Syntheses of Avant-garde, Folk and Divan Literature in Nazim Hikmet’s Poetry

Abstract

Nazim Hikmet is one of the most prolific and widely discussed Turkish writers of 20-th century. Hikmet was the one who made revolutionary changes in Turkish poetry. He introduced and amalgamated many new concepts and techniques, this influence became decisive on modern Turkish poetry. Among these innovations was Marxist ideological focus, free verse, organic form, poems written in the form of “ladders” and “broken” lines. His poetry created new mixture of lyrical, dramatic and rhetorical elements. Nazim Hikmet searched for the useful and live parts in folk literature and applied them to his own poetry. His poetry contains syntheses of modern, classical and folk sources.