Abstract
Why Do Sultans Write Poetry?
Established in centuries, a great tradition of poetry has
been passed on from one generation to another in Turks.
The Turkish dynasties as well as the poets patronised by
their members occupy a significant place in forming such
a deeply-rooted tradition. This tradition, however, had
become the most widely spread thanks to the Ottoman
Sultans, most of whom had a strong interest in poetry. The
Sultans, who were given military, religious, scholarly and
political training during their time as prince crown, were
alsointerestedinmartial arts like archery and a number of
other crafts, including calligraphy, music, carving and
jewelry. It can be suggested that virtually all of the
Ottoman Sultans had an interest in poetry. While some
only have one poem that survived, others are known to
have a ‘divan’ (a collection of poems). The sultans, most of
whom were poets, played an essential role in the
continuation of this tradition by writing poetry themselves
and protecting and supporting the poets of their time.
This article seeks to determine under certain headings
the reasons for why the Ottoman Sultans may have written
poetry. To this end, examples obtained from their poems
were provided to review these reasons. Not all the poems of
all of the Sultans were included in this study. A few
examples were selected to represent each heading.
Keywords
Poetry, sultans, divan, reasons to write poetry.