Can Yücel
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Can Yücel (; August 21, 1926 – August 12, 1999) was a Turkish poet noted for his use of colloquial language.


Biography

Can Yücel was the son of a former Minister of National Education,
Hasan Âli Yücel Hasan Âli Yücel (17 December 1897 - 26 February 1961) was a Turkish education reformer and philosophy teacher who served as minister of national education of Turkey from December 1938 to August 1946. He is remembered for the foundation of Vil ...
, who left his mark on the history of education in Turkey, and a grandchild of an Ottoman sea captain who perished with the frigate ''
Ertuğrul Ertuğrul or Ertuğrul Gazi ( ota, ارطغرل, Erṭoġrıl; tk, ; died ) was a 13th century bey, who was the father of Osman I. Little is known about Ertuğrul's life. According to Ottoman tradition, he was the son of Suleyman Shah, the ...
''. He studied
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
at
Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...
and
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
. He later worked as a translator at several embassies and in the Turkish language section five years of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. After his return to Turkey in 1958, he briefly worked as a tourist guide 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 ...
and
Marmaris Marmaris () is a port city and tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast, located in Muğla Province, southwest Turkey, along the shoreline of the Turkish Riviera. Although Marmaris is known for its honey, its main source of income is internationa ...
and then lived in Istanbul, where he worked as a freelance translator and started writing poetry. Yucel was a poet with a keen political and social awareness. His poetry thrives on a strong combination of lyricism, jovial irony, and sarcasm. Because of his strongly critical poems, he was imprisoned several times. Yucel was certainly one of the most prominent and controversial translators in Turkey. His major poetry collections include Bir Siyasinin Şiirleri (Poems of a Political Prisoner / 1974), Sevgi Duvarı (Wall of Love / 1973), Ölüm ve Oğlum (Death and My Son / 1976), Gökyokuş (Steep Heaven / 1984), Canfeda (Life Offering / 1988), Çok Bi Çocuk (The Child Colors the Man / 1988), Mekânım Datça Olsun (Let Datça Be My Domicile / 1999) and Rengâhenk (Col'armony / 1991). In his later years, he settled in the remote peninsular town of
Datça Datça is a district of Muğla Province in south-west Turkey, and the center town of the district. The center is situated midway through the peninsula which carries the same name as the district and the town ( Datça Peninsula). It was a nahiya of ...
in southwestern Turkey, where he died of
throat cancer Head and neck cancer develops from tissues in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), larynx (throat), salivary glands, nose, sinuses or the skin of the face. The most common types of head and neck cancers occur in the lip, mouth, and larynx. Symptoms ...
. His tomb is much visited. He had two daughters, Güzel and Su, and a son, Hasan, from his marriage to Güler Yücel.


Literary style

Can Yücel was known for using
slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...
and vulgar language in his poems. However, even his critics agreed that his skill in using words in a simple and understandable way is worthy of praise and appreciation. The main themes and inspirational sources in his poems are nature, people, events, concepts, excitements, perceptions, and emotions. His family was of utmost importance to him and his loved ones are mentioned in many of his poems, such as "To my Little Daughter Su," "To Güzel," and "I Loved My Father the Most in Life." Yücel also translated the works of
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, Lorca and
Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
into Turkish and his creative rendering of these authors are classics in their own right in Turkey. Extract of Poem Oyunbozan bir akşamın altında,
Elinde bir yoyo gibi benliğin,
Senden damlara, damlardan geriye
Bir kadeh tutuştururlar eline derken.


References


External links


Selected poems in English
*
A short biographyCan Yücel

Şiirleri - Poems

Şiirleri - Poems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yucel, Can 1926 births 1999 deaths Turkish male poets Turkish former Muslims Turkish atheism activists Turkish Marxists Turkish communists Writers from Istanbul Turkish translators Ankara University alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge 20th-century translators 20th-century Turkish poets Deaths from throat cancer Deaths from cancer in Turkey