Lessons 6 · 1 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
6
About “Devonu lug‘ot at-turk”
Textbook: Part 1, pp. 56–60
GoalAnalyse the form, metre, rhyme and imagery of the poetic passages in the “Devon.”
New words
quatrain · to‘rtliksyllabic metre, based on the number of syllables · barmoq vaznicaesura group, a unit of syllables within a line · turoqrhyme scheme · qofiyalanish tartibi
Explanation
According to the textbook, the poetic passages in the “Devon” are folk oral works created long before the 11th century, and most of them are quatrains. Mahmud Koshg‘ariy called such poems “yir,” “qo‘shug‘” or simply “poem,” and the term “qo‘shiq” (song) is first recorded in this very work. The quatrains mostly rhyme a-a-a-b, though a-b-a-b and a-a-a-a also occur; the “Elegy for Alp Er To‘nga” and “Winter and Spring” are in the murabba’ form. In metre they are mainly barmoq, and some fit certain forms of aruz; each line of the elegy has seven syllables, with caesura groups 4+3. The devices used often include simile, epithet, contrast, personification, hyperbole, tazod (antithesis) and tanosub (harmony of related words), and the themes are the honour of homeland and heroes, nature, labour, love and good conduct.
Worked examples
Example: The line “Bahor keldi, yer yashnar” has seven syllables (ba-hor kel-di, yer yash-nar) and splits 4+3, that is, it is in barmoq metre like the elegy.
Example: If in a four-line stanza lines one, two and three end in “-ur” and the fourth ends with a different sound, the rhyme is a-a-a-b.
Class activity
In turns: the teacher reads a four-line text of their own; students name the rhyme scheme (a-a-a-b or a-b-a-b) and count the syllables of the first line.
Practice
1
How did Koshg‘ariy name poems, and what is said about the term “qo‘shiq”?
He called them “yir,” “qo‘shug‘” or poems; the term “qo‘shiq” is also first recorded in this work.
2
Which rhyme schemes occur in the quatrains of the “Devon”?
Mainly a-a-a-b; also a-b-a-b and a-a-a-a.
3
In which metre is the line “Tongda quyosh chiqadi”? Answer by counting its syllables.
In barmoq metre: the line has seven syllables (tong-da qu-yosh chi-qa-di), with caesura groups 4+3.
4
Why can the poems in the “Devon” be called a valuable source of ancient Turkic poetry?
Because they preserve examples of folk art older than the 11th century and show rhyme, metre, devices and varied themes.