Yunus Emre

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Yunus Emre
يونس امره
Karaman Yunus Emre monument 4725.jpg
Statue of Yunus Emre in Karaman, Turkey
Personal
Born1238
Sarıköy near Sivrihisar,[1][2] Sultanate of Rum, now Turkey
Died1328
Yunusemre (formerly Saru), Ottoman Beylik, now Turkey
ReligionIslam
EraAnatolian beyliks
Known forSufism, Diwan in Old Anatolian Turkish
Muslim leader
Period in office13th and 14th century
Influenced by

Yunus Emre (Turkish pronunciation: [juˈnus emˈɾe]) also known as Derviş Yunus (Yunus the Dervish) (1238–1328) (Old Anatolian Turkish: يونس امره) was a Turkish folk poet and Islamic Sufi mystic who greatly influenced Turkish culture.[3] His name, Yunus, is the Muslim equivalent to the English name Jonah. He wrote in Old Anatolian Turkish, an early stage of Turkish. The UNESCO General Conference unanimously passed a resolution declaring 1991, the 750th anniversary of the poet's birth, International Yunus Emre Year.[4]

Biography[edit]

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Yunus Emre has exercised immense influence on Turkish literature from his own day until the present, because Yunus Emre is, after Ahmed Yesevi and Sultan Walad, one of the first known poets to have composed works in the spoken Turkish of his own age and region rather than in Persian or Arabic. His diction remains very close to the popular speech of the people in Central and Western Anatolia. This is also the language of a number of anonymous folk-poets, folk-songs, fairy tales, riddles (tekerlemeler), and proverbs.

Like the Oghuz Book of Dede Korkut, an older and anonymous Central Asian epic, the Turkish folklore that inspired Yunus Emre in his occasional use of tekerlemeler as a poetic device had been handed down orally to him and his contemporaries. This strictly oral tradition continued for a long while.[5] Following the Mongolian invasion of Anatolia, facilitated by the Sultanate of Rûm's defeat at the 1243 Battle of Köse Dağ, Islamic mystic literature thrived in Anatolia; Yunus Emre became one of its most distinguished poets. The poetry of Yunus Emre — despite being fairly simple on the surface — evidences his skill in describing quite abstruse mystical concepts in a clear way. He remains a popular figure in a number of countries, stretching from Azerbaijan to the Balkans, with seven different and widely dispersed localities disputing the privilege of having his tomb within their boundaries. Yunus Emre's most important book is Risaletu’n Nushiyye.[6]

His poems, written in the tradition of Anatolian folk poetry, mainly concern divine love as well as human destiny:

and

Araya araya bulsam izini
İzinin tozuna sürsem yüzümü
Hak nasip eylese, görsem yüzünü
Ya Muhammed canım arzular seni

Bir mübarek sefer olsa da gitsem
Kâbe yollarında kumlara batsam
Mâh cemalin bir kez düşte seyretsem
Ya Muhammed canım pek sever seni

Ali ile Hasan-Hüseyin anda
Sevgisi gönülde, muhabbet canda
Yarın mahşer günü hak divanında
Ya Muhammed canım pek sever seni

"Yunus" senin medhin eder dillerde
Dillerde, dillerde, hem gönüllerde
Arayı arayı gurbet illerde
Ya Muhammed canım arzular seni

(Poem about Muhammad, Ali, Hassan and Hussein.)

In popular culture[edit]

Yunus Emre was the focus of Yunus Emre: Askin Yolculugu, a two-season 44-episode fictional drama based on the his life, premiering in 2015 on Turkish National Television (TRT), created by Mehmet Bozdağ, and starring Gökhan Atalay as Yunus Emre. Yunus Emre has also been the focus of a film and a song; his representations in popular culture include:

  • Yunus Emre: Askin Yolculugu - A two-season 44-episode fictional drama based on the life of Yunus Emre, premiering in 2015 on Turkish National Television (TRT).
  • Yunus Emre: Aşkın Sesi - A 2014 Turkish film based on Yunus Emre's life starring Devrim Evin in the lead role.
  • Adımız Miskindir Bizim - A 1973 psychedelic folk-rock song by Mazhar ve Fuat, with lyrics belongs to Yunus Emre.

Gallery[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Güzel, Oğuz & Karatay 2002, p. 672.
  2. ^ Ambros 2002, p. 349.
  3. ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica (2007)". Britannica.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  4. ^ Halman, Talat (2007). Rapture and Revolution. Syracusa University Press, Crescent Hill Publications. p. 316.
  5. ^ Edouard Roditi. "Western and Eastern Themes in the Poetry of Yunus Emre", Journal of Comparative Poetics, No. 5, The Mystical Dimension in Literature (Spring, 1985), p. 27
  6. ^ "Yunus Emre'nin Eserleri". Enkucuk.com (in Turkish). 21 January 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  7. ^ Cevdet Kudret. Yunus Emre. Ankara: İnkılâp Kitabevi, 2003. ISBN 975-10-2006-9, p. 58
  8. ^ Grace Martin Smith. The Poetry of Yūnus Emre, A Turkish Sufi Poet. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993. ISBN 0-520-09781-5, p. 124
  9. ^ "Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey". Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  10. ^ "E 9 - Two Hundred Turkish Lira I. Series". Retrieved 20 September 2014.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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