Of Cranes and Ducks: Kağızmanlı Hıfzı in the Wake of Karacaoğlan

OS MA NL1 ARAŞT 1RM ALAR 1 VII-VIII l~DITORS İSMAİL OF ~'HIS E . ERONSAL - SPECI AL JSSUE Ca::RISTOPHER FERRARD Ca::RISTINE WOODHEAD :. THE JOURNAL OF OTTOMAN STUDIES VII-VIU ı ı ı ir · İstanbul - 1988 OF CRANES AND DUCKS : KAGIZMANLI IDFZI IN THE WAKE OF KARACAOGLAN Edith Gülçin Ambros It is no~ often that. a poem by an §,şık contains, let alone more or less consists of, a description of nature for its own sake. Rare is the passage deseribmg some aspect or component of nature that does not function at the same time as an opening or point of departure for the işık's emotions. Of course there are elements of the regional countryside in the poems of Karacaoğlan, or rather, of the poets who composed poetry in the «Karacaoğlan tradition»1 • (For the sake of simplicity we shall say «Karacaoğlan» and use tl;ıe singular number here·.). Yet these are not recognizable as landqı.arks or individuals. That names of places, mountains, and the like occur in the poems makes no difference, ·for the description is a~ways of a generalized nature, no spe~ cüic · characteristics being give~. · One of the longer (and so rarer) pa,ssages on nature in Karacaoğlan's poetry is that in th.e follo'Mng: koşma~. Kuşlar çığrışıp daldan dala ötüşür Fesleğen yaylası yeşil salında Yeşil ardıç, reyhan, ~ünbül kokuşur Fesleğen yayla anber: toprak yolunda ( 1 Cf. tıhan Başgöz, Karac'oğİan, İstanbul, 1977, pp. 11-48. ·2 Ca.h.it öztelli, Karaca Oğlan, Bütün Şllrlerl (Milliyet yayınları : Türk Klasikleri Dizisi, no. 1), 5'inci baskı, !stanbul 1974. (Hereafter, «Öztellu). The ko~a is no. 2 therein. 98 Sarı çiğdem küme küme serilmiş Taşlarında kekik reyhan dir.ilmiş Bu güzellik ta ezelden· verilmiş Fesleğen yayla sağında solunda SavaşmaKARACA OGL.Al'f_felekle . Gonca düşmez a.Şıklara dilekle Gelin -kızlar yayık yayar bilekle Salianıyor gümüş halhal kolunda .. : ' As translated by K~aus-J?etl~~ . ~~~g~ : In Zweigexı: zwitsclıern Vögel sich Gesang zu; dicht steht B as ilikum in grüner Wiese•. Walcholder; :Königskraut und Hyazinthen · verströmen Duft" von Ambra auf den Boden. ın·_Büscheln gelher Krokus :hingebreit~t; ·. .·, au ch zwisclien Steinen noch·: Basilikum lebt alif : ··· ·. . am Thymian. Es gibt die Schönheit eWig·, -. das .Königgkraut .zur -Rechten Uııd zur Linken. ... Li_e g. nüt d~m Schicksaİ, . K~ra~~ Oğlari,_· i~ St~elt niÇhti . Die Blüte nejgt sich :Öicht~rn İlicht durch. Bitten. . Di~ Madcheıi gehn. mit bloBem · Arın: · zur Weicie .-:- : . S1e s~hw~nken, am G~lenk _den. ~ilbe_~eif~_~:~. . ... .. . The pleasing but decidedly free translation devia:tes ·from· the original in the last two Jines, a more ·exact translation' · heing· : · The young girls5 work ·the churn by hand, The silver .bracelets swinğing on their arms. · . '· Very much to the point ~s W~nn~g's :apt _co~menta~y _(.op. cit. in footnote 3, pp. 239-240): ~Karaci!L pğlans_. Dar!:i~ellungs:weise ist zu sehr von Rhetorik besti~t and. zu ~tifiziell ausgerichtet, als dal3 :· · 3 Klaus-Detıev Wa.niıig, Der· Dichter ·K araca ojlah; Studien ~r türklsc~en Llebeslyrlk (Klaus Schwarz Veı·lag : Studlen zur Sprache, Kultur und Geschichte der Tür-kvölker, Bd. 1), - Freiburğ 1980, pp. · 449." · · · ·4 · Accordi,ng to_"Öztelli, (cf.. glossary, p. 4l:Ş), Fesleğen .Yaylası ıs a. plateau 41 tıhe· sôuthern ·part. of Anatolla. · . :5 or cbetrothed girls:ı>, cf. Derleme Sözlüğü s.v, gelinkız. ·,_· .; .. ·l ·. .