Poet and writer (b. 2 January 1852, İstanbul – d. 12 April, 1937). When he was
five, he started to take private lessons. Then he went on to study in at Köşekapısı Public School,
Hisar Secondary School and Paris Ecole
Nationale (1862). After his return to Turkey,
for a while he attended Robert
College. He started to
work as a civil servant at the Translation Office. He went to Tehran with his father who had been appointed
the Ambassador of Iran (1886). His father died two years later and he returned
to İstanbul (1868) where he worked in various state offices and married Fatma
(1871). His first appointment as a diplomat was as the secretary to the Paris
Ambassador (1876). After a year and a half, he was moved from his post and
called to İstanbul. Later he was appointed as the Consul of Poti (Caucasia,
1881), Golos (Greece, 1882)
and Bombay (India, 1883) respectively. His
wife, Fatma, contracted tuberculosis in Bombay
and on their return to İstanbul, she passed away in Beirut (April 21, 1885). He wrote his famous
poem Makber (The Grave) after his
wife’s death.
Returning to İstanbul, Abdülhak Hamid continued working as a
representative in offices abroad. One year later he was appointed as the
secretary to the London Ambassador and to undersecretary (1886). After he had
been the Ottoman Ambassador in Brussels
for four years (1908-12), he became a member of the Senate and there he met his
forth wife Lüsyen, whom he married twice. Before Lüsyen, he had been married
for twelve years to his second wife, Nelly, an English woman and was divorced
from his third wife, Cemile. After the declaration of Republic, he became the
parliamentary deputy of İstanbul in 1928. He is buried in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.
Hamid, who is regarded as the greatest poet of the Tanzimat period
(reform period, 1839) and called “Şair-i Azam” (the greatest of all
poets), introduced new verse styles and a Western way of looking at Turkish
Poetry. However, he couldn’t refrain from using complex and sophisticated
language in his poetry. But he displayed his creativity and his philosophical
concepts with great mastery in all his works. Making use of the opportunity of
having been to many countries and continents, in his plays he concentrated on
the topics covering the historical events of the Turkish, Arabians, Assyrians
and Greeks. He wrote a majority of his plays in verse, yet, since he was not
meticulous enough with his style, his plays were not staged. Also, Hamid was a
man whose public speeches were admired. His poems and plays have been
republished by various publishers in recent years.
WORKS:
POETRY: Sahra
(The Desert, 1879), Makber (The
Grave, 1885), Ölü (The Corpse, 1885),
Hacle (1886), Bunlar Odur (These are Her, 1885), Divaneliklerim Yahut Belde (My Madness or the Town, 1885), Bir Sefirenin Hasbihali, (Chat With an
Ambassadress, 1886), Bala’dan Bir Ses
(A Voice from Bala, 1912), Validem
(My Mother, 1913), İlham-ı Vatan
(Inspiration of the Motherland, 1916), Tayflar
Geçidi (The Parade of Spectrums, 1917), Ruhlar
(The Spirits, 1922), Garam (My Passion, 1923).
PLAYS: Macera-yı
Aşk (Love Affair, prose, 1873; in verse, 1910), Sabr-u Sebat (Perseverance in Patience, 1875, staged at İstanbul
City Theatres in 1961), İçli Kız (The
Oversensitive Girl, 1875), Duhter-i Hindu
(The Girl of India, 1876), Nazife
(Nazife, 1876, together with Abdüllahü’s-Sağir, 1917), Nesteren (Dog Rose, 1878), Tarık
Yahut Endülüs’ün Fethi (Tarık Or The Conquest Of Spain, 1879, simplified by
Sadi Irmak and Behçet Kemal Çağlar, staged at İstanbul City Theatres, 1962), Tezer Yahut Abdurrahman-ı Salis (Tezer
or Abdurrahman III., 1880), Eşber
(Eşber, 1880), Zeynep (Zeynep, 1908),
İlhan (İlhan, 1913), Liberte (Freedom, 1913), Finten (Finten, 1916), İbn-i Musa Yahut Zadülcemal (İbn-i Musa
or Zadülcemal, 1917), Sardanapal
(Sardanapal, 1917), Abdüllahi’s Sağir
(Little Abdullah, 1917), Yadigar-ı Harb
(The Souvenir of The War, 1917), Hakan
(1935), Cünun-ı Aşk (Insanity Of
Love, serial, not published, 1917), Kanuni’nin
Vicdan Azabı (Remorse of Süleyman The Magnificent, 1937, not published).
OTHER WORKS: Mektuplar
(Letters, collected by Süleyman Nazif, two volumes, 1916), Hatırat (Memories, serials in the newspapers İkdam and Vakit,
1924-25), Yusuf Mardin wrote about the years Abdülhak Hamid spent in London in
a novel and published it under the name of Abdülhak
Hamid’in Londrası (Abdülhak Hamid’s London). İnci Enginün translated his
plays into modern Turkish, published in seven volumes (1998-2002).
REFERENCE: Şahabettin Süleyman / Abdülhak Hamit,
Hayatı ve Sanatı (1913), Faik Ali Ozansoy / Şair-i Âzâm'a Mektup (1923),
Abdülhak Hamit Tarhan / Hâtırât (İkdam ve Vakit'te tefrika, 1924-25), Mehmet Zeki / Türkiye Teracimi Ahval Ansiklopedisi (c.
II, 1929), Orhan Seyfi Orhon / Abdülhak Hamid (1937), Necip
Fazıl Kısakürek / Abdülhak Hamid ve Dolayısıyla (1937), Fevziye Abdullah Tansel
/ Hususi Mektuplarına Göre Namık Kemal ve Abdülhak Hamid (1949), Hikmet
Dizdaroğlu / Abdülhak Hamit (1953), Gündüz Akıncı / Abdülhak Hamit (1954), Asım
Bezirci / Abdulhak Hamit ve Tarık /
Yahut Endülüs'ün Fethi (1966), Orhan Okay / Abdülhak Hamid'in Romantizmi
(1971), Yusuf Sıtkı Mardin / Abdulhak Hamid'in Londra'sı (1976), Yusuf Sıtkı
Mardin / Abdulhak Hamid'in Londra Yılları (1982), Turgut Uyar /
Bir Şiirden (1982), İnci Enginün / Abdülhak Hamid Tarhan (1986), Feyzi
Halıcı / Parlamenter Şairler (1990), Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi Albümü
1920-1991 (1994), Âdile Ayda / Bir Demet Edebiyat (1998), Taha
Toros / Türk Edebiyatından Altı Renkli Portre (1998), Yılmaz Taşçıoğlu /
Abdülhak Hamid Tarhan (1999), İbnülemin Mahmud Kemal İnal / Son
Asır Türk Şairleri (c. II, 2000), Baki Asiltürk / Osmanlı Seyyahlarının
Gözüyle Avrupa (2000), Serap İncegümüş / Gezi edebiyatımıza önemli bir katkı
(Cumhuriyet Kitap, 26.4.2001), Mehmet Nuri Yardım / Edebiyatımızın Güleryüzü
(2002), Doç. Dr. İsmail Parlatır / Tanzîmat Şiiri: Abdülhak Hâmit
Tahran / Büyük Türk Klâsikleri (cilt:8, 2004), Mehmet Atilla
Maraş / Şair Milletvekilleri 1 - 22. Dönem 1920-2005 (2005), 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).
