Topic: Nâzum Hikmet

Nâzum Hikmet (Nâzum Hikmet Ran) , 1902-63, widely recognized as Turkey's foremost modern poet, b. Salonika, Ottoman Empire (now Thessaloníki, Greece), grad. Moscow State Univ. A dedicated, lifelong communist, he was imprisoned on political charges for years (1928-33; 1938-50), his work banned, and his citizenship revoked. He fled Turkey (1951) and lived mainly in Russia. Hikmet revolutionized Turkish poetry in the 1930s by rejecting the literary conventions of the Ottoman Empire and introducing free verse and colloquial diction. His poetry is powerful, emotional, and huma... Read more