An Ecocritical Approach to Âşık Dâimi’s Poetry

Abstract

Starting from the industrial revolution, the negative effects of industrial establishments on living things and nature, human-induced environmental pollution, and uncontrollable destruction of nature caused by mines have caused the deterioration of the ecological balance. To draw attention to the deteriorating ecological balance, the subject of ecology has started to be discussed intensively in different branches of fine arts. The reflex of protecting the environment initiated the ecocriticism movement by adding ecology to the relationship between literary text and criticism. With the growing worldwide interest in ecocritical studies, many studies centered on ecological approaches in Turkey, too. These studies have turned into research areas of different disciplines. Âşık Dâimi is one of the critical âşıks (folk poet-singer) who lived in the 20th century and had his original characteristics. In the study, poetry texts were selected based on the book called Âşık Dâimi Hayatı ve Eserleri (Âşık Dâimi’s Life and Works), which was prepared and published by Yadigâr Aydın Orhan, the daughter of Dâimi. Concerning the poems written by Âşık Dâimi, it was aimed to determine his approach to nature. Various evaluations have been made by choosing quatrains thought to be related to nature among his poems, grounded on working perspectives of ecocriticism. When the poems examined are considered, it is difficult to say that Dâimi wrote poems with direct ecological concern. It is improbable that these concerns entered the folk poetry regarding the period he lived. His love for nature and the living and non-living beings it hosts, his way of approach to nature, and his view of himself as a part of nature due to his Alevi faith intertwined with nature are worth examining in terms of ecocriticism. © 2021 Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University. All rights reserved.