Rezan KARAKAŞ

In this study, the place of tale in Cahit Sıtkı’s works has been examined. For this purpose, frequency usage of fairy-tale elements of his works and their functions has been identified. It has been observed that in shaping his literary understanding tale affected his subject choice in poetry or story in many aspects. In creating his art, the poet benefited from the themes of tales his childhood memories gave him. In his work called ‘Abbas’, he received inspiration of his story and subject of poem from a tale heard in childhood. He imagined ‘Fortieth Room’ poem by taking advantage of a tale with the same name; with ‘Fortieth Room’ motif he formed the main axis of the poem. The artist- revealing his ‘own self’ with his poems, stories and letterswrote, in fact, his own tale by leaning on the tales he listened to and their motifs. He used such fairy-tale motifs as ‘magic prayer’, ‘fortieth room, ‘step-mother’,‘ giant’, ‘dwarf’ ‘forty bandits’ as a morter material in his works and made up rich associative images. In short, the tales embellishing artist’s childhood memories was building-blocks of his works, especially of his poems. The artist who felt the transience of life bitterly, but not satisfied with this situation often reflected his struggle to shelter in an imaginary world in his works.

Key Words: Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı, work, tale, tale motif, imagination