There only exists ideas. Ideas are forever.

There only exists ideas. Ideas are forever.
There only exists ideas. Ideas are forever.

14 Aralık 2014 Pazar

Cahit Sitki Taranci- The Poem of Age 35 ( Translation And Analysis of The Poem )


The Poem of Age 35
Age 35! That makes half of the way!
We are in the middle of life like Dante.
The vigour of our youth,
-Crying and begging is in vain today,
Ends without caring about your tears.

Did it snow on my temples or what's this?
God, is this wrinkled face mine?
Or these purple rings beneath my eyes?
Why do you seem as enemies,
The mirrors which I knew as my friends for years?

How men change by time!
The man in any picture is not me.
Where are those days, where is that glow and excitement?
This merry man is not me.
My care freeness is just a lie.

Our first love is something like a dream,
I find strange even its memory now.
Our ways separated one by one,
With the friends we had begun living.
Our loneliness grows gradually.

I've noticed too late that stone is hard.
Water drowns and fire burns!
Each new day brings a new trouble,
And men can discover all these just at this age.

Quince's yellow, pomegranate's red; autumn,
Which I adopt a little more each year.
Why are the birds wandering in the sky?
What funeral is this? Who is dead?
After how many gardens is this one that I see as scattered?

Unfortunately death is for everybody.
You'll fall asleep but you won't wake up again.
Who knows where, how, when?
You'll have a single prayer's glory,
On that throne-like gravestone.

Who is Cahit Sıtkı TARANCI

Cahit Sıtkı was born in 4th October 1910 in Diyarbakır and passed away in 12th January 1956 in Vienna. After starting a primary school in Diyarbakır he went to Saint Joseph French High School as a tradition of his wealthy family for secondary shcool. He finished his high school in Galatasaray High School which was another French based on high school in Turkey. In those schools, Tarancı learnt French very well and was affected by Baudelaire, Rimbaud,Mallarme. He started to write poems in high school years and his poems were published in the magazine of Galatasaray High School, Academy. After Tarancı finished high school, he continued his education in the School of Political Sciences in Istanbul between the years 1931 and 1935. Then he left for Paris,to study in the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, but he had to return to Turkey without completing his education in the wake of World War II in 1940.From 1944 on, he worked as a translator in the state-owned news agency Anadolu Ajansı , the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) and the Ministry of Labor. In 1951, he married Cavidan Tınaz. Following a severe illness in 1954, he became paralyzed. As the treatment of his health problem did not succeed in Turkey, he was taken to Vienna. He died on January 12, 1956 in a hospital there at the age of 46. His body was brought to Turkey and was laid to rest at the Cebeci Asri Cemetery in Ankara.
Masterpiece of Tarancı
Cahit Sıktı was an important poet in Turkish Literature and wrote a lot impressive works. However, The Poem of Age 35 is the one which gave him a great success and reputation. In this poem, Tarancı reveals his feelings about the death,loneliness and experiences in the life. A simple but effective language is used in this poem.
There are 35 lines,which refers to the age,and it starts with an allusion to Dante. “We are in the middle of the life like Dante.” As poet goes to French based on high schools, he knows European Literature, and shows in the beginning of his poem. As it is known, Dante starts his masterpiece Divine Comedy as “In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself, in a dark wood, where the direct way was lost.” Poet thinks the age 35 is a kind of limit of joy in the life and after this certain age humankind start to question his experiences in the life and miss the health and power that they used to have in 20s.
         In the second stanza, poet looks at the mirror gets shocked. He realizes the gray in his hairs and the physical changes in his face. He thinks the mirrors which used to be friends with him, are the biggest enemies now.
         In the third stanza, poet looks at old photos of him. He can not understand how time passes so fast and why stop aging is impossible. He hardly recognizes himself in the photos as the person he sees in the mirrors is not the same. He seeks for his previous days and joyfulness. He thinks the person who smiles in the photos can not be him, because he has a lot of concerns.
         In the fourth stanza, poet hardly remembers his first love. He says his friends are far away now. The feelings he had, are gone now. The only thing poet has is nothing but loneliness.
         In the fifth and sixth stanzas, poet talks about his experiences in the life. He says sky has different colors,too. He claims he understands the basic things such as flame burns so late. Therefore, he thinks he is too young to die. He sees a funeral and complains about that. He is afraid of being next.
         In the last stanza, poet accepts death is inevitable. He thinks it as a sleep,but an eternal one. What is scary about dying is that you do not know where,how and at what age. He thinks death is a kind of being king for a second,because when you die everybody scares from you and they show great respect.
Aesthetic Categories: Good/Bad
         Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı thinks art is for art,it is not a tool to improve society. He thinks poetry should not focus on social or personal benefits. The only aim of it to create good and beautiful works. Therefore, he uses some poetical elements to make his poems good.
         Firstly, Tarancı uses syllabic meter in his poem. Every line has 11 syllables. He even omits a vowel from the first line of the last stanza,which is another common element for Turkish Literature, in order to decrease the syllable from 12 to 11. This is one the most common style in Turkish Literature. This technique gives the poem a better harmony so that it sounds better. Moreover, he shapes the poem like the title. There are 7 stanzas and each of them has 5 lines. When it is calculated, it is 35 like the age of 35,title of the poem.
         Secondly, Tarancı uses harmony and rhyme in the poem. Since there are specific ends of the tenses in Turkish grammar, writer creates a kind of harmony in the poem,which is called as Redif. Besides the harmony, Tarancı uses rhyme in the poem. However, rhyme is not directly the similar sounds at the end of the poem in Turkish Literature. It is because Turkish is a agglutinating language. Rhyme in Turkish Literature occurs after the inflection suffix is omitted from the end of the word. If one letter is the same after the inflection suffix is omitted it is “poor rhyme,” if two of them are the same, it is “solid rhyme” and if it is more than two letters, it is rich rhyme. Tarancı uses solid rhyme more than once and shows his ability to write a poem.
         Finally, Tarancı uses allusion to Dante and a metaphor to Turkish funerals, which makes his poem good. He gives Dante's name directly and refers his masterpiece Divine Comedy in The Poem of Age 35. Tarancı also uses funeral metaphor it he last line of the poem. In Turkey, before put the coffin in the soil, it is put in a specific place outside of the mosque. People, pray for the death person the last time and wait on their hand on foot. Tarancı think death person a treated like a king. However, the ironic part is he/she is not aware of his/her kingdom.
Critics
The Poem of Age 35 is one of the best poems in Turkish Poetry. Critics think this poem is a bridge between Garip Movement and traditional Turkish poetry. The poem has the themes and language of the Garip Movement which are death,loneliness and simple language. However, while poets of Garip Movement use free style and rejected syllabic meter, Tarancı uses traditional 11 meter and rhyme. This poem won a prize in a competition of Republican People's Party ( CHP ) the first party of Turkish Republic. In 1946 The Poem of The Age 35 was chosen the best poem and it made Tarancı one of most popular poets in Republican Era.
Influences
While writing the poem, Tarancı was affected by some European writers such as Dante and Mallarme. However, the basic influence was the Garip Movement. Garip means “poor and strange” in Turkish. Founder of this movement Orhan Veli Kanık chose this title intentionally, because they selected middle class people rather than elites in their works and they rejected all the rules of Turkish Poetry. They think poetry should have a simple language,and subject does not have to be too specific. This movement also called as the 1st New Movement as what they did was quite new for Turkish Poetry. General themes of their poems are life,death,loneliness, poverty etc. Even if they were looked down on in that time, a great honor is given to them at present.
Interpretation
I think this poem is really a unique as it combines both Garip Movement and traditional Turkish poetic style. Poet explains his feelings in a simple way;however, they do not make the poem ordinary. Therefore, Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı proves that poem does not have to be too complex to be a good one. Especially the metaphor at the end of the poem is quite good. Everybody becomes a king or queen for 5 minutes, but ironically it does not have any worth.

