Vazekh

(pseudonym of Mirza Shafi). Born 1796 in Giandzha; died Nov. 28, 1852, in Tbilisi. Azerbaijani poet, enlightener, and teacher.

Vazekh was the son of an architect. He taught Azerbaijani and Persian in Tbilisi (beginning in 1840) and there became a close friend of Kh. Abovian, A. Bakikhanov, M. F. Akhun-dov, and others. He wrote both intimately lyrical and satirical verses, employing such forms as the ghazal, the muhammasa, the rubai, and the mathnawi. He was the leader of the Circle of Wisdom. Developing the traditions of Azerbaijani and Persian classical poetry, Vazekh celebrated romantic love and the enjoyment of life and protested the evils of feudal society, slavery, and religious fanaticism. The German poet F. Bodenstedt included translations of Vazekh’s verse in his notes for A Thousand and One Days in the East (1850) and later published The Songs of Mirza Shafi (1881). These songs were translated into European languages a number of times; they were first translated into Russian (from the German) by N. I. Eifert (two editions, 1880 and 1903). Bodenstedt later published Vazekh’s verses as his own. Vazekh assembled the first chrestomathy of Azerbaijani poetry and, in cooperation with the Russian pedagogue I. Grigor’ev, composed the Tatar-Russian Dictionary for high school students.