The Importance of Poetry Anthologies

Prof. Dr. Murat Ali Karavelioğlu: The Importance of Poetry/Nazire Magazines in Turkish Literature*

 

One of the researchers working on poetry magazines in Turkey is Murat Ali Karavelioğlu She has written many articles, presented papers and prepared books on this subject. Karavelioglu We would like to share with you what he said about the importance of magazines.

 

Thousands of poetry/nazire journals, known to be stored in various libraries in our country and around the world, are among our interesting, important, enjoyable, and even entertaining resource collections, both in terms of their general characteristics and their unique characteristics. A journal means to bring together. Therefore, as a literary term, a journal is a general term for works that contain examples of poetry from various poets, collected in a single notebook. However, this brief definition requires further clarification. Journals may contain examples from the works of a single poet, or they may include examples from poets who lived during a specific time period or belonged to a specific professional group.

 

There are even collections that collect only examples of poetry in a particular verse form or genre. For example, such collections include qasida collections, lugaz collections, and naat collections. Furthermore, as is well known, collections do not only contain examples of poetry. From fatwa collections to münşeat collections, from hadith collections to faraiz collections, collections covering almost every subject have been compiled. Compiled over many years, sometimes expanded by additions after the compiler/copycat's death, these works become rich works of content, like calendar pages or notebooks, containing records on a wide variety of unrelated subjects.

 

Any information deemed useful by the people of that time was generally recorded in journals, which is consistent with the literal meaning of the word. Presumably, before such anthologies began, records such as prayer texts, drug compositions, birth and death dates, significant dates, and important events were recorded in notebooks, a very old practice. It's not hard to guess that, with the advent of literary journals, such records were often recorded in journals under the name "fevaid."

 

Prof. Dr. Murat Ali Karavelioğlu: On the Compilation of Magazines

 

Certain rules are followed when compiling journals. Except for a few we've encountered, criteria such as alphabetical order, chronological order, and adherence to thematic integrity are often disregarded, but an arrangement based on verse forms, for example, is frequently observed. This gives rise to works with organizational characteristics, such as ghazal collections, qasida collections, and collections of musammat forms. Perhaps the most well-known example of such collections is Budinli Hisalî's compilation of matla couplets by various poets. Metal of the Nezâir’is.

 

Magazines may not be written in a single language. Even if a poetry magazine's language is Turkish, it's possible to find numerous examples of Arabic and Persian poetry within it. Sometimes, even RumcaPoetic examples like Serbian, Armenian, and other languages ​​are even encountered. Therefore, while such works encompass a vast period of time in one respect, they also embrace the civilizational basin to which they belong. Examining Ottoman-era Turkish poetry reveals that Arabic, Persian, and the languages ​​of other nations formed a literature within the Turkish framework. In other words, it is unthinkable that an Ottoman poet had not read Hafez, or if unable to read him, had not listened to him, or was unaware of Imre al-Qays. This reveals another richness of Turkish poetry collections.

Prof. Dr. Murat Ali Karavelioğlu: The Source Work Value of Magazines

 

Journals should be evaluated separately as source works. Indeed, these works hold a crucial place in the writing of literary history. It is possible to find poems in journals that, for various reasons, were not included in the divan. For example, a poet may have written poems after composing his divan, and these were recorded by enthusiasts and often included in journals. Even a poet without a divan may have all or only some of his poems in journals. Poetry/nazire journals reveal which poems by which poets were appreciated and were popular in their time and in later periods. This is particularly evident in nazire journals. Which poets were considered masters, which of their poems were nazires written for, and how long their influence lasted are all pieces of information gleaned from journals. Thus, journals reveal the literary tastes, preferences, and preferences of long periods.

 

Murat KaravelioğluAnother point emphasized by is this: Because journals are often compiled by individuals with meticulous attention to detail, knowledge of poetry and literature, and a keen sense of taste, the poems within them sometimes serve as corrections to the poet's divan versions. Such examples are frequently encountered when considering the journals used in divan studies. Many poets and their poems, for various reasons, who have not found a place in literary sources, especially in biography collections, are encountered in these journals, making it possible to introduce them to the literary world. Unknown aspects of poets can also be gleaned from the journals, even if only partial information is available. For example, even if two poets using the same pen name and living in the same period are sometimes confused by the biography writers, the truth can be revealed with a small tidbit of information in the journals.

 

Professor Murat Ali Karavelioğlu Thank you to.

* Murat Ali Karavelioğlu This is an excerpt from his own article.