Tanzimat Era Poetry

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Introduction
It was during the Tanzimat period that much criticism and dissent in poetry occurred to advocate political and social change, which became a systematic and compelling force. The Tanzimat Era is different from the pre-mid-nineteenth century periods in the sense that the Tanzimat poets promoted revolutionary change to eliminate classical traditions. It was a surprise that the prominent poet-rebels during the Tanzimat Era who advocated populism, basic freedoms, constitutional government, nationhood, and fundamental rights were deported or persecuted. In the Tanzimat Era, the Ottoman political and social reforms were developed with the aim of strengthening the empire to adapt itself to the values of the modern western civilization (Agoston and Masters 340). As a result, Ottoman literature experienced a similar modernization movement. During the Tanzimat period, Ottoman intellectuals accepted the fact that the old imperial styles of the periods prior the Tanzimat Era were outdated and therefore could not convey nor present modern western values that the Ottoman civilization wanted to adopt. It was this reason the Ottoman intellectuals criticized the old literature and started to make a brand-new method in terms of language, topics and forms. From the advent of Tanzimat Era, Ottoman literary characteristics, which experienced continuously transformation using ideas and models adopted from western literature. Tanzimat Era is the first period of Late Ottoman literature, which is followed by Servet-I Fünun period literature, Fecr-i Ati literature, and National literature movement period, and lastly the Republican literature Era.
The Tanzimat Era (1860-1895)
Tanzimat Era literature transformed the aesthetical and abstract approaches to traditional Ottoman literature (the divan literature). The classical (traditional) Ottoman literature had been repeated for several centuries in the same topics and forms. A new approach to literature was developed to replace the classical Ottoman literature. According to Agoston and Masters, the new literature approach was a deliberate move having a political agenda focused to ensure social development (340). While writers of Tanzimat Era initially aimed to introduce new ideas to the intellectual elite, they remained determined to develop a clear and simple language with the aim of creating these ideas available to general readers. Western literature was the role model for these changes. Tanzimat writers started to translate western literature in1858. These translations were significant since new literary forms like the persuasive essay, drama, and short stories were introduced to be part of the Ottoman consciousness; as a result, these led to immediate creation of Ottoman works through making use of similar forms. Great Ottoman literary forms like poems experienced transformation along new lines, using new ideas, and presenting a modern structure.
Tanzimat literature can be categorized into two periods. The first period marked the time between 1860 and 1876 in which literature was utilized as a tool to reorient and prepare the Ottoman society to stand firm for the beginning of major social and political change (Agoston and Masters 341). Th...