Universal Poetic Identity of Mehmed Pasha Sokolović in a Quasida by Mahmud Arši Novopzarac

Abstract

This paper deals with certain universal elements in the description of Mehmed Pasha Sokolović in diwan poetry, using the example of a qasida by Mahmud Arši Novopazarac. Quite a number of Bosniak poets, contemporaries of Sokolović, presented a tradition of diwan poetry well developed in the 16 century. Diwan poetry follows a matrix of the general idea of universal qualities of the Ottoman society and the principles of its bases. Regional identities were not as present in the 16th century qasidas, describing distinguished Ottoman personalities. Just like other qasidas dedicated to Mehmed Pasha Sokolović, the qasida by Arši Novopazarac indicates the universal poetic aspect of the identity of Mehmed Pasha Sokolović. A different focus evident in certain subsequent qasidas merely confirms this rue. The qasida by Arši Novopazarac is a true reflection of the time and the context it was written in, within the social and diwan poetic circles of the 16th century.