Analysis of Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall's work: The History of the Art of Ottoman Poetry (First volume)

Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, famous for his work in the field of ottoman history, had an interest in topics, which formed the foundations of ottoman society and accordingly worked on ottoman poetry. As a result of his work between the years of 1836-38, he presented his compilation of poets who lived between the establishment of the Ottoman Empire to the 19th century, entitled, The History of the Art of Ottoman Poetry to Sultan Mahmud II. In his work, which is composed of four parts in total, Hammer has included the biographies of 2,200 poets and samples of some of their poetry. Westerners who want to study the East have used this work as their main source, but it has not been the subject of a wide academic study in our country. This study focuses on the first volume of the work and it examines the method the author used to create this work and his perspective on Ottoman poetry. During this evaluation, the introduction of the work was translated without any intervention, remaining faithful to the original text. In addition, examples of biography and poetry are given to support the analysis.