MEHMET AKIF AND HIS POEM "ADDRESS TO THE QUR'AN"

"Address to the Qur'an" is one of the first poems written by M. Akif Ersoy. He wrote this poem when he finished memorizing the Qur'an at the age of twenty-one. The poem was published in the Mektep Journal in 1895. "Address to the Qur’an" is among the poems that M. Akif did’nt add to Safahat. The poem, written in the Mathnawi style, consists of four parts and 28 couplets. The poem begins with an appeal to the Qur'an and after mentioning some its features ends with an appeal to the Qur'an again. In the poem, it has been preemptively dealt with that the Qur'an as a miracle, it couldn’t be replicated, it was not created and what it means for the believers. Many topics have been touched upon in the poem. Therefore, every mentioned some subject having a very large content are summarized with in a single verse. M. Akif expressed his own feelings in the very last part of the poem. Here he expressed his respect for the Qur'an, and that his greatest desire is to follow its commands. Akif also expressed that the Qur'an is his friend and associate in this life, and his hope that it would also be his supporter in the Hereafter. In the poem, there are many references to the Qur'an, some of which are literal quotations. With the indirect references, the total number of references reaches to twenty. In this study, Address to the Qur’an poem has been examined in order to determine the beginning point of M. Akif’s literary works and his style. In this respect, this study has mainly handled the concerns of a twenty-one years old poet, his sincerity in providing a road map and realization level of this sincerity today, rather than read between the lines to see cultural and knowing level of such a young poet