A WOMAN IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: POET NIGÂR HANIM AND HER LOVE POEMS

Poet Nigâr Hanım was born in İstanbul in 1862. Her father is Adolf Farkas who was of Hungarian origin. Farkas converted to Islam and named as Osman Pasha after took refugee in the Ottoman Empire. Her mother is Emine Rif’ati Hanım. Nigâr Hanım has received a good education. She has written poetry from a very young age. In her life, she became famous; her books were read and appreciated. Her poems that were translated into many languages were published in European and American journals. However, Nigâr Hanım has been almost forgotten after her death, unfortunately. One of the most important reasons of this fact is that her books in Ottoman language have not been translated. In her books that have already been translated into the modern Turkish, love is one of the most prominent and important themes. The poems in the Poet’s books named Efsûs 1, Efsûs 2, Nirân and Aks-i Sadâ, will be evaluated in this study and the love theme in her poems will be discussed. Every book reflects a certain period of the poet’s life. In the books of the Poet, who started to write poems at the age of fourteen, we can observe the change in her attitude against life as she grows older. At first, we will examine the poem named “Hayâl-i Yâre Hitâb” in the book Efsûs 1 published in 1887. Then, we will try to examine the love image in her poems, respectively “Bu muydu?” in the book Efsûs 2 published in 1890 and “İhsâsâtım” in the book Nirân published in 1896 and “Gecikmiş Akasya” in the book Aks-i Sadâ published in 1899.