Poet and writer (b. 7
February 1904, İnceağız Village, Çataka, İstanbul – d. 5 January 1975, Ankara).
His father Ziver Efendi was from Tokat and his mother Fatma Hanım was from
Tırnova (Bulgaria). His father died when Asya was a one-month baby and he grew
under the protection of his relatives. He spent his childhood in poverty. He
completed his secondary education as beneficiary student in Kastamonu and Bolu
High Schools. Later he graduated from İstanbul Teacher Training School,
Department of Literature (1927). He worked as a literature teacher and manager
in various cities in Anatolia and Cyprus. He was Adana deputy between the years
1950-54. After working as teacher in Ankara Gazi High School, he retired
(1962).
He wrote his first article when
he was a student in Kastamonu High School during the National Struggle period.
His articles on politics and literature were published in the newspapers Yeni İstanbul and Babıali’de Sabah. Asya, known as the poet of flag, wrote his poem Bayrak (The Flag) in excitement on the
day the city Adana became independent. He mostly gained fame through his poems
especially through Bir Bayrak Rüzgar
Bekliyor (A Flag is Waiting for Wind) and Fetih Marşı (The Conquest March). He drew the concrete and
beautiful picture of his national sensitivity in his poetry. His style was very
lively and full of enthusiasm. His subtle similes, cleverly made witty remarks,
satires and puns are the complements of his style. Writing poems for his
friends and putting dates in his poems have become his special pleasure. He
wrote on history, geography, faith, art, Turkish people and being a Turk. He
attributed a new role to rubai*, the verse of Divan* Poetry, and told about the
traditional Turkish heroism in an emotional way. He introduced the nature,
family, Turkish legends, towns, cities, and ramparts to rubai*. His poetry in
terms of rubai* style included dialogues and half lines as well as titles.
First Cemal Yeşil had used rubai*s in a different way, and then Asya widened
the usage of it so there he started a ruba*i renaissance. Although it is poetry
where he is most powerful in terms of literary works, he also had prose as
beautiful and strong as his poems.
WORKS:
POETRY: Heykeltraş (The Sculptor, 1924), Yastığımın Rüyası (The Dream of My Pillow, 1930), Bir Bayrak Rüzgar Bekliyor (A Flag is
Waiting for Wind, 1945), Kubbe-i Hadra
(The Dome of Hadra, about Mevlana, 1956),
Rubaiyyat-ı Arif (Rubai*s of Arif, 1956), Kovada Kalan (What’s Left in the Bucket, 1962), Kökler ve Dallar (Roots and Branches,
1964), Kıbrıs Rubaileri (Rubai*s of
Cyprus, 1964), Nisan (April, 1964), Emzikler (The Nipples, 1964), Dualar ve Aminler (Prays and Amen,
1967), Kova Burcu (Aquarius, 1967), Aynalarda Kalan (What’s Left in the
Mirrors, 1969), Avrupa’dan Rubailer
(Rubai*s from Europe, 1969), Şiirler
(Poems, 1971).
THOUGHT-ESSAY: Ayetler (Verses of Koran, 1936), Kanatlar ve Gagalar (Wings and Beaks, epigrams, 1964), Enikli Kapı (The Door with a Whelp, 1964), Terazi Kendini Tartamaz (The Scale cannot Weigh itself, 1967), Tevhit Mektupları (Letters Concerning Unification of Allah, 1967).