Poet and writer (b. 29 December 1907,
İstanbul – d. 15 October 1958). He completed his primary and secondary
education at the Galatarasaray High School. He went to the Academy of Fine Arts
for a while and then enrolled in and graduated from the Professional School of
Law. He worked as a civil officer at the Court of First Instance in Üsküdar and
as a public servant at the Osmanlı Bank, at the Directorate of Maritime Routes
and at the Library of the Faculty of Literature in İstanbul University. He was
a native dweller of Beylerbeyi province. He lived in an old mansion with a view
of the Bosphorus, which he received as an heritage from his father. He became a
candidate to be an independent deputy from İstanbul in 1946, but he was not
elected. He got married two times. His first wife was a Jewish woman named Rosi
and he divorced her because of incompatibility. His second wife was Nermin
Çelebi. He died at Guraba Hospital. His grave is at the Küplüce Graveyard in
Beylerbeyi.
Asaf Halet Çelebi wrote odes and
quatrains when he was young. He was recognized with his poems which written in
free meter and published in the review Ses in 1938. He drew attention
with his poems in free meter, which were published in Ses, Şadırvan, Hamle,
Sokak, Servetifünun-Uyanış. He gathered a mass of fans with his poems that
he read out at poetry matinees. He was one of the rarest poets, who had a
authentic and integrated poetics. He explained and wrote regularly about his
own understanding of poetry, the basis of his poetry and those poets whom he
felt close to himself, the problem of the meaning and the structure of poetry,
in a column titled Benim Gözümde Şiir Davası (The Poetry Course
in My Opinion) in the review İstanbul.
Çelebi, who knew
Divan* and Persian literature well, felt himself close to eastern
civilizations. With his studies on Divan* literature, Çelebi “gave a charming and exotic tune for his
poetry with the elements he received from the old eastern cultures”
(Mustafa Miyasoğlu). In his work, where he studied on Budha and his doctrines,
he said that Budha wanted to be revealed on his pencil. Çelebi did not conceal
his admiration for Budhism. He spoke Persian and French. He established a
direct relation with the tradition as was firstly seen in his poem titled He (Yes). Halet Çelebi belonged to the
Melami order. He explained the differences of Mevlevism and Melamism, in his
essays on Mevlana and Mevlevism.
WORKS:
POETRY: He (Yes, 1942), Lâmelif
(Lamelif, 1945), Om Mani Padme Hum (Aum, to the Jewel in the Lotus, Hum,
his poems in the first two books and his new poems, 1953), Bütün Şiirleri (All
Poems, 1999).
STUDY-COLLECTION: Mevlâna'nın
Rubaileri (Quatrains of Mevlana, 1939; in French, 1950; new edition, 2002),
Molla Cami (Molla Cami, 1940), Eşrefoğlu Divanı (Divan* of
Eşrefoğlu, 1944), Ömer Hayyam (Omar Hayam, 1945), Naimâ (Naima,
monograph, 1953), Mevlânâ ve Mevlevilik (Mevlana and Mevlevism, 1957;
new edition 2002), Divan Şiirinde İstanbul (İstanbul in the Divan*
Poetry, anthology, 1953; new edition 2002).
ESSAY-CRITICISM: Bütün Yazıları (All
Articles, his writings collected from reviews, 1989).
Moreover, he made a study on Buddha, Pali Metinlerine Göre: Gotama Buddha (Gotama Buddha According to Pali Manuscripts); he translated quatrains from Persian literature and wrote a book titled Harikulade Masal (Magnificent Fairy Tale), where he evaluated the thoughts about the universe.
REFERENCE: Fikret Adil - Fikret Ürgüp / Om Mani Padme Hum’un Kahramanı Âsaf Halet Çelebi (Yeditepe, 1.12.1953), Gökhan Evliyaoğlu / A. H. Çelebi Öldü (Havadis Gazetesi, 24.10.1958), İbnülemin / Son Asrın Türk Şairleri (c. 1), Mustafa Baydar / Edebiyatçılarımız Ne Diyor? (1960), Mehmet Kaplan / Cumhuriyet Devri Türk Şiiri (1973), Nevzat Sudi / Küllük Anıları (1987), Hilmi Yavuz / Asaf Halet Çelebi’nin Sema-ı Mevlana Şiirini Yeniden Okuma Denemesi (Yazın Üzerine, 1987), Behçet Necatigil / Edebiyatımızda İsimler Sözlüğü (18. bas. 1999), 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 Edebiyatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 4, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).
