Zoriy (Usmonkhoja)

Biography

Zoriy (19th–20th c.) is a pen name; the poet's real name was Usmonkhoja, and he was born in the city of Kokand. Full details of his biography have not survived. Zoriy was one of the poets close to the democratic current of Uzbek literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a close friend of that current's leading figures, Muqimiy and Zavqiy, and came under their influence: alongside graceful lyric ghazals and mukhammas he also created works of a satirical character. His legacy has not yet been fully collected. In 1956, in issue No. 10 of the journal “Sharq Yulduzi”, the poet Sobir Abdulla published some information about Zoriy's life together with several of his ghazals and mukhammas.

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