Abstract
Concept of Water in the Diwan of Yahya Bey of Taşlıca
Everything that can be expressed by the tongue constitutes the subject of literature. Our classical literature has a very rich world of sources and concepts. Water, beside being
the source of life and being an indispensable factor for the continuation of life, with all its aspects, is among basic sources of inspiration, not only for our literature, but also for all world literatures. In the 16th century’s Istanbul, water sources called “Kırkçeşme(Forty
Fountains)” were brought into the city by the king of Ottoman Empire of the time, the
Magnificient Suleiman, through a great effort and cost, which was spilled abundantly.
This event brought about a rich source of inspiration for Yahya Bey of Taşlıca, in a different manner compared to other poets of the era. Thus, the notion of water finds a vast
field of usage in the Diwan of Yahya Bey, which led to its investigatin here. Therefore,
investigation of concept of water in his diwan has been the main purpose of this study. To
this end, we have tried to find out how much and in what manner did he use this concept of
water in his diwan. By using scanning method, data were collected through examination of documents, and then they were evaluated by content analysis. Then couplets concerning water were classified, in accordance with the tradition of textual commentary, and then they were explained. Results of this study indicated that: concept of water has a rich usage in Yahya Bey’s Diwan, both in terms of similitudes and in terms of metaphors; king of the era was praised through wording based on water; water was defined as a source of life; the concept of water was used to represent the notions of modesty, purity, fluency, cleanliness –which are both physical and spiritual- in the classical tradition of Turkish literature. We consider that those conclusions will be a guide fort he researchers working in the field of culture and language.
Keywords
Classical Turkish Literature, Yahya Bey of Taşlıca, Diwan, Water, Symbol
