Writer
of tezkire* (b. 1491, Kastamonu - d. 23 September 1558). He received education
in Kastamonu and served as an accountant and clerk of the almshouse there as
well as in İstanbul and Romania. He finished his famous work Tezkiretüş-Şuârâ
(The biography of poets in 1543, which he had begun writing in 1543 and
presented to Kanuni Sultan Süleyman). Latifî served as a clerk of almshouses on
Rhodes and in Egypt and then left for Yemen, but the ship he was on was wrecked
in a storm and Latifî died.
Latifî, whose Divan* has not yet been
found, was famous for his prose and tezkires*, rather than his poems. At the
time of the reign of Murad II, he provided reliable information on the life
stories and works of poets to the mid 16th century with his tezkire*, which was
the first one to be organized in alphabetical order. The prologue of his work
is regarded as the poetry of Divan* poetry. This prologue, with that of Âşık
Çelebi, is superior in quality to the other Turkish tezkires* in Anatolia. He
refers to the inspiration of God as the source of his poetry. He distinguishes
poetry in two categories, which are “vehbî”
(There by Creation) and “kesbî” (Acquired)
He categorized the poets as well, as creative ones,
talented ones, thieves and skillful imitators. He uses the couplet,” Without
the customer the cloth is worthless /A gem is nothing but a piece of stone
without the substance” to emphasize the value of poetry. He is set apart from
the other tezkire* writers as he employs the notions of “measure” and “value”
in his tezkires*.
WORKS:
Tezkiretü'ş-Şuârâ
(Biography of
the Poets, pub. by Ahmet Cevdet with the title Tezkire*-i Latifi, 1896;
translation into German, 1800 and 1950), Risale-i
Evsaf-ı İstanbul, (A Booklet
on the Features of İstanbul, depicts İstanbul in the 16th
century in various aspects, preserved at İstanbul Archeology Museum), Fusûl-i Erbaa (The Four seasons, half
written in verse, on the characteristics of the four seasons, pub. with the
title Münaza-i Latifi, 1870), Subhatü'l-Uşşak
(The Morning of Lovers,
translation of 100 stories in verse), Nazmü'l-Cevahir
(Jewelry Verse, also known as La'âli-i Mansura (Grand and Cevahir-i Manzume (Jewelry Poem).
