Karacaoğlan

Minstrel. Little information connected to his life story exists. It is estimated that he lived in the seventeenth century, was born in 1606 and died in 1689. In reference to the information, which is mostly gained in his poems, it is thought that he grew up in Çukurova and he traveled extensively to various places such as Rumelia, Egypt, Tripoli and Syria. The fame of his poems became widespread, as far as Azerbaijan and The Crimea at around the end of the seventeenth century. His poems and songs did not only gain fame among the public but also were sung and played at the palaces. He was not influenced by the Divan* and Dervish poems like his contemporaries such as Gevheri and Âşık Ömer, he dealt with themes such as admiration for the beauty of humanity and nature, living far from home and remoteness in his ballads, semai* (3 beat folk songs), folk songs and his epic poems in which he used the syllabic meter well.

His influence can be seen in folk poets such as his contemporaries Gevheri and Âşık Ömer, Emrah and Dadaloğlu and the National Literature Movement and Republican Period poets such as Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı, Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, Behçet Kemal Çağlar and Cahit Külebi who were so close to the folk poem style. The poems of Karacaoğlan, whose life story was made into a story during his own lifetime, were collected in Üç Anadolu Efsanesi (Three Legends of Anatolia, by Yaşar Kemal, 1967). They were first collected in the book by S. Nüzhet Ergun named Karacaoğlan, Hayatı ve Şiirleri (Karacaoğlan, His Life Story and Poems, 1933, second edition, 1963) and then by a work by Cahit Öztelli named Karacaoğlan, Bütün Şiirleri (Karacaoğlan, All of His Poems, 1970). Approximately twenty research and introductory books have been written in relation to him.

KAYNAKÇA: Abdullah Tansel / Millî Edebiyat Devri Şiir Sahasında Âşık Tarzı Şiirleri (Ülkü Mecmuası, sayı: 74, 1939), Cahit Öztelli / Karacaoğlan (1952), M. Fuad Köprülü / Türk Saz Şairleri (1962), Müjgan Cunbur / Karacaoğlan Hayatı ve Şiirleri ( 1972), İlhan Başgöz / Karacaoğlan (1978), Öner Yağcı / Sevdanın Ozanı Karacaoğlan ve Şiirleri ( 1996), Nurettin Albayrak / Karacaoğlan (1998) - TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (c. 24, 2001), TDOE –TDE Ansiklopedisi 5 (2004), İhsan Işık / Yazarlar Sözlüğü (1990, 1998) - Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors (2005) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) – Ünlü Sanatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 4, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).