ABSTRACT
In view of the sheer size of Zati's output, this chapter focuses on the gazels that the biographers cite and their comments about them, with attention paid to some of his other poetry. It considers some aspects of the gazel and the broader poetic tradition. The gazel has a fixed form, always with a final signature verse, comparable in length and difficulty of rhyme scheme to the Renaissance sonnet, but with the extra sophistication of visual puns that exploit the shape of the letters written in the Arabic script. The chapter begins with the praise Sehi accorded to Zati, for his inventiveness and craftsmanship. The biographers who came after, to varying degrees, follow Sehi in their praise of Zati. As more topical examples of the gazel, the verses Zati composed about or on behalf of merchants and craftsmen are similar to his panegyric entitled "city-thriller of Edirne."