Cengiz Güler

Works cited :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahit_S%C4%B1tk%C4%B1_Taranc%C4%B1




12 Aralık 2014 Cuma

Seasons








The rough seas draw in
as clouds gather in darkness
with snow in the air


Over the lush hills
laughter and joy fill the air-
the ripe fruits of summer



B.Pascal Zwane

11 Aralık 2014 Perşembe

A Leap of Faith





This day had the makings of a normal Friday afternoon, but as I walked toward this great white building, I was reminded that I was headed towards my new life. My eyes, for as long as I can remember, were fixed on the minaret; which towered over the building like it was safeguarding it. It is where the long and mystical sound came from. The echo of the call made it sound as though there were two voices coming from it – a melodious cacophony, one may say. As I walked nearer to the call, it grew in loudness, and the words being sung were more definite. With the call done, I came back down to earth and turned my focus to my immediate surroundings. The distinct sound of laughter from children playing in the courtyard was dominant over everything else now. It was accompanied by the murmur of many men, most of whom were warmly greeting each other. They were all heading towards the entrance. So was I. I knew there was no turning back from here on.    
                 
The entrance was scattered with shoes which seemed to have been taken off in a rush. The small flight of steps that followed the shoe area, however, was clean. The steps were covered with a thick Persian carpet and they led to a lobby which had some worshipers wondering about. On the left was a shut door. I knew I had to go inside this door as it was the only place where I would probably find the imam. I was greeted with a pleasant smile after walking in. He was expecting me. The leather chair which I set on was rigid and dark brown. Its stiff texture and piercing plastic-like smell suggested that it was still relatively new. Everything was still.
               
The imam led me through to the prayer hall which was covered entirely by the same lush carpet. I was immediately captured by the  detailed decoration and calligraphy which was spread across the walls and dome above me. The dome was finely painted with floral and other symmetrical patterns – all in the shade of blue and brown. The calligraphy was bold and beautifully complex. It could be seen high on the walls around the room. The walls themselves had multiple small blocks of tiles decorated with arabesque floral patterns. The chandelier, at the center of the room, was the main attraction. It was cone-shaped with rows of light bulbs that shone through crystal decorations. The chandelier sparkled, but not as much as to disturb the people in the room. As I marveled, the imam grabbed my hand as if to remind me why I was I there.
               
Finally, in unison, the congregation in the mosque started organizing themselves into rows – all evenly spaced out. Everyone stood shoulder to shoulder except for some elderly men who set on chairs on the sides of each row. I, standing shoulder to shoulder with everyone else, followed the lead of the imam. I was somewhere in the center of the room, flanked by men who were in deep concentration. Nervous and doubtful of my every move, I proceeded to complete my first salat as a Muslim.

B.Pascal Zwane