Depiction in Arabic Poetry (The Example of Halil Merdem Bek)

Abstract

Halil Merdem Bek is a Syrian statesman who experienced the last periods of the Ottoman Empire, the French occupation and the establishment of the Syrian State, and who was also one of the pioneers of modern Arabic literature. Merdem Bek, the Syrian national poet, received a good language education from childhood, stayed in England for a while in his youth, and meanwhile had the opportunity to do a doctorate in English literature. Merdem Bek, who had made many literary works, also had his own diwan. The poet wrote poems on various subjects, especially he included poems with the theme of depiction, which is accepted as a different form of expression among other expression styles. While conveying the themes that make up the main subject of the poem, he made use of depiction in most of his poems in order to convey his feelings, thoughts and ideas to the reader and listener in the best way possible. In these poems, the poet presented human-related situations such as praise, benevolence, generosity, longing for a lover, longing for the past, regret, homesickness, troubles and pains by transferring them to the elements of nature. In his poems, the poet dealt with depictions of nature in general, and also included depictions on different themes and subjects. In this study, the Syrian national poet Halil Merdem Bek's use of depiction, which is a literary art, in his poems and his style of handling the description in his poems will be discussed. The fact that there are not many studies on Halil Merdem Bek in our country makes the study important. The aim of the study is to help the world-renowned Syrian national poet Halil Merdem Bek to be promoted in Turkey as well, and to contribute to the field of Arabic Language and Rhetoric by examining the style of depiction in Merdem Bek's poetry.