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WHAT DID THEY WRITE ABOUT HIM?
Cemal Süreya (1931-1990)
"The importance of Nâzım Hikmet lies here: he took upon himself entirely the idea of revolution and displayed the courage to carry it through to the end. On the other hand, in his poetry,¾in the narration, imagery, use of language of his poetry¾he located the counterpart of his ideas, life and existence. Unlike other poets, we do not find in his poetry thought that has been scattered artificially in form and ornament, or intellectual idea that has remained as flirtatiousness of form and play of meaning. Thought is located in Nâzım Hikmet's poetry not formally but structurally. Thought, in him, is not deductive. It emerges from the facts of life. That is why his poetry is not suffocated in thought as it is in Tevfik Fikret. It grows and increases like 'a fertile river'.
"Nâzım Hikmet is a poet who confirmed his poetry through his life. But more importantly, contrary to most poets who strike a political attitude, he knew how to confirm his life through his poetry in a complete scheme. In him, the thought of revolution and poetic load stand in amazing complementariness to one another. And this is a characteristic which we come across with Nâzım Hikmet in Turkish poetry, and it is also very rare in world poetry. Poetic honour goes hand in hand with bravery in Nâzım Hikmet. He is one of the greatest experiments in poetry." (From "Until the End.")
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