MAJOR THEMES IN HASAN ERKEK’S POETRY
Hasan Erkek’s poetry is built upon a broad array of themes… themes as wide as life itself… Many themes are intermingled along the broad spectrum of life. In his poetry, it is not easy to find independent themes. Yet, there are recurring themes, i.e. particularly love, life, death, and social criticism.
Love: Love is one of the main themes in Hasan Erkek’s poems. Especially two collections, i.e. Beyaz Menekşe (White Violet) and Sevdadan Kanadım (My Wings Made of Love), are home to poems that concentrate on love. Sevdadan Kanadım (My Wings Made of Love) merely consists of love poems. Love poems in the book are organized in a way to create a love story.
Life: Life is another theme that the poet addresses frequently. Life is the hopeful side of his poetry. The life created by pen is lively, flexible, and full of surprises, and appears as a character. Especially in his book Hayat Yenile Beni (O Life, Refresh Me), the poet is in constant communication and settling with life. However, the settling is mostly in the form of compromise.
Death: Although not addressed as frequently as life, death is one of the themes in Erkek’s poetry. Death is an element of wisdom rather than a frightening part of living. Death is confronted with a dignified attitude, rather than fear and insurgence.
Social Criticism: Social criticism is an inevitable part of Hasan Erkek’s poetry, as well as his plays. Social criticism is built upon the system, rather than social weaknesses. The ideal of “a better world” is addressed, explicitly or implicitly, by use of a poetic language.
With his poetry, the poet embraces all aspects of life, and transforms them into poems. Just like the sources of poem, the themes in his poetry are endless.