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    A Study Guide for Nazim Hikmet's "Letter to My Wife"
    A Study Guide for Nazim Hikmet's "Letter to My Wife"
    A Study Guide for Nazim Hikmet's "Letter to My Wife"
    Ebook34 pages22 minutes

    A Study Guide for Nazim Hikmet's "Letter to My Wife"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Nazim Hikmet's "Letter to My Wife," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateSep 2, 2016
    ISBN9781535827348
    A Study Guide for Nazim Hikmet's "Letter to My Wife"

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      A Study Guide for Nazim Hikmet's "Letter to My Wife" - Gale

      11

      Letter to My Wife

      Nazim Hikmet

      1933

      Introduction

      Letter to My Wife is a free-verse poem by Nazim Hikmet, the most famous Turkish poet of the twentieth century. The poem was written in 1933, while Hikmet was incarcerated in the Bursa prison in Turkey. Hikmet was known for his Communist beliefs, and in March 1933, the book he had published the previous year, Gece gelen telegraf (A Telegram Received at Night), was banned. He was arrested two weeks later, charged with spreading Communist propaganda. He received a sixmonth sentence but was also sentenced to one year's imprisonment on another charge of defaming a prominent Turkish individual in one of his poems. During his imprisonment, he was charged with yet another, much more serious offense. Along with twenty-three others, he was accused of being a member of a Communist organization that was plotting to overthrow the government. The prosecutor sought the death penalty, and Hikmet alludes to his possible execution in the poem. He was released in August 1934 in a general amnesty, having spent sixteen months in prison. The woman to whom the letter is addressed was Piraye Orfi. Although Hikmet refers to her as his wife they were not yet married; they had been living together at the time of his arrest and would marry in 1935.

      Letter to My Wife is typical of Hikmet's work in that it breaks with Turkish tradition by employing free verse and unusual typography; it is one of many poems Hikmet wrote during the various periods in his life when he was imprisoned. Some of these other poems were also inspired by Piraye Orfi. Letter to My Wife is available in Poems of Nazim Hikmet, translated from the Turkish by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk, published by Persea Books in 2002. It can also be found online at the Web site PoemHunter.com

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