Thematical examination of Karaca Oğlan's poems

Turkish folk literature is the name of our traditional literature that transfers the essence and culture of the Turkish nation from generation to generation verbally or in writing. One of the important branches of Turkish folk literature is âşık literature. Âşık literature, whose roots go back to unknown periods, has existed with tradition and found its original form especially after the 16th century. The âşıks representing this literature have been the spokesperson and mirror of the society they live in. One of these âşıks is Karaca Oğlan, who is accepted to have lived in Çukurova region in the 17th century. Karaca Oğlan, one of the most important poets of Turkish poetry, is a pioneering âşık whose influence continues today in different geographies and who deeply influenced those who came after him. The subject of this study is "Thematic analysis of Karaca Oğlan's poems". The study consists of four parts. The first part focuses on general information about the study, the second part, on the tradition of âşık, Çukurova âşık tradition, Karaca Oğlan's life, literary personality and language. The third part is the center of the study. 500 poems in Saim SAKAOĞLU's work named "Karaca Oğlan" were discussed thematically over 12 titles. These themes were determined and analyzed according to the intensity of the poems as follows: 1. Love, Love and Woman, 2. Nature, 3. Religious and Sufi Elements, 4. Transition Periods, 5. Space (Country, City, Home, Hometown) and Migration, 6. Clothing and Ornament, 7. Education (Public Education and Values Education through Courage and Advice), 8. Social Sensitivity and Social Criticism, 9. Prayers and Curses (Applause and Screams), 10. Colors, 11. Cosmic Elements (Sun, Moon, Stars) and Felek, 12. Culinary and Food Culture. In the fourth section, "Conclusion, Bibliography, Appendices and Curriculum vitae" are presented. At the end of the study, it was revealed that Karaca Oğlan, sang poems on different themes as well as the themes of "love" and "nature" are predominant, and in contrast to the common belief, he is an âşık who deals not only with individual subjects but also with social subjects in his poems. Qualitative research methods were carried out in the study and literature review, text analysis / content analysis, observation and interview methods were used.