-: . •. ; :: 99 nicht dem Naturzusammeııhaiıg (der ·Wiese.) noch eine andere Seite als die der besclıreibenden Darstellung abgewonnen werden müBte, nliınlich die Pointe über die Madchen;· die sich dort ·mit blo.Bem Arm und klingelndem Schmuck kokett zeigen. Anspielungsreiclı und doppelsinnig also kommt Natur bei Karaca Oğlan ins Spiel. Das Arran- · gement der stereotypmetaphorisch verwen'deten. Elemente, wie es sich aus Enten, Raubvögeln, Gazellen und den illıvermeidlichen Araberpferden ergibt, stellt in Karaca .Oğlans von Wünschen und Sehnsüchten getragenem poetischen :Weltbild den Vorrat an Bezugspunkten dar, anhand derer sich die Kurve seiner Traume nachzeichnen laJ3t... » Elsewhere (ib., p. 234) ·wannig states that Karacaoğlan's attitude is nevertheless «realistischer als diejenige der meisten Diwan-Dichter und aşıks, . da er Landschaftsdetails und Wirklicbkeitssplitter durchaus in die' Texte einbri.ngt und vor allem seiner erotischen Appetenz offen Ausdruck verleiht... » We might also note that ,Pertev ·Naili ·:Boratav says that with the great folk poets, and in ~h~· loveÜest ·of ·their poems, we see nature not as nature but as the frame· for-human· feelings, the starting point for their phantasies 'ieelings, the' means of reawakening memories, and, finally, as. elements for likening a,nd comparing, and that the authors of such wÖrks a~e ·called gr~ at poets.· because they have given nature i~ ~rue .Plac~ ina wor~ of art6 • We beg to differ; in our opinjon .the · ıack of nonfunctional. descrip.tions. of. .nature in po~~s· do es no İnor·e than show.a .person'a l preference (often in adlıerence \vitiı tr adition). : and Boratav also gives an ·example. of a poem wherein the concern for nature pure and simple d~minates, namely the following by Karacaoğlan 7 : 6 «Büyük halk şairlerinde ve bunların en güzel ~Urlerinde tabiatı tabiat olarak değil, insan duyiuıarınm çerçevesi, hayallerinin ve hls~~rinin hareket noktası, hatıraları canlandırma v.esile.s i, nuia.yet benz~tnle ve ·. karşılaştırma unsurları olarak görüyoruz .. Tabia~ sanat eserindeki haklkl yerini vermiş oldukları için böyl~ eserlerili sahiplerine büyük şairler diyoruz~ . - Pertev Naili Boratav, Halk Şairlerinde ·İnsan ve Tablat, in his FoBdor ve Edebiyat (1982), I+• .!stanP.ul .1983, pp. i4-15. · · 7 Bo~~tav, op. cit., p. 14. The koş:ma in questlon is no. 234 in öztelli. In translating here and elsewhere maximal adlıerence to the origlnal wording was aimed at, even at .the cost oi a loss in aestlıetic qualitles. 100 Çukurova bayramlığın geyerken Çıplaklığın üzerinden soyarken Şubat ayı kış yelini kovarken Cennet dense sana yakışır dağlar . Ağacınız yapraklada donanır Taşlarinız bir birliğe inanır Hep çiçekler bağrmız~a gönenir Pınarınız çağlar, akışır dağlar Rüzgar eser, dallarınız atışır Kuşlarınız _birbirile ötüşür Ören yerler bu bayramdan pek üşür Sünbül niçin yaslı bakışır dağlar KARAC'OGLAN size bakar sevinir Sev'inirken kalbi yanar gövüıiür Kımıldanır hep dertlerim devinir Yas ile sevincim yıkışır dağlar When Çukurova .p uts on its festive dress, When it strips off its bareness, _When February banishes the winter winds, Were you to be called «iıeaven», it would be fitting, mo:untains. Your tr~s are being. dec~ed With leaves, . Your stones believe in Unity, All the flowers luxuriate in your bosom, Your springs roş,r and rush8 , mountain.s . The breeze blows, your br~ches bicker, Your birds .chirp all together, The places in ruins are so _chilled by this feast; Why do the hyacinths gaze mournfully at on~ another, mountains? 8 On akl§- cf. Tar (...truncated)