Poet and writer
(b. 1895, İstanbul - d. 11 March 1967). He also used Arif Ünlü, İzci, Kamber,
Sarı Çizmeli Mehmet Ağa and Yakuboğlu Işık as pen names. After attending the
Vefa High School and Alyans İzrailit School, he graduated from Istanbul
University Faculty of Literature (1915) by passing the outside exams. He served
as a teacher of literature in İzmit, Galatasaray and Mercan High Schools and at
foreign private high schools in İstanbul. He edited the review Şair (1918-19, 15 volumes) which he
published and the weekly humor magazine Akbaba
which Orhan Seyfi began publishing in 1923. Later on, he was elected as a
deputy of Ordu from the Republican People’s Party (1946). Afterwards, he
resumed his work in publication. His grave is in Zincirlikuyu.
His poems were firstly published in the
review Kehkeşan in 1914, and later on
in the reviews Türk Yurdu, Servet-i Fünûn, Şair, İnci (1919) and Büyük Mecmua (1919). He published his
humorous poems in the weekly review Diken
(1918-20) which he published with Orhan Seyfi with the pen name of Çimdik. He
was recognized with his bare and fluent poems as a member of “Five Poets
of Five-syllabic Poetry”.
WORKS:
POETRY: Akından Akına (From Assault to Assault,
1916), Cenk Ufukları (The Horizons of
Battle, 1917), Aşıklar Yolu (The Path
oh Lovers, 1919), Yanardağ (Volcano,
1928), Bir Servi Gölgesi (Shadow of
Cypress, 1938), Kuş Cıvıltıları (Bird
Cheeps, children's poems, 1938), Bir
Rüzgâr Esti (A Wind Has Passed, with the play “Binnaz” (Binnaz, 1962).
PLAY: Kördüğüm (Gordian Knot, 1917), Binnaz (Binnaz, in syllabic meter, in
verse, adapted to movie, 1918), Şüphe
(Doubt, 1918), Name (Letter, 1919), Latife (Joke, in verse, 1923), Nikâhta Keramet (Miracle in Marriage,
1923).
NOVEL: Kürkçü Dükkânı (Furrier Shop, 1931), Şeker Osman (Candy Osman, 1932), Göç (Migration, 1943), Sarı Çizmeli Mehmet Ağa (I Don’t Know
Who, 1956), Gün Doğmadan (Before the
Morning Comes, 1960).
TRAVEL LITERATURE:
Göz Ucuyla Avrupa (Europe at A
Furtive Glance, 1958).
BIOGRAPHY: İsmet İnönü (İsmet İnönü, 1946).
MEMOIR: Portreler (Portraits, 1960), Bizim
Yokuş (Our Ascent, 1966).