Nazım Hikmet Ran
Turkish poet and dramatist
Nazım Hikmet Ran (November 20, 1901 – June 3, 1963) was a Turkish poet and dramatist, who is widely regarded as the best-known Turkish poet in the West and his works have been translated into several languages.
He was born in Salonica in the Ottoman Empire (now Thessaloniki, Greece). His birth was registered on 15 January 1902.
Despite writing his first poems in syllabic meter, Nazim Hikmet distantiated from the “syllabic poets” in concept. With the development of his poetic conception, the narrow forms of the syllabic meter began not to satisfy his needs and he set out to seek new forms for his poems. During the first years (1922-1925) of living in the Soviet Union, this search for form reached the peak.
Breaking the boundaries of the syllabic meter, he changed his form and preferred writing in free verse which harmonised with the rich vocal properties of the Turkish language. He was affected by Mayakovski and the young Soviet poets who advocated Futurism.
Many of his poems have been composed by the accomplished composer, novelist and director Zülfü Livaneli. A few of his poems have been composed by the Greek composer Manos Loizos.
Some of his best known works are:
Memleketimden Insan Manzaralari
Kafatasi
Unutulan Adam
Taranta Babu’ya Mektuplar
Ferhad ile Sirin
Kurtulus Savasi Destani
He died of a heart attack in Moscow.
