Nazım Hikmet
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Nazım Hikmet Ran (IPA:na'zɨm hik'met) (November 20, 1901 – June 3, 1963) was a Turkish poet, dramatist and communist, who is widely regarded as the best-known Turkish poet in the West and his works have been translated into several languages. He was born in Selânik in the Ottoman Empire (now Thessaloniki, Greece). Later he became member of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and died in exile in Moscow.
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[edit] Style and Achievements
Despite writing his first poems in syllabic meter, Nazım Hikmet distinguished from the "syllabic poets" in concept. With the development of his poetic conception, the narrow forms of the syllabic meter began not to satisfy his needs and he set out to seek new forms for his poems. During the first years (1922-1925) of living in the Soviet Union, this search for form reached the peak.
Breaking the boundaries of the syllabic meter, he changed his form and preferred writing in free verse which harmonised with the rich vocal properties of the Turkish language. He was affected by Mayakovski and the young Soviet poets who advocated Futurism. Many of his poems have been composed by the accomplished composer, novelist and director Zülfü Livaneli. A few of his poems have been composed by the Greek composer Manos Loizos.
[edit] Poem
- This world will grow cold,
- a star among stars,
-
- one of the smallest,
-
- this great world of ours
-
- a gilded mote on blue velvet.
-
- This world will grow cold one day,
- not even as a heap of ice,
- or a lifeless cloud,
- it will roll like an empty walnut round and round
-
- in pitch darkness for ever.
-
- For now you must feel this pain,
- and endure the sadness,
- but so loved this world
-
- that you can say,
- 'I have lived'.
-
February 1948
[Letters to Kemal Tahir from Prison]
Source: Beyond the Walls: Selected Poems by Nazim Hikmet, Richard McKane, and Ruth Christie
[edit] Some of his best known works
- Memleketimden İnsan Manzaraları (Human Landscapes from My Country)
- Taranta-Babu'ya Mektuplar (Letters to Taranta-Babu)
- Ferhad ile Şirin (Ferhad and Şirin)
- Kurtuluş Savaşı Destanı (The Epic Of The War Of Independence)
- Şeyh Bedrettin Destanı (The Epic of Sheikh Bedreddin)
- Kafatası (The Skull)
- Unutulan Adam (The Forgotten Man)
[edit] Death and Afterward
He died of a heart attack in Moscow after many years in exile from his native Turkey. He is buried in the famous cemetery of Novodeviche in Moscow and his imposing tombstone is even today a place for pilgrimage by Turks and communists from around the world.
[edit] Kız Çocuğu
Nazım's poem Kız Çocuğu (The Dead Little Girl) conveys a plea for peace from a seven-year-old girl ten years after she has perished in the atomic bomb attack at Hiroshima. It has achieved popularity as an anti-war message and has been been performed as a song by a number of singers and musicians. Zülfü Livaneli (on Nazım Türküsü) has performed a version of the original Turkish poem. A loose English translation of Kız Çocuğu known as I Come And Stand At Every Door has been performed by The Byrds (on the album Fifth Dimension), Pete Seeger (on the album Headlines & Footnotes), and This Mortal Coil (on the album Blood), among others. In 2005, famed Shima-Uta singer Chitose Hajime collaborated with Ryuichi Sakamoto by translating Kız Çocuğu into Japanese (retitled 'Shinda Onna no Ko' [死んだ女の子]). It was performed live at the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima on the eve of the 60th Anniversary (August the 5th, 2005). The song later appeared as a bonus track on Chitose's Hanadairo album in 2006.
[edit] External links
- Nâzım Hikmet Ran Poet du monde ;
- N.Hikmet reading his poem Kerem Gibi
- Nâzım Hikmet; a fine collection of poems, reflections, photographs, etc. In Turkish and English.
- Zülfü Livaneli; more information on Zülfü Livaneli.
