Ali Mümtaz Arolat

Poet (B. July 23, 1897, Cihangir, Istanbul/ D. September 4, 1967, Istanbul). He also used Ali Hasan, Ali Mümtaz nick names. His father was Hasan Izzet Pasha, who was the 3^rd Army Commander in East Side during the 1^st World War and his grandfather was Ferik Ali Muhsin Pasha who died in Aleppo when he was the Adana-Aleppo Commander. During his childhood, he spent his summers in a mansion in Kefeli Village and he spent his winters in a palace of his grandfather Rifat Pasha’s in Aksaray. He began to his education in Burhan-ı Te­râkki School.  One year later he continued to German School, he felt unwell so he settled in Heybeliada and stayed there for a year with his parents. During this period, he couldn’t go to school, later he went to Nümûne-i Terâkki School for a year, and then he enrolled to Galatasaray High School. He completed his secondary education in Galatasaray High School. When he was in the second grade World War I began and he went to army voluntarily. After the war, he graduated from Business High School (1922). He worked as an officer in various banks; he got retired when he was accounting manager. When he was twenty-five he got married with his grand aunt’s daughter Fıtnat Hanım, he had five boys. After his death, he got buried to Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.

He published his first poems in Halit Fahri’s Nedim Magazine with the Seza signiture (1919). Later, he published his poems in Şair (1918-22), Güneş, Yarın, Yeni Mecmua, Millî Mecmua (1925-27) and Dergâh (1921-22) magazines by using his original name. After 1926, he published his poems in Varlık Magazine, Türk Şairleri and Mütarekeden Sonrakiler anthologies. His specific characteristic is his spare tedium. All joy of life, love, connection with nature topics in his poems were given between the borders of this spare tedium. Hopeless and pathological characteristic of Fecr-i Atî Group can be felt in Ali Mümtaz’s works. He gave a huge place to imaginary elements in his poems. He always sought for and dreamed of foreign places and different seasons.  In his poems, the influence of Ahmet Haşim and Yahya Kemal can be seen. He used symbolic images. He used syllabic meter professionally. On the contrary of many other poets of his era, he didn’t mention about national and governmental issues in his poems. During the years after the proclamation of the republic, he used verse libre in his poems.

WORKS:

Bir Gemi Yelken Açtı (1926), Hayal İkliminden Dönen Diyor ki (1960).

REFERENCE: Saadettin Nüzhet Ergun / Türk Şairleri (1933), Murat Uraz / Edebiyat Antolojisi (1938), Seyit Kemal Karaalioğlu / Cumhu­riyetten Günümüze Resimli Motifli Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi (vol. 4, p. 291-294), Mehmet Kaplan / Cumhuriyet Devri Türk Şiiri (1973, p. 30-36), Mehmet Behçet Yazar / Edebiyatçılar Alemi–Edebiyatımızın Unutulan Simaları (yay. haz. Mustafa Everdi, 1999), TBE Ansiklopedisi (2001), Şerif Aktaş / Büyük Türk Klâsikleri (vol. 13, p. 308-309, 2002).