Can Yücel · Lyrikline.org

* 21.08.1926, Istanbul, Turquía
† 12.08.1999, Datça, Muğla, Turquía

Can Yücel is one of the most distinguished of 20th century Turkish poets. He was born in Istanbul as the son of wellknown former minister of National Education, Hasan Ali Yücel. He studied Latin and Greek at the University of Ankara, Turkey and later at the University of Cambridge.

He worked as a translator in several embassies and was for almost five years a programme assistant in the Turkish Section of the BBC in London. On his return to Turkey he was sentenced to fifteen years for translating works by Che Guevera and Mao. He was released within two years because of a general amnesty.

He then lived in Istanbul working as a freelance translator and poet. He was married and father of two daughters. In his later years he settled in the remote peninsular town of Datça, Muğla in southwestern Turkey. He died in Datça in 1999 and is buried there.

Yücel was a man of vast knowledge and culture, as well as keen political and social awareness. He is a superb translator of Shakespeare, Eliot, Dylan Thomas and the Greek combination epigrammatic poets. His poetry thrives on a strong combination of lrycism, warm irony and sarcasm. This quality is especially evident in his ‘Poems of a Political Prisoner’ (1974). His other important collections are ‘Wall ot Love’ (1973), ‘Death and My Son’ (1976), ‘The Music ot Colours’ (1982), ‘The Steep Heaven’ (l984), ‘Life Offering’ (l988) and ‘The Child Colours the Man’ (l988).

Can Yücel has earned himself a leading place in today's Turkish Poetry as a man who upholds what is bright and what gives hope and courage to life. His translations of Shakespeare's ‘Midsummer Night's Dream’ and ‘The Tempest’ were successfully staged in Turkey and are considered as turning points in the life of the Turkish theatre and social awareness.

Can Yücel
Author

Poemas

Can Yücel
Author