Yusuf Meddah | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Poet |
| Language | Turkish,[1] possibly Persian |
| Period | 14th century |
| Notable works | Varqa va Gülşāh |
Yusuf Meddah (Azerbaijani: Yusif Məddah, یوسف مداح) was an early 14th-century Anatolian turkish poet.[2] He is considered one of the earliest known authors of Azerbaijani literature, and his poetry played a significant role in the development of the Azerbaijani literary language.[citation needed] Although little is known about his life, it is estimated that he lived at the beginning of the 14th century. Meddah was well-educated and fluent in Azerbaijani, Arabic, and Persian.
Meddah's most famous work is Varqa va Gülşāh, which consists of approximately 1,700 couplets written in aruz form, a type of poetry using quantifying prosody, and is based on an Arabic folk tale. Other notable works by Meddah include Ghazavātnāmah, Dāstān-i Iblīs 'Aleyh al-La'nah, Qiṣṣah-i Yūsuf, and possibly Maqtal-i Hüseyn and Khāmūshnāmah if they are indeed his works.