Imaginative elements in the works of İlhan Geçer

Everyday language and literary language differ. Everyday language usually conveys straightforward meaning and may be limited in expressing emotions, dreams, or abstract thoughts. Poets, on the other hand, assign new meanings to words, transforming them into multi-layered instruments with high associative value. In this context, the resulting images evoke new semantic fields and aesthetic experiences in the reader's mind. Through imagery, language acquires a poetic quality, and the meanings of words expand and deepen. Imagery holds an important place in both traditional and contemporary Turkish poetry. In the works of poets from different periods of Turkish literature, rich and effective imaginative elements can be observed. One of these poets is İlhan Geçer, who followed a traditionalist-innovative line in Republican-era Turkish literature and was a member of the Hisar Community. Geçer attracted attention particularly through his activities around the Hisar magazine, both serving as an editor and publishing poems and critical articles, establishing himself as one of the leading figures of the community. The poet emphasized imaginative elements in poetry and regarded poetry as a means of expressing emotions. He employed a simple language in his poems and aimed to create images that are easily comprehensible. This study examines the poems in İlhan Geçer's works and identifies and analyzes the concepts, imaginative elements, images, and types of imagery that the poet focuses on in his creative process.