Lessons 4–5 · 2 lessons · B. To‘xliyev, B. Karimov, K. Usmonova. Literature: textbook-collection for Grade 11 of secondary schools and for students of secondary specialised and vocational institutions, Parts 1–2. 1st edition. “O‘zbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi” State Scientific Publishing House, Tashkent, 2018
5
“Devonu lug‘ot at-turk” (excerpts)
Textbook: Part 1, pp. 54–55
GoalIdentify the themes and imagery of the poetic passages in the “Devon.”
New words
debate poem, a dispute between two characters · munozarapersonification · jonlantirishepithet · sifatlashan old word for a poem or song · qo‘shug‘
Explanation
The textbook gives quatrains taken from the “Devonu lug‘ot at-turk”: they speak of sending young men to hunting and fruit-gathering, the change of nature as winter turns to spring, the death of a hospitable and brave man, the portrait of a beautiful beloved and advice to be kind to neighbours. In the “Winter and Spring” quatrains the two seasons appear as living opponents facing each other; this device is called personification, and the piece is regarded as the oldest example of the munozara (debate) genre. In the quatrain beginning “Bulnar meni ulas ko‘z...” the beloved’s eyes, beauty mark and face are adorned with epithets. Most of these passages are in barmoq (syllabic) metre with the a-a-a-b rhyme, while some samples fit certain forms of aruz. That is why the “Devon” is a valuable monument showing the life, beliefs and poetic forms of the ancient Turkic peoples.
Worked examples
Example: In the “Winter and Spring” quatrains winter boasts to spring and they glare at each other. Because the seasons are given human behaviour, this is personification.
Example: Describing the beloved’s eyes as languorous, the mole as black and the face as red is epithet, since these words show a feature of the thing.
Class activity
Write a short four-line text (rhyme a-a-a-b) in which spring and winter “argue”: each season voices one idea.
Practice
1
Which themes do the quatrains in the “Devon” cover?
Work and hunting, nature, the death of a hero, love and the beloved’s beauty, moral advice.
2
What is personification and how does it appear in the “Winter and Spring” quatrains?
Giving human traits to a thing or phenomenon; winter and spring are shown like people fighting and boasting.
3
Which device is used in the phrase “the beloved with a black mole and languorous eyes”?
Epithet, because the words define the beloved’s features.
4
Why is the “Winter and Spring” debate important in the history of the genre?
It is the oldest known example of the munozara genre and prepared the way for the debate poems of later centuries.