Tevfik Fikret

(pen name of Mehmed Tevfik). Born Dec. 24, 1867, in Istanbul; died there Aug. 19, 1915. Turkish poet and journalist.

Tevfik Fikret graduated from Galatasaray Lycée in Istanbul in 1888. He worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from 1894 to 1915 taught Turkish language and literature in a school. His poetry was first published in 1894. Tevfik Fikret was the editor of the journal Serveti Fünun, published by a literary group of the same name, in which he printed articles and poems in defense of the social orientation of literature.

Tevfik Fikret wrote about the hard life of the Turkish people, criticized the principle of art for art’s sake, and condemned despotism and fanaticism, for example, in the cycle The Broken Lute. Denouncing Pan-Turkism and Pan-Islamism, he fought for humanism and the brotherhood of all peoples and defended democratic achievements, as can be seen in such poems as “The Robbers’ Feast” and “Ancient History.” He expressed faith in the revolutionary transformation of society in the poetry cycle sermin (1914), which is addressed to future generations. Tevfik Fikret was one of the most outstanding reformers of Turkish poetry.