Poet (b. 1914, İstanbul - d. 14 November 1950). He received his primary
education in the first level of Galatasaray and Ankara Gazi High Schools and
subsequently Ankara High School (1933). He left his studies at İstanbul
University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Philosophy (1935) and began to
work as an officer at the General Directorate of Post, Telegraph and Telephone
(1936-42) and later at the Ministry of the National Education Department of
Translation (1945). In 1947 he left his office and published the review Yaprak
(1949-50, 28 issues). He had health problems while he was in Ankara; therefore
he was brought to İstanbul. Four days after his arrival, he died of a cerebral
hemorrhage.
His
first poems were published in the review Varlık (1 December 1936). In
his early days, he seemed to be influenced by the great poets of syllabic meter
(Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Ahmet Muhit Dranas etc.), however, with his later works,
he became one of the most talked about poets of Turkish 20th century poetry. He
published a collaborative book Garip (Strange, 1941) with Oktay Rıfat
Horozcu and Melih Cevdet Anday. They opposed meters, rhymes and literary
discourse and put forward a simpler and plainer understanding of poetry. He
translated forty-nine fables of La Fontaine into Turkish in verse. He versified
some of the jokes on Nasreddin Hoca. His works were re-published posthumously.
WORKS:
POETRY:
Garip (Strange, with Oktay Rıfat ve Melih Cevdet Anday, 1941; only his
poems, 1945), Vazgeçemediğim (My Inability to Give Up, 1945), Destan
Gibi (Like an Epic, 1946), Yenisi (Of the New, 1947), Karşı
(Against, 1949), Orhan Veli Bütün Şiirleri (All Poems of Orhan Veli,
collected posthumously including poems that were not previously published in
his books, 1951; 23rd edition, with corrections, 1987), Çeviri Şiirleri
(Translated Poems, 1982).
OTHER WORKS: La Fontaine'nin Masalları (Tales from La Fontaine, 2 volumes, 1943), Nasrettin Hoca Hikâyeleri (Stories of Nasreddin Hoca, 1949), Orhan Veli / Nesir Yazıları (Orhan Veli / Prose, 1953; with the title Denize Doğru-Toward the Sea, 1970), Şevket Rado'ya Mektuplar - (Letters to Şevket Rado, edited by Emin Nedret İşli, with Oktay Rifat and Melih Cevdet Anday, 2002).
