Child in Turkish poetry of the Republican era (1950-1980)

Family, as an institution, forms the basis of social structure. The individuals who make up the family have a separate status and value within the family and society. Within this structure, the status of the child who grows up and develops in a dependent manner exhibits universal characteristics. However, different social and cultural environments and dynamic historical developments have transformed childhood from a developmental stage into a sociological construction process. All these processes concerning the individual and the society have found their echo in literary works. Based on this idea, the sociology of literature tries to read social developments through literary works. In this study, which aims to show how the imagination about children and childhood was reflected in poems as a result of social interaction in the Republican period of Turkish literature between 1950 and 1980, the possibilities of literary sociology to evaluate literary works and the document analysis method, which is one of the qualitative research methods, were used. Forty-six poetry books written by twenty-eight poets written in this period were examined. The data obtained from the poems were analyzed and interpreted using the hermeneutic method, thus trying to determine how they are understood today, together with the historical context of the period in which they were written. It has been observed that the poems of the 1950-1980 period are very rich in terms of children and childhood images, and child images are frequently included in the poems. On the axis of family, child and childhood themes, child-related themes are mentioned under seven main theme headings and twenty-seven sub-headings. Since there are many general themes and sub-themes related to children and childhood in the poems, in the findings section, poem examples of five sub-themes belonging to four main headings surrounding the reflection of the sociological and cultural context on the poems of the period are given and these examples are interpreted in depth in the light of the conceptual framework. In the research, in the poems of the 1950-1980 period; Seven basic child and childhood themes, which are covered under the titles of the value of the child and expectations about the child, child and social life, child and life knowledge, child ideology and policy, child and environment, child's mood and children of the world, have been identified and categorized. As a result of the research, it was determined that the literary works produced in this period of Republican literature reflected modernization in a versatile way with the influence of historical and social developments, and poetry also developed in terms of structure and content in this period. It has been understood that the changes in the social structure of the Republican Period affected the child theme in the poems, and that the transition processes from the traditional family structure to the urban modern family were handled on the axis of child and childhood themes. Between 1950 and 1980, many poets, under the influence of different literary mentalities and traditions, wrote about children in many poems and themes related to childhood were discussed frequently and in a way that attributed a special position to the child, unlike previous periods.This shows that themes related to children and childhood have grown and developed with modernization. The sub-themes of the importance of the child for society, the importance of the child for the family, child and poverty, the upbringing and education of the child, and child and family values, the findings and comments of which are included in the research, are handled in the poems as a construction process partly in line with the ideological tendencies of the poets, and are generally considered the most important part of society. It has been revealed that the valuable member was seen as an individual who should be raised by taking advantage of the social structure and culture. Key Words: Child, Childhood, Children's Literature, Children and Poetry, Modern Turkish Poetry, Sociology of Literature, Child Theme in Poems