba of Batum. The frequency of the name makes it difficult to tie every poem with the pen name Yesârî to the same person.

Connection with Amasya

Yesârî's only known connection with Amasya is that his poems entered a cönk compiled in Merzifon. Hakverdioğlu writes that Merzifon was a large settlement on the roads to Çorum, Kastamonu, Sinop and Samsun and therefore served as a resting inn on the route of the folk poets. Whether Yesârî came to Merzifon is not known. His poems may, however, have reached the town through the links Tokatlı Nûrî formed between Çankırı and Merzifon; Eyüp Akman's entry on Tokatlı Nûrî records that during his years in Çankırı Nûrî took part in poetic gatherings with Zahmî, Bezmî and Yesârî.

Poetry

The Merzifon Cönkü contains four poems under Yesârî's name, one in syllabic metre and three in aruz: a koşma, two semais and a kalenderî. The koşma begins with the line "Göster cemâliňi köz gibi yüzüň" and calls the lovers "acquaintances of the sultan of hearts"; this expression is also open to a Sufi reading. One of the semais opens with a conversation between lover and beloved in the form "I said / she said"; the other is a complaint addressed to God. The kalenderî, with the refrain "efendim", asks about the endurance of a fallen servant. The article gives only the first units of these poems. Each is published on a separate page in this category, with its original text, a modern Turkish rendering and commentary. The musammat koşma given as an example in Sarıtaş's entry does not appear in the Merzifon Cönkü.

State of the Sources and Discussion

Who the Yesârî of the Merzifon Cönkü was is not stated in the article. Our identification of him with the minstrel Yesârî of Çankırı rests on three grounds: Akman's entry records that Yesârî was in the same circle as Tokatlı Nûrî, the cönk devotes the largest number of its poems to Nûrî, and the names Zahmî and Bezmî, known to be from Çankırı, also appear in the cönk. On the other hand, the date 1238 (1822-23) for his appointment as tomb keeper in Sarıtaş's entry suggests that Yesârî was older than Nûrî; that Nûrî conversed with him during his years in Çankırı does not contradict this date, but it requires assuming that Yesârî lived a long life. Considering also the existence of other poets with the same pen name, it is likely, but not certain, that the poems in the cönk belong to Yesârî of Çankırı. The full texts of the poems and a comparison with Yesârî's poems in the Hacı Bektaş miscellanies could resolve this question.

Bibliography

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