Vasfi Mahir and my beautiful country

Vasfi Mahir Kocatürk was one of the founders of the Seven Torchbearers Literary Movement. He was born in Gümüşhane in 1907. He studied at Darüşşafaka High School. He graduated from Mülkiye in 1930. He worked as a literature teacher and inspector. He was a Member of Parliament for Gümüşhane in 1950 and 1954.

Drawing on the formal characteristics of folk poetry, he wrote national, epic, and lyrical poems in syllabic meter. He experimented with plays in verse. He became known for his literary books and research rather than as an artist.

Kocatürk primarily explored patriotism and heroism in his poems. The second theme he explored was the depiction of the daily lives of rural people. I offer an example from his poem: "Morning Song."

The sun has risen, the poplars opposite are bright red,

My bitch, isn't sleep enough?

The leaves opened their eyes from the dream,

They will make a sparkling ball in the vineyard,

Wake up and take my basket from my arm,

My bitch, isn't sleep enough?

The vines above the door are green,

The heart shape of roses,

Two glowing carnations in a pot

Wake up, wipe your eyes with your white hand,

Take my basket from my tired arm,

My bitch, isn't sleep enough?

I brought you clusters of rubies,

Take my coral thread.

Some of its grains resemble blood,

Drops of gold have fallen aside,

Wake up and take my basket from my arm,

My bitch, isn't sleep enough?

In addition to poetry collections, Kocatürk published high school literature textbooks, books introducing world literature, children's publications, and some translated works. He also published books such as "Teacher's Spirit," which explores the teaching profession, and "Ottoman Sultans," which recounts the lives and heroism of the sultans, as well as essays, stories, and articles. He devoted his final years entirely to literary history and embarked on a monumental work, "A History of Turkish Literature," encompassing all works of Turkish literature. He viewed literary history not as a biography, but as a genre devoted to literary works and analysis.

The work of poet, playwright and literary researcher Vasfi Mahir Kocatürk, "The History of Great Turkish Literature", was published in 2016 by Istanbul Kültür University Press with its renewed facsimile edition after 45 years.

In this book, which examines Turkish literature from Central Asia to the present, Kocatürk examined Turkish literature by geography, Central Asia and Anatolia, up to the 14th century. He categorized the works and writers/poets from the Tanzimat period to the present day under the headings of Tanzimat, Edebiyat-ı Cedide, Fecr-i Ati, and National Literature (Republican Period Literature) and divided them into genres: theater, poetry, novel, and short story.

While he included biographical information about the authors in footnotes, he devoted the main text to meticulously and thoroughly analyzed the works. He presented examples from the text along with a brief summary of the subject matter. The book was not merely a chronological literary history text but a study of literary history.

The first edition of the History of Great Turkish Literature was published in 1964, three years after the death of Vasfi Mahir Kocatürk, and the second and third editions were made by the author's son, Prof. Dr. Utkan Kocatürk.

Vasfi Mahir Kocatürk's poetry books are: The Troubles of the Mountains (with the Seven Torchbearers, 1928), On Revolutions (1935), Sounds of Bronze (1935), Past Nights (1936), Our Folk Songs (1937), Ergenekon (1941), Songs of Life (1965). Vasfi Mahir Kocatürk's plays include Yaman (1933) and Sanatkar (1965). His essays, reviews and anthologies appeared in the following books: The Most Beautiful Turkish Manis (1933), Lafonten Stories (1934), Masterpieces Anthology (1 volume, 1934-1939), Divan Poetry Anthology (1947), Ottoman Sultans (1949), Masterpieces of Turkish Literature (1955), Tekke Poetry Anthology (1955), Literature with Texts (1955), Namık Kemal (1955), Poetry Notebook (1958), Story Notebook (1958), Namık Kemal's Poems (1959), Ziya Pasha's Poems (1959), Saz Poetry Anthology (1963), Turkish Prose Anthology (1963), Famous Couplets (1963), Turkish Literature History (1964), Turkish Literature Anthology (1967)

I gave the poet's poem "Morning Song" above. Let me continue with "Homeland Song" to give examples of his poems:

My beautiful country, my mountains

I want to see from afar

To the sharp winds

I feel like giving myself away.

The roofs of my eyes are smoking,

The pines smelling of gum,

Sings folk songs in the evenings;

My own voice comes to me.

I drank water from the springs,

I slept in their shadows,

What the birds say

I grew up with happy folk songs.

You rocked me with your lullaby,

You watched over me with compassion,

You bound me with your love;

My beautiful country, my beautiful country.

Vasfi Mahir Kocatürk died on July 17, 1961.