Kâtip Ali

 Kâtip Ali

Kâtib Ali, whose real name is believed to be Ali, is one of the bards belonging to the Janissary Corps. In his poems, he used the pseudonyms Âşık Ali, Ali, Kâtib, Derviş Ali, Dertli Ali, and Kâtib Ali. There is not much information available about Kâtip Ali's life.

However, based on the poems found in recent years, it is highly likely that he lived in the 17th century. For example, in one of his poems, he mentions individuals such as İlyas Paşa, Man Oğlu, Mehdi, Kınalı Oğlu, and Haydar Oğlu, who rebelled against the Ottoman Empire and were hanged successively in the years 1632, 1635, 1638, 1641, and 1649: "They chained the rebels in chains/ They disrupted Maş Oğlu's army/ They skinned Mehdi/ You know Kınalı Oğlu became a servant."

As known, Sultan Murad IV also wrote poetry and loved and protected minstrels. He took some poets with him on the Baghdad Campaign. Perhaps Kâtib Ali was also with him and engaged in writing in the Janissary Corps. His other poems also support this idea.

Kâtib Ali not only addressed war topics but also wrote poems about love, separation, and longing (Bezirci 1993: 274). The language of his passionate and metrically composed poems is very simple and understandable.