Orhan Veli Kanık
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Orhan Veli | |
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Born | Orhan Veli Kanık 14 April 1914 Beykoz, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire |
Died | 14 November 1950 Istanbul, Turkey | (aged 36)
Occupation | Poet |
Alma mater | Istanbul University |
Period | 1936–1950 |
Literary movement | Garip |
Signature | |
Turkish literature |
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By category |
Epic tradition |
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Folk tradition |
Ottoman era |
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Republican era |
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Orhan Veli Kanık or Orhan Veli (14 April 1914 – 14 November 1950) was a
Orhan Veli shunned everything old in order to be able to bring about a new 'taste', refusing to use syllable and aruz meters. He professed to regarding rhyme primitive, literary rhetoric techniques such as metaphor, simile, hyperbole unnecessary. Set out "to do away with all tradition, everything that bygone literatures taught", although this desire of Kanık limits the technical possibilities in his poetry, the poet broke new grounds for himself with the themes and personalities he covered and the vocabulary he employed. He brought the poetic language closer to the spoken language by adopting a plain phraseology.
In 1941 his poems embodying these ideas were published in a poetry volume named Garip, released jointly with his friends Oktay Rıfat and Melih Cevdet, which led to the emergence of the Garip movement. This movement had a huge influence especially between the years 1945–1950 on Republican era Turkish verse. The Garip poetry is accepted as a touchstone in Turkish verse for its both destructive and constructive effects.
At first Kanık mostly was found peculiar, he was criticized harshly, and heaped upon much opprobrium because of the innovations he introduced to poetry. Although Orhan Veli's tradition-transgressing works were first received with bemusement and dismay, and were subject to derision and contempt later, they have always aroused interest. This interest however, eventually led to an increase in understanding of, and affection and admiration for the poet. Sait Faik Abasıyanık called attention to this aspect of Orhan Veli's public standing identifying him as "a poet who was much scrutinized, at times mocked, at times embraced, then again rejected, to be once again acclaimed; who achieved both great fame and notoriety in his time".
Although he stands out with his Garip period poems, Orhan Veli had eschewed writing poetry of a "single type". Kanık had been renewing himself and searching without cease throughout his career in literature, a long adventure of poetry in a short life, that consists of different stages. Oktay Rıfat has explained this by saying: "Orhan lived in his very short lifetime an adventure in poetry equal to a few generations of French poets. Turkish poetry became head to head with European poetry thanks to his pen.", and "A transformation which several generations back to back could maybe achieve, he completed in a few years."
Life
Childhood and education
Orhan Veli Kanık was born at number 9 Çayır Alley on the İshak Ağa Climb in Yalıköy
Orhan Veli spent his childhood years in
Kanık's interest in literature began in elementary school years. A story of his was published in the magazine "Çocuk Dünyası" (Child's World) at this time. He met his lifelong friend Oktay Rıfat Horozcu in seventh grade. He would make friends with Melih Cevdet Anday a few years later, at a student show in a Community Center. In Kanık's first year of high school Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar was his teacher and an early mentor providing advice and guidance. The poet published a magazine named "Sesimiz" (Our Voice) with his friends Oktay Rıfat and Melih Cevdet during his high school years. This stage in the artist's life was when he learned and gained an appreciation of the rules and harmony of the traditional aruz meter, and wrote his first poems.
He also exhibited an interest in theater while in high school. He had parts in several public performances, in the play "Aktör Kin" starring Raşit Rıza, as "Üstad-ı Sanî" in
The poet graduated from high school in 1932. He was enrolled in the philosophy chair of Istanbul University's Department of Literature. In 1933 he was elected the president of the Department of Literature Students' Association. He dropped out of the university in 1935 without obtaining his degree. He continued with his teacher's assistant position at the Galatasaray High School for another year after dropping out of college.
Later life and literary career
Kanık moved to Ankara and was hired at Telegraph Department International Orders Bureau of the PTT, the Turkish national mail and telegraph service. He got together with his old friend Oktay Rıfat and Melih Cevdet, and the trio began writing poetry in a similar style. In 1936 Orhan Veli's poems "Oaristys", "Ebabil", "Eldorado", "Düşüncelerimin Başucunda" were published in the "Varlık" magazine upon Nahid Sırrı Örik's suggestion. In the magazine Orhan Veli and his friends were introduced with these words: "Varlık is boosting its cadre of poets with new and powerful young pens. Orhan Veli, whose four poems you may read below, manifests a mature art even though he has never been published before. In our future issues he will bespeak better the new breath he and his friends Oktay Rıfat, Melih Cedet and Mehmet Ali Sel are bringing to our poetry."
These first poems were followed by others, some of which were published under the alias Mehmet Ali Sel. Between 1936 and 1942 his poetry and essays were published in the magazines "İnsan", "Ses", "Gençlik", "Küllük", "İnkılâpçı Gençlik" as well as Varlık. Because of the form, structure and content of his works from the early days of this period, he was seen as a syllabic verse poet. After 1937 however, Kanık, like Horozcu and Anday, began publishing new style poems.
In 1939 Orhan Veli was in a car accident with his friend Melih Cevdet, as a result of which he was in a coma for twenty days. Melih Cevdet was driving the car they were in when it rolled off the top of Çubuk Dam. In May 1942 the
He left
With the departure of
Gatherings with friends such as
.Death
After Yaprak was shuttered Kanık moved back to Istanbul. He was visiting Ankara for a couple of weeks when on 10 November 1950 he fell down a hole in the street dug by the municipality works, hurt seemingly lightly. He returned to Istanbul two days later. On 14 November he felt sick while having lunch at a friend's house and was admitted to hospital. He was misdiagnosed and treated for alcohol poisoning, slipping into a coma at 20:00 the same evening. He died of a
For the 38th anniversary of his death a sculpture of him was inaugurated in Aşiyan Asri Cemetery where he is buried.[2] In 1998 two more sculptures were made featuring him, this time in Vişnezade. He is featured in Gürdal Duyars Şairler Sofası which was erected in a park of the same name. The sculpture features him in a composition that also includes 6 other famous Turkish poets. In the same park Namık Denizhans sculpture of Orhan Veli was also erected.[3][4]
Works
- Garip (Together with Oktay Rifat and Melih Cevdet, 1941)
- Garip (1945)
- Vazgeçemediğim (1945)
- Destan Gibi (1946)
- Yenisi (1947)
- Karşı (1949)
- Collected Poems (1951, 1975)
Translations
Güneş/Sol, Leonardo da Fonseca (trad.), (n.t.) Revista Literária em Tradução, nº 2 (mar/2011), Fpolis/Brasil, ISSN 2177-5141
References
- ^ Current Turkish Thought. Red House Press. 1982. p. 16.
- ^ ÖNAL, GÜNSELİ. "'Gün olur, alır haşınıı giderim'". Ankara. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ^ "Ataol Behramoğlu Heykeli Açılış Töreni | BKS". BKS | Beşiktaş Kültür Sanat (in Turkish). Retrieved 2022-09-13.
- ^ Demir, Bülent (28 November 1998). "Akaret ler'de şairler parkı" [A Poets park in Akaretler] (PDF). Hürriyet Istanbul. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
Translation from the corresponding article in the Turkish Wikipedia
External links
- Just for the Hell of It — a website with many of Orhan Veli's poems, as translated by Talat Sait Halman
- Poems By Orhan Veli — a website with Orhan Veli's poems, as translated by Murat Nemet Nejat
- Official Web Site — official web site of Orhan Veli Kanık