An Analysis Of The Isopsephic Poems In Antepli Ayni’s Divan

Isopsephy, within the framework of “Abjad numerals”, is a kind of literary art used to determine the date of an event, and is at the same time the name of a system formed by eight meaningless words which were developed to make the Arabic letters learnt by heart easily by combining the letters. In other words, Abjad numerals is a calculation system developed after totalling up all the numerical values of each of the letters basing the numbers corresponding to the Abjad numerals by giving the date of an event with one or more words and lines in a very subtle way. In the matter of Isopsephy( Abjad numerals) among the Divan poets, especially alongside such prominent ones as Hızır Bey, Âdem Baba, Bursalı Haşimî and Sürûrî, Antepli Ayni is also another important poet that should be particularized. Antepli Ayni, with 522 isopsephic poems in his Divan, is one of the most prominent names of his kind. His isopsephic poems including a rough period of 50 years draw attention with their utterance in a variety of different subjects. In this paper, the isopsephic poems in Antepli Aynî’s Divan are evaluated in terms of date, theme, genre, method and style, and the resultant assessments are brought into sharp relief with collateral numerical data.

Keywords

Antepli Aynî, Isopsephy, Abjad numerals, literary art.