Orhan Veli Kanık (d. 1950), one of the founders of Garip which was an important poetry movement of the 1940s, was worthy of the history of literature as a poet, who rejected all his literary background before him. Veli and his friends in effort to establish a new poem, took a stand at first against Ahmet Hashim (d. 1933), Yahya Kemal (d. 1958) and Hececiler, and later against Divan poetry. The aim of this article is to compile and gather the thoughts of Veli on the Divan poem to inquire whether the old literature Veli rejected was Divan literature or not. In this study, firstly the criticisms about the old poem in the Garip Preface and then the ideas of the poet about the Divan poetry were mentioned. With a view to see how Veli's ideas evolved over the years, a chronological order was followed in order to see how the poet's perception of Divan poetry and how it developed/changed. Besides that, it was argued in the study that, Veli’s attitude was not against the Divan poetry, but to the artificial poetry, which was created by accepting its principles and could not answer the needs of its period.

Anahtar Kelimeler
Orhan Veli, divan poetry, criticism.