Abstract:

Noted as “a poet between two generations” in references, Mehmet Celal was a notable figure during the period he lived. Mehmet Celal wrote various works of literature such as poems, stories, novels, articles, and reviews. Amongst these works, poetic history written by the author as serials between 1891 and 1895 had a significant place. Influenced by Muallim Naci, Mehmet Celal mentioned about the Ottoman history and sultans in these brief mathnawis composed between 150 and 300 couplets. The following Ottoman sultans were mentioned: Osman Gazi, Orhan Gazi, Murat I, Bayezit I, Mehmet I Çelebi, Murat II, Mehmet the Conqueror, Bayezit II, Selim I, Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II and Mehmet III. Although the poet wrote several other poems such as Selâtîn-i Âl-i Osmân and Merhûm Muallim Nâcî’nin Selimiyye’sini Terbi, in which he mentioned about the Ottoman sultans until Abdulhamit II except the fact that one or two sultans were not mentioned, and other works about Sultan Abdulhamit II, 1897 Greco-Turkish War, and Gazi Osman Pasha, the first 12 poems mentioned above were somehow different from the later works in terms of their scope and coherence. In this work, the abovementioned poetic history works written by Mehmet Celal will be introduced and then his poem titled as Fâtih Sultân Mehmed-i Sânî Yâhûd İstanbul Fethi will be provided as an example for review.

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