Surrealistic entities in classical Turkish poetry

Human themes are frequently addressed in Classical Turkish poetry, where individuals are portrayed both through archetypal representations and distinctive personal traits. In addition to human figures, poets also included extraordinary, otherworldly beings in their works. These non-human entities appear in a range of forms and are often interpreted in either a favorable or unfavorable light. This study narrows its focus to such supernatural figures—both positive and negative—that have become deeply embedded in societal consciousness through cultural beliefs and long-standing traditions. To explore this subject, thirty poetic compilations composed across six centuries have been examined. These texts span from the 14th century to the 19th century and have been selected due to their thematic relevance. Among the works analyzed are: From the 14th century: the divans of Ahmedi, Hoca Dehhânî, and Nesimi; From the 15th century: the poetic collections of Fatih Sultan Mehmed (Avnî), Gülşeni (Saruhani), Hamdullah Hamdi, (Dede Ömer) Rûşenî, and Şeyhi;From the 16th century: works by Ahi, Arşi, Baki, Emri, Hayali Bey, Hecri, Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey, Vasfi, Vusuli, and Zati;From the 17th century: Enverî, Fevzî, Nefi, Nevizade Atayi, and Şeyhülislam Yahya;From the 18th century: Ecri, Kâni, Nedim, Sünbülzade Vehbi, and Şeyh Galib;From the 19th century: Şeref Hanım and Zârî. These texts have been grouped by century, with a breakdown as follows: 3 from the 14th century, 5 from the 15th, 10 from the 16th, 5 from the 17th, 5 from the 18th, and 2 from the 19th century. Supernatural beings form a prominent category among the poetic entities found in these works when considered within a broader context. These figures are documented through sample couplets taken from the texts, dating from the 14th through the 19th centuries. In developing this research, special attention was given to malevolent supernatural figures, whose literary and terminological significance was analyzed. The couplets in which they appear were cited as examples. The divans consulted are organized chronologically in a table. Major supernatural entities are displayed in uppercase and italics, while related or synonymous figures appear in lowercase and are included under the relevant main category. A separate chart is included to visualize the frequency with which these beings appear across the selected poetic works. Keywords: Classical Turkish literature, Being, Supernatural beings, Negative-positive beings.