Narrative and Imagery Analysis in Poetry: A New Approach to the “Meryem” Poem

Abstract

Poetry is considered a universal art form that goes back to the deepest roots of human history. Poetry, which stands out with its aesthetic use of language, offers its readers a new universe of meaning by bringing together various elements such as rhythm, sound, emotion and image. Poetry has a layered and deep structure. This structure offers the reader the opportunity to associate the poem with his/her own personal experiences and feelings. Therefore, each reader evaluates the same poem from a different perspective and adds a unique interpretation to the poem. With this feature, the poem enables the emergence of many different interpretations and meanings. Since each reader’s emotional world, experiences and point of view are different, the poem can be interpreted in a new way each time.

The human search for meaning has an origin as old as the emergence of poetry. People who want to scrape the bottom of whatever is put in front of them also want to do this when they encounter poetry. This leads people to make analyses in poetry where words bring many sub-meanings with them. The layered structure of poetry is also quite suitable for such a search for meaning. Poetry analysis aims to provide an answer to this search for meaning. In-depth analysis of poetry provides a better understanding of the internal elements and the use of language. Various theories and methods in the field of literature enable poems to be analysed and examined in depth. In this context, analyses of poems shed light on the depths of poetry and offer the opportunity to make new analyses from different perspectives.

Kemal Özer’s poem ‘Meryem’, which opens his first book of poems, is one of the imagist poems that critics evaluate from different perspectives. This situation allows ‘Meryem’ to be open to various interpretations. The fact that the two analyses of this poem differ to a great extent although they have some parallel parts has been the starting point of this study. The first of these analyses belongs to Mehmet Kaplan, who was also Kemal Özer’s teacher for a while, and the other one belongs to Süreyya Evren, a writer whose articles we have come across in Varlık Magazine. In this study, the analyses made on Kemal Özer’s poem ‘Meryem’ will be analysed and a new analysis will be attempted on the poem ‘Meryem’ from a different perspective.

Citation: Kürüm, Esra / Ayber, Bilge Işık (2025). “Narrative and Imagery Analysis in Poetry: A New Approach to the “Meryem” Poem”, Erdem, December, Issue:89, pp. 187-208