Fikret Demirağ’ın Hüzün Ana Kitabındaki Şiirlerde Folklorik Ögeler
Folkloric Elements in the Poems in Fikret Demirağ’s Hüzün Ana

Summary/Abstract: Fikret Demirağ holds a very important place in Turkish Cypriot poetry. In Turkey, he became acquainted with İkinci Yeni Şiir (the Second New Wave Poets), and as one of the prominent representatives of abstract poetry, he introduced this poetry movement into Turkish Cypriot literature. In his poetry, the prominent themes were built upon social distress and the social and cultural structures of the community he was living in. In this study, we will examine the folkloric elements found in the poetry of Demirağ in his book entitled Hüzün Ana (Mother of Sorrow). Turkish Cypriot poetry gained a new discourse and a new wave with the poetry of Demirağ, after years of being under the influence of the nationalist poets who had penned their works in the distressful environment of a two-community island during the 1960s. The painful memories of the past continued to be the theme of the artists, even after the new process began in 1960 with the foundation of the Republic of Cyprus. Although Demirağ expressed that he tried to remain above the fray of those kinds of discourses, it is possible to find the soul-shattering traces of those painful days in his poetry. In his book Hüzün Ana, he decided to use the voice of the mothers in his narration, as he believed that they were the most affected by the ugly truth of war. Along with the incorporated pattern of rich cultural vocabulary, the poet frequently used various folkloric and cultural discourses integral to the everyday life of a Cypriot. It is obvious that cultural accumulation can be gradually lost through the modernization of economic and social life, or that cultural richness can be limited in terms of practices. However, taking advantage of being a small community, the Turkish Cypriots are able to maintain a great deal of their traditions, customs, beliefs, and practices. This study examines the traces of these folkloric elements in the works of Fikret Demirağ by employing the descriptive research method for the analysis of his poems. In the poetry of Fikret Demirağ, it is clear that he employed both the folk speech and the manner of life of his community. He widely used folkloric elements such as folk beliefs, proverbs, sayings, prayers, and maledictions in his poetry.

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