The Sea in Yahya Kemal as Language Border Violation: Poetry and Theory

Abstract

Yahya Kemal establishes a connection between the finite and the infinite in his poetics in general and in his poems about the sea in particular. This connection is important in terms of the question of whether the expression of infinity in language is a category beyond time and language that begins where the finite ends, or whether it makes itself visible in language because finitude itself cannot be transcended. What does the temporal relationship mean in the context of finite-infinite produced by the original relationship that modern literary language tries to establish with the sea? This article examines the experience of a finite and infinite encounter as a border violation in language in Yahya Kemal’s poems titled “Deniz,” “Açık Deniz,” “Deniz Türküsü,” and “Sessiz Gemi.” We argue that an autonomous theoretical consciousness that does not suppress the semantic ambiguity of the literary text carries different dimensions to the visible shore in these poems. In order to clarify this claim, we first examine the words in which the finite-infinite relationship reveals itself in Yahya Kemal’s poetry from a phenomenological perspective, and then, from a historical perspective, we demonstrate that there is no priority-post relationship between theory and poetry. We conclude that the violation of linguistic boundaries in Yahya Kemal’s poems suggest that language carries itself into a dialogue that can take place between thought (theoros) and poetry.