İlhan Berk (18 November 1918 – 28 August 2008) was a leading

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. He was a dominant figure in the

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

current in

Turkish poetry There were a number of poetic trends in the poetry of Turkey in the early years of the Republic of Turkey. Authors such as Ahmed Hâşim and Yahyâ Kemâl Beyatlı (1884–1958) continued to write important formal verse whose language was, to a g ...

(termed, "İkinci Yeni"; ''"The second new generation"'') and was very influential among Turkish literary circles.

Biography

Berk was born in

Manisa Manisa (), historically known as Magnesia, is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province. Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port cit ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

in 1918 and as a child witnessed the

Fire of Manisa The Fire of Manisa ( tr, Manisa yangını) refers to the burning of the town of Manisa, Turkey, which started on the night of Tuesday, 5 September 1922 and continued until 8 September. It was started and organized by the retreating Hellenic Army ...

. He received a teacher's training in

Balıkesir Balıkesir () is a city in Turkey and is the capital city of Balıkesir Province. Balıkesir is located in the Marmara region of Turkey and has a population of 338,936. Between 1341–1922, it was the capital of Karasi. History Close to mo ...

. He graduated from the

French Language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

Department of

Gazi University Gazi University ( tr, Gazi Üniversitesi) is a public university primarily located in Ankara, Turkey. It was established in 1926 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as Gazi Teacher Training Institute. In 1982, it was reorganized by merging with the Bolu ...

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

. Between 1945 and 1955, Berk served as a teacher. He later began to work for the publishing office of

Ziraat Bank Ziraat Bankası is a state-owned bank in Turkey founded in 1863. Offers commercial loan support to companies and tradesmen, as well as personal loans such as consumer loans, vehicle loans and housing loans. History During the first half of the ...

as a translator (1956–1969). He became specialized in translation of poetry notably by translating into Turkish works by

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...

and

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

. In his later years, Berk resided in

Bodrum Bodrum () is a port city in Muğla Province, southwestern Turkey, at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Its population was 35,795 at the 2012 census, with a total of 136,317 inhabitants residing within the district's borders. Known in ancient t ...

where he died on 28 August 2008.

Poetry

Berk's poetry evolved from the approach of an epical

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

to the dreamy vision of a lyrical and erotic individual. He made the "object" visible in its glory and aimed to break down the meaning. Berk's poetry takes its roots from the

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

, and a synthesis of Western and Eastern poetry traditions, yet he accomplishes to create a unique and postmodern approach.

Peter Riley Peter Riley (born 1940) is a contemporary English poet, essayist, and editor. Riley is known as a Cambridge poet, part of the group loosely associated with J. H. Prynne which today is acknowledged as an important center of innovative poetry i ...

, in an analysis of Berk's work published in

The Fortnightly Review ''The Fortnightly Review'' was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,000; ...

, suggests the poet sometimes "runs poetry itself to an extremity at which it can no longer function as language."The Fortnightly Review http://fortnightlyreview.co.uk/2016/06/ilhan-berk/ History, geography, visual arts, cities such as

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and Ankara, feed Berk's poetry and, his themes are supported by a sizable vocabulary that includes colloquial words as well as very specific ones, such as musical terms and local names of plants. A significant body of Berk's work is now available in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, most notably ''A Leaf About To Fall: Selected Poems'' (2006), ''Madrigals'' (2008), ''The Book of Things'' (2009) and ''New selected poems 1947-2008'' (2016); all translated by

George Messo George Messo (born April 10, 1969) is an expatriate English poet and translator who was born in rural Lincolnshire, near the town of Barton-Upon-Humber. He moved to Trabzon, Turkey, in 1998 and has since lived in Oman and Saudi Arabia. He was the e ...

Bibliography in English

* * * * * * *

Awards

*1979 Turkish Language Association Award *1980 Behçet Necatigil Poetry Award *1983 Yeditepe Poetry Prize *1988

Sedat Simavi Literature Award The Sedat Simavi Literature Prize is a Turkish literary award presented annually. It was established in 1977 by Sedat Simavi Foundation, in memory of author and journalist, Sedat Simavi. The prize is given also in nine different areas in sport, T ...

References

Resources