Molla Vali Vidadi ( az, Molla Vəli Vidadi) (17 March 1709, Shamkir – 13 May 1809, near

Gazakh Qazax (; ) is a city in and the capital of the Gazakh District of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 20,900. Gazakh is a city and administrative district in the west of Azerbaijan, the "western gate" of Azerbaijan. History Early history In ...

) was an Azerbaijani poet. Little is known about Vidadi. He spent most of his life in his native town of Shamkir (then called Shamkhor) where he taught at a religious school. According to some sources, Vidadi spent some years in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

, Georgia, where he served as a court poet for King

Erekle II Heraclius II ( ka, ერეკლე II), also known as Erekle II and The Little Kakhetian ( ka, პატარა კახი ) (7 November 1720 or 7 October 1721 C. ToumanoffHitchins, KeithHeraclius II. ''Encyclopædia Iranica Online edit ...

. Upon the death of the king's son Levan in 1781, Vidadi wrote an elegy dedicated to the deceased. His court service did not last long, possibly due to his open criticism of the ruling class. At its early stage, Vidadi's poetry expressed a positive view on life, however as years passed, his poems began expressing a more pessimistic attitude. His was also known for his poetic dialogue with

Molla Panah Vagif Molla Panah ( az, Molla Pənah), better known by his pen-name Vagif (), was an 18th-century Azerbaijani poet, statesman and diplomat. He is regarded as the founder of the realism genre in Azerbaijani poetry. He served as the vizier—the minist ...

. Vidadi's simple and realistic (sometimes involving elements of

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

) literary style resembled the traditional Azeri

ashik An ashik ( az, aşıq, ; tr, âşık; fa, عاشیق) or ashugh ( hy, աշուղ; ka, აშუღი) is traditionally a singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as '' hikay ...

genre.Molla Vali Vidadi
''Great Soviet Encyclopædia''

References

1708 births 1809 deaths Azerbaijani-language poets Azerbaijani centenarians Men centenarians People from Qazax People from Shamkir {{Azerbaijan-poet-stub