Mythological motifs in 18th and 19th century minstrel style poetry

The tradition of minstrel style poetry is a literary tradition that is performed by artists called minstrels, whose roots go back to the ozan-baksı tradition, and that became traditional in the 16th century and has produced many minstrels to the present day. The tradition of minstrel style poetry reached its peak in the 17th and 19th centuries, and produced strong minstrels whose fame continued in the following centuries. The 18th century, which could not produce strong minstrels even though they were numerous, and the 19th century, which was one of the peak centuries of minstrel style literature, are important periods in terms of the course of the minstrel style poetry tradition. In the tradition of minstrel style poetry in the 18th and 19th centuries, minstrels produced many poems and used mythological motifs in these poems. Myths are the first creations of the oral culture environment. The motif is the smallest meaningful part of the text. In this context, mythological motifs are the smallest elements of the text that are based on the mythological background. In the study, five hundred and two poems of eighty-four bards from the 18th century were examined. Four thousand six hundred and fourteen poems of twenty-five bards from the 19th century, a total of five thousand one hundred and sixteen poems of one hundred and nine bards were examined. The study consists of an introduction and three main sections. In the introduction section, the subject and field of the research, the purpose of the research, and the method used in the research are included. The first section is titled "Minstrel Style Poetry Tradition" and consists of four subheadings: The Concept of Minstrel, Tradition of Minstrelsy, Oral Culture Environment, Periods and Representatives of Minstrel Style Poetry. The second section is titled Mythology. This section includes information on What is Mythology, Classification of Myths, Mythological Motifs and Turkish Mythology. The third chapter constitutes the main part of the study and is titled Mythological Motifs in the Poems of Minstrels. Mythological motifs in 18th and 19th century minstrel style poetry are examined under thirty-two headings. Key Words: Minstrel Style Poetry, Minstrel Tradition, Mythological Motif, 18th Century, 19th Century.