THE TRACE OF YASADIPURA II: A SURAKARTA’S POET, THE DEVOTEE OF FIVE KING

Abstract

Yasadipura II (YS II) is one of Surakarta’s poets who became a servant to five kings, namely Paku Buwana (PB) III, IV, V, VI, and VII. During his life of becoming the palace’s poet, YS II had produced literary works that became an integral part of the Renaissance period of Javanese literature. In addition to the works of adaptation and translation, YS II also wrote some original works completed alone or together with his father. YS II was known as a vocal and critical poet in addressing the running of the crippled government. In addition, YS II also wrote extensively about the moral crisis occurred in Surakarta during his lifetime. Although his works are monumental, yet the biography of YS II is not widely known. This is caused by the lack of obtainable data to construct his complete biography. Various reasons are given related to the lack of data about the life and works of YS II. Therefore, this paper tries to reveal in more depth about the figure of YS II, his biography, education, career, and works