Abstract
FROM THE TORRIDITY OF LOVE TO ENLIGHTENING OF REASON: FIRE IMAGE IN TURKISH POEM AFTER TANZİMAT PERIOD
Fire is related with reason as it is an enlightening element. In the myth of Prometheus, the fire that has been stolen from Gods by Prometheus symbolizes the reason and wisdom which is essential for human being to build their civilisation on the world. With the beginning of enlightenment age the West has considered reason and wisdom as rationality. Therefore, ration which is dimension of reason and wisdom to perceive practical and objective realities of the world has been important in the life of western communities. The dimension of reason and wisdom which is able to comprehend the truth has ignored. The West, thereafter, denied the truth from the perspective of rationality. After the declaration of Tanzimat, ottoman poets who are interested in social problems, and are in touch with western ideas, started to bring social and religious issues into their poems in order to raise awareness about the socio- political condition of Ottoman society. They tried to evaluate this condition of society from the perspective of reason and wisdom. In this research, it is intended to figure out how ottoman poets percept those concepts, “ration” and “reason”, in their poems throughout Tanzimat period. It is, also, aimed to analyze how they handle those concepts through the images about fire.
Keywords
Tanzimat, poem, fire, Prometheus, image, reason, ration
