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Turkish Legislator Poets

 

Translated from the Turkish by Mevlut Ceylan

 

 

Faruk Nafiz Çamlibel -- Poet and writer (b. 18 May 1898, İstanbul – d. 8 November 1973). He used the pen names İsmail Vecih, Kalender and Tatlı Sert. He attended the Bakırköy Elementary School and Hadıka-ı Meşveret High School. Before completing his university education at the School of Medicine, he began to work as a teacher in Kayseri (1922). For many years, he worked as a teacher of literature in Ankara and İstanbul. After 1946, he embarked on politics and after being elected as a deputy for the Democrat Party, he served in the parliament. He was tried on Yassıada together with other politicians from Democrat Party after the military coup on 27 May 1960. He was imprisoned for about 15 months. After being acquitted, he left politics and focused on poetry. He died of an heart attack during a voyage on the Mediterranean Sea in 1973. His grave is in Zincirlikuyu Graveyard.

He began to write poems during World War I, by writing poems in aruz meter. With his great success in writing poems with syllabic meter, he was accepted as one of the five poets of poetry in syllabic meter. However, in his last years, he began to write his poems in aruz meter again. His most famous poem is Han Duvarları (Walls of the Inn), where he explains his impressions in Kayseri via the route of Ulukışla. Faruk Nafiz, who published a review with the title Anayurt (1933), published his satiric poems in humor reviews such as Akbaba and Karikatür, with the pen names Çamdeviren and Deli Ozan.

WORKS:

POETRY: Şarkın Sultanları (Sultans of the East, in aruz meter, 1919), Gönülden Gönüle (From Heart to Heart, in aruz meter, 1919), Çoban Çeşmesi (The Shepherd Fountain, 1919, the poem Han Duvarları - Walls of the Inn is in this work), Dinle Neyden (Listen from the Nay, 1919), Suda Halkalar (The Hoops on the Water, in aruz meter, 1928), Bir Ömür Böyle Geçti (A Life Passed Like This, selected poems, 1933), Elimle Seçtiklerim (Selected by My Hand, selected poems, 1934), Akarsu (The River, 1937), Akıncı Türküleri (Songs of the Raiders, 1938), Heyecan ve Sükûn (Excitement and Calmness, selected poems, 1959), Zindan Duvarları (Walls of the Dungeon, in aruz meter, 1967), Han Duvarları (Walls of the Inn, selected poems, 1969), Gurbet ve Saire (Living Far Away from Homeland and Et Cetera, a selection of poems published with Han Duvarları – The Walls of Inn and Bir Ömür Böyle Geçti – A Life Passed Like This, 2003).

PLAY: Canavar (The Monster, play in prose, 1925), Akın (The Raid, play in prose, 1932), Özyurt (Homeland, 1932), Kahraman (The Hero, 1933), Ateş (Fire, 1939), Dev Aynası (The Mirror of Titan, 1945), Yayla Kartalı (Eagle of High Plateau, 1945).

NOVEL: Yıldız Yağmuru (Rain of Stars, 1945).

Besides, he wrote plays for schools. The new editions of his plays have been published after 1965.

ANGEL

Yesterday Zainab’s mum said to her

“My angel child”

When she heard her mum she cried:

What does angel child mean? She asked.

I didn’t quiet understand

Angels have wings

Where’re my wings?

—I had three children

They flew away

From my heart

They all left me alone

Left this unfortunate lady alone

I plugged out your wings

 

So that you would not fly away

  Faruk Nafiz Çamlibel (1898-1973)

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posted 9 March 2006

 

 

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Related files: Erdem Bayazit   Faruk Nafiz Çamlibel   Hasan Ali Yucel   Kemalettin Kamu   Mehmet Akif Ersoy   Mehmet Atilla Mara  Necdet Evliyagil   Yahya Kemal Beyatli

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