Abstract
AN ARCHETYPE OF LOVER IN CLASSICAL TURKISH POETRY: THE CRUEL AND FLIRTATIOUS BEAUTY LÛLÎ (LÛLÛ, LÜ’LÜ’, LÜ’Lİ’)
Human inclination towards beauty and the beautiful is an inherent quality in human nature. The dominant theme of art, which is a manifestation of the feeling of appreciation, is love and affection. This is also true for our classical literature.
In classical Turkish poetry, love and affection are a pattern of relationships between the lover, the beloved, and the rival. The fundamental element in this pattern is the beloved. The beloved, the subject of various imaginations and conceptions in our classical literature, is treated within a broad framework that can easily evolve from human love to divine love, and is positioned as an ideal being that can be associated with all the beauties of nature.
Lûlî (lûlû, lü’lü’, lü’li’) is a type of beloved in classical Turkish poetry who attracts attention both for being elegant, playful, and captivating, and also for being cruel, warlike, fearless, and merciless. Generally, the beloved in classical Turkish poetry is also elegant, playful, cruel, and suffering. In this respect, can lûlî (lûlû, lü’lü’, lü’li’) be considered the archetype of the beloved in classical Turkish poetry? How was the image of the beloved formed in classical Turkish poetry, and where does this beloved's origin lie? Seeking answers to these questions is among the aims of this study.
The article first provides general information about the beloved in our classical literature, and then explains the meaning, historical, mythological, and archetypal dimensions of lûlî (lûlû, lü’lü’, lü’li’). In this study, which examines many divans from both the western and eastern branches of classical Turkish poetry, the conceptions of lûlî (lûlû, lü’lü’, lü’li’) by the poets are investigated, and some conclusions are drawn in light of the data obtained.
Keywords
Classical Turkish literature, Archetype, Beloved, Warrior Beauty Image, Lûlî (Lûlû, Lü’lü’, Lü’li’).