18 May - Day of Poetry of Magtymguly | Poetic heritage as symbol and spectacle of identity

Today is the Day of Revival, Unity, and the Poetry of Magtymguly!

Read Magtymguly' Poetry

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Biography:

Magtymguly Pyragy (Persian: مختوم‌قلی فراغی Makhtumqoli Faraghi; Turkmen: Magtymguly Pyragy; 1724 – c. 1807) was an Iranian-Turkmen spiritual leader and philosophical poet who made great efforts to secure independence and autonomy for his people in the 18th century.

Magtymguly was one of the first Turkmen poets to introduce the use of the classical Chagatai, the court language of the Khans of Central Asia, as a literary language, incorporating many Turkmen linguistic features.[9] As such, his poetry exemplifies a trend towards increased usage of Turkic languages (as opposed to Persian), and Magtymguly is revered as the founder of Turkmen poetry, literature, and language.[10] Magtymguly is widely revered as holy among Turkmen communities, and his poems are often quoted as proverbs in Turkmen society.

Magtymguly made wide use of the qoshuk form of poetry, which features prominently in Turkmen folk songs and is easily adapted to Turkmen musical forms. The qoshuk form consists of quatrains with lines consisting of eight or eleven syllables, and follows a rhyming scheme of ABCB for the first stanza and CCCB, DDDB, etc. for the following stanzas. The compatibility of Magtymguly's poems with traditional musical forms allowed them to be easily adopted by bakhshis, traditional singers.