Nightingales and Pleasure Gardens: Turkish Love Poems

by Talât Sait Halman (Editor)

The earliest turkish verses, dating from the sixth century A.D., were love lyrics. Since then, love has dominated the Turks’ poetic modes and moods—pre-Islamic, Ottoman, classical, folk, modern. This collection covers love lyrics from all periods of Turkish poetry. It is the first anthology of its kind in English. The translations, faithful to the originals, possess a special freshness in style and sensibility. Here are lyrics from pre-Islamic Central Asia, passages from epics, mystical ecstasies of such eminent thirteenth-century figures as Rumi and Yunus Emre, classical poems of the Ottoman Empire (including Süleyman the Magnificent and women court poets), lilting folk poems, and the work of the legendary communist Nazim Hikmet (who is arguably Turkey’s most famous poet internationally), and the greatest living Turkish poet, Fazil Hüsnü Daglarca. The verses in this collection are true to the Turkish spirit as well as universal in their appeal. They show how Turks praise and satirize love, how they see it as a poetic experience. Poetry was for many centuries the premier Turkish genre and love its predominant theme. Some of the best expressions produced by Turkish poets over a period of fifteen centuries can be found in this volume.

Genres: Poetry, Turkish Literature

159 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2005

About the author

1953’ten beri süren akademik hayatında Columbia, Princeton, Pennsylvania üniversitelerinde öğretim üyesi, New York Üniversitesi’nde profesör ve Yakın Doğu Dilleri ve Edebiyatları Bölüm Başkanı olarak çalıştı. Şu sırada Bilkent Üniversitesi’nde İnsani Bilimler ve Edebiyat Fakültesi Dekanı ve Türk Edebiyatı Bölümü Başkanı, İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı Bölümü Başkan Vekili olarak görev yapmaktadır. Kültür Bakanı, Kültür Büyükelçisi, UNICEF Türkiye Milli Komitesi Başkanı, UNESCO Yönetim Kurulu Üyesi, ABD P.E.N Derneği Yönetim Kurulu Üyesi ve Journal of Literature Turkish Baş Editörü görevlerini de üstlenen Talât Sait Halman, Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Hizmet Ödülü, Columbia Üniversitesi Thornton Wilder Çeviri Armağanı, Rockefeller Vakfı Bilimsel Araştırma Bursu, Dışişleri Bakanlığı Üstün Hizmet Ödülü, UNESCO Madalyası, Ankara ve Boğaziçi üniversitelerinden fahrî doktora, İngiltere’den “Sir” karşılığı “Knight Grand Cross” ile ödüllendirildi. Talât Sait Halman’ın 70 telif ve çeviri kitabı, 3 bin kadar makalesi, 5 bini aşkın şiir çevirisi bulunmaktadır.

Reviews

[Dr. Sionainn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eyes
"It seems nothing can provoke
Our inner silence
No sound no word nothing
The eyes bring out the eyes!

Nothing else but this unites us
A leaf touching another leaf
So close and so docile
The hands bring out the hands!

In our age love is an opposition
Let us unite to cast two single shadows ..."

-Edip Cansever

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this book at the thrift and what a pleasure it was to read! Love all the different authors

[K.D. McQuain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed these glimpses at Turkish love poems and songs. It was a quick and easy read but I questions some of the translation. It seems odd that something written in Turkish would rhyme so perfectly in English. I would also have preferred it to weigh in more on the early work rather than the modern, but that's just because it suits me at the moment.

[Hanabrighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turkish Poetry is IT for me. So direct and pounding in it's cadence. They have had beatniks since the Ottoman empire. Specifically though I can't imagine poetry without Orhan Veli Kanik and Nazim Hikmet who both have poems in this collection.