A Hermeneutic Approach to Necip Fazıl’s “Mirrors Cut My Way” and Functions of Poetry Language
Hilal AkçaThe most important feature of literary texts is their multi-layered structure and the possibility of multiple interpretations. Hermeneutics is one such method of interpreting and explaining a text. Initially, it was only used in the interpretation of religious and legal texts and in the explanation of literary texts since the 18th century. However, the perspective of classical and modern hermeneutics on the concepts of understanding and interpretation is different. According to modern hermeneutics, the interpreter applies the meaning of the text to his own language, imagination, and life. Following this method, the poem of Necip Fazıl’s “Mirrors Cut My Way” will be analyzed with the analysis method developed based on the philosophical interpretation idea. Concepts such as image, metaphor, and symbol, which compose the features and functions of poetic language, will be evaluated in linguistic and cultural contexts. The functions of the language of poetry will be made visible by illustrating how Necip Fazıl’s “quest” metaphor, which constitutes the main axis of the art of poetry, supports a structure that is suitable for multiple meanings with its religious, philosophical, psychological, historical, mystical, and metaphysical layers.
Necip Fazıl’ın “Aynalar Yolumu Kesti” Şiirine Hermenötik Bir Yaklaşım ve Şiir Dilinin Fonksiyonları
Hilal AkçaEdebî metinlerin en önemli özelliği çok katmanlı bir yapıya sahip olmaları ve bu yapının getirdiği çok anlamlılık sayesinde farklı okuma tekniklerine açık olmalarıdır. Bu nedenle metni yorumlama çabası tarihin her döneminde üzerinde durulan ve tartışılan konulardan biridir. Hermenötik (yorumbilim) metni “yorumlamak” ve “açıklamak” üzerine geliştirilen bir yöntemdir. Hermenötik düşüncenin kökeni, etimolojik olarak tanrıların mesajlarını anladığı kadarıyla insanlara aktarma görevi üstlenen Hermes’e kadar dayandırılmaktadır. Başlangıçta sadece kutsal kitapların ve hukuk metinlerinin yorumlanmasında kullanılan bu yöntem, 18. yüzyıldan itibaren edebî metinlerin açıklanmasında da kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Klasik ve modern hermenötiğin “anlama” ve “yorumlama” kavramlarına bakış açısı farklıdır. Modern hermenötiğe göre eseri yorumlayan kişi, metnin anlamını kendi diline, kavram ve hayal dünyasına, dünya görüşüne bazen de hayatına uygun olarak tatbik eder ve kaynaştırır. Bu çalışmada modern Türk şiirinin önemli isimlerinden olan Necip Fazıl’ın “Aynalar Yolumu Kesti” şiiri, çağdaş hermenötik alanında çalışanların ortaya koydukları felsefi yorumlama düşüncesinden hareketle geliştirilen tahlil yöntemiyle incelenerek şiir dilinin özelliklerini ve fonksiyonlarını üstlenen “imge”, “metafor” ve “sembol” gibi kavramlar dilbilimsel ve kültürel bağlamlarda değerlendirilecektir. Necip Fazıl’ın şiir sanatının ana eksenini oluşturan “arayış” metaforunun; dinî, felsefi, psikolojik, tarihî, mistik ve metafizik katmanlarıyla çok anlamlılığa uygun bir yapıyı nasıl desteklediği örneklemlenerek şiir dilinin farkı işlevleri görünür kılınacaktır.
Poetry has a unique purpose, using intertextuality and contextual references to evoke emotions. To analyze the contextual structure of the poem, it is necessary to investigate the meanings of the functions of elements such as image, metaphor, and symbol and to determine which emotions these meanings arouse directly or implicitly through indicators. This reveals the poet’s use of language and data combined to convey a message. In addition, this created context inspires interpretation of the materials of the poem by revealing the function of the text in the style of the poet. The poem uses strong, abstract images as symbols, and that pattern must be analyzed to make concrete inferences about the poem. What should not be forgotten here is the difference between the intention of the poet and that of the reader. Although the conceptual dimension of the word is related to its imaginary, symbolic, and metaphorical dimension, the reader can make sense of the poem based on his or her own experiences and emotions and how they affect an interpretation. Additionally, the appearance of the word outside the collective consciousness of the reader is important. The words that settle into the world of the individual through language acquisition are also a means of transferring the psychological ancestral legacy as the carrier elements of the collective unconscious. Poetry is the most suitable genre among the literary genres. Hermeneutics, which is an art and philosophy of interpretation, started to be used in the analysis of contemporary literary texts, opening these to different reading techniques. Necip Fazıl’s poem “Mirrors Cut My Way” was examined with the philosophical interpretation technique in terms of content, and the features and functions of poetry language were revealed by evaluating the sensory and emotional functions of words, discourse analysis, and intertextuality through metaphor, symbol, and image. According to Necip Fazıl’s poetics, the poet, who undertakes the search for the truth, seeks the truth like a thief. Most of the poet’s poems in this context are based on the quest motif. The poet is trying to create a different language of poetry and discourse analysis by adding a new literary reality to the traditional; it uses metaphors, symbols and images that bring a secret search to conceal, strengthen, and create aesthetic perception. In this context, the poem in question has been divided into the following topics.
1. Figural, Symbolic, and Imaginary Meaning at the Interpretation Level
2. Indicators and Notifications
3. Intertextuality and Contextual Reference
4. Sensory and Emotional Function
5. Language and Discourse Analysis
6. Author’s / Poet’s Intention
7. Reader’s Response
Surrounded by the circle of modernism, the questioning of the individual and his efforts to confront himself with his own journey are particularly reflected in Necip Fazıl’s poem Mirrors Cut My Way. The metaphors, images, and symbols in poetry support both the signs of poetry and the establishment of intertextual relationships among religious, historical, philosophical, psychological, mystical, and metaphysical references. While creating this pattern in his poetry, Fazıl actually preferred to use the language individually by sampling his poetics, to create a completely new context for known concepts, and to have the entire text contain multiple meanings. The mirror metaphor in poetry provides the mystical metaphysical doctrine with the images it chains, creating a metaphorical language, concretizing the relationship between the signifier and the signified, and activating the reader’s senses, feelings, and intuitions. The intention of the poet is to force the reader to pass between the physical and metaphysical world by forcing the boundaries of the language of poetry with this poem, which is based on metaphors that contain mystical and mystical meaning, and to open the door of his soul with symbols placed in lines, to allow him to reach the ancestral experiences experienced by the images that come with associations. The definition of the connection between man and the sacred in poetry by referring to metaphysical facts brings an inner reckoning, prompting the reader to identify with the subject of the poem. This poem, in which metaphysical teaching is integrated with figurative meaning, forms a coherent whole in terms of language and is prone to be the poet’s poetic text with its rich associative power and contextual references.