Product Description
In Poems of Istanbul, Istanbul is a special sum distilled from 2300 years of poetic accumulation. It is, in fact, the first line of a great, epic poem named Istanbul, a substantial poem in which each line extends a hand to the next and flaps its wings. Istanbul’s first known poet is a woman. Just like Sappho and Ludingirra, Moiro is our timeless contemporary who has left a powerful mark on the pediment of poetry. Just like Nedîm, Bakî, Yahya Kemal, Nâzım Hikmet, Orhan Veli, İlhan Berk, and countless other poets of ours who are enamored of Istanbul. Poems of Istanbul carries the centuries-old accumulation concerning everything bearing the name Istanbul from 300 BC to the present into today and, of course, the future.
Poems of Istanbul has many aspects that distinguish it from the anthologies of Istanbul poetry produced so far. Its inclusiveness and the breadth of the period it spans are among its immediately noticeable features. It is the first work to view such a broad perspective, from ancient Byzantine poetry through Divan poetry and folk poetry, and finally to contemporary poetry.
Rather than merely being a collection of Istanbul poems, Poems of Istanbul is also a social history compendium in which the finest examples of thousands of years of historical and cultural accumulation have been brought together. In addition to being a literary collection, it is a book that you can very well read as a book of history and sociology. Poems of Istanbul is a subtle door opened through literature’s window onto Istanbul’s history, culture, social structure, sensibility, and folklore.