The Karamanli Divan by the ‘Aşık Talib and Ottoman Lyric Poetry: a Preliminary Approach (original) (raw)

Folk poetry vs. divan poetry Being an original composition, the Διβάνη Ταλίπ (Divan-ı Talib), printed in 1883 by Evangelinos Misailidis in Istanbul (Talib 1883), occupies a special place in Karamanlidika literary production which is known to be mainly a translation/adaptation literature 1. The book was presented for the first time to the scientific community by M. Sabri Koz (2014), who considers the poet Talib-a pen name (mahlas) for Simeonakis Değirmencoğlu from Denei-as a poet of the 'aşık folk tradition of Turkish poetry (Koz 2014: 121). The title Divan ('collection of poems'), the alphabetic order of the poems according to the classical scheme of redif ('postrhyme, end-rhyme'), the fact that the work is not a product of oral literature, as well as the themes and forms of many texts of the book, first of all of the gazels, raise the question of the relation of this Divan with classical Ottoman lyric poetry. This has obviously to be seen in the framework of the general scholarly discussion, whether Turkish folk poetry and the classical Ottoman (Persian) tradition have anything in common or not. In folklore studies, distinctions are made between various groups of 'aşık, one of them being the so-called kalem şairleri ('pen poets') who are said to be particularly influenced by classical Ottoman lyrics (Düzgün 2007: 255). In the nineteenth century, urban 'aşık production was getting closer to high style poetry (ibidem: 244). This is also the period when 'aşık poets began to arrange their compositions in collections (divans; ibidem: 273). One of the pioneers of Turkish folklore studies, Pertev Naili Boratav (1907-1998), had an ambivalent approach to the problem: on the one hand, he separated the oral 'aşık folk tradition from the mystical poetry of the tekke and the classical tradition (Boratav 1969: 23), on the other hand he strove for a common literary history (ibidem: 24-25; see also below). However, this has not prevented the development-and eventually dominion, also in the public opinion of nonexperts-of a dogma, especially in the ideological frame of Turkish nationa-1 This is, though, not the first Karamanli book containing original poetry in classical Ottoman forms: the Χαζινέϊ αράϊ µουστακηµέϊ Μεσιχιέ (Hazine-yi ara-yi mustakıme-yi Mesihiye / 'Treasury of Christian Orthodoxy'), actually a translation work realised in 1860/61 by Misailidis, contains a gazel in praise of the translator written by a poet named Oikonomidis