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28 - A History of Kurdish Poetry

from Part VI - Art, Culture and Literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2021

By
Farangis Ghaderi
Edited by
Hamit Bozarslan ,
Cengiz Gunes  and
Veli Yadirgi
Hamit Bozarslan
Affiliation:
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Cengiz Gunes
Affiliation:
The Open University, Milton Keynes
Veli Yadirgi
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
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Summary

Kurdish poetry is the predominant and the oldest Kurdish literary genre and continues to play a formative role in Kurdish cultural and political identity. An integral part of uprisings and revolutions, Kurdish poetry has been an active site of resistance and remembrance. Despite its cultural and political significance, however, it has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. Against this backdrop, this chapter offers a brief history of classical and modern Kurdish poetry in the Kurdish dialects of Gorani, Kurmanji and Sorani. Starting with a detailed account of the development of classical poetry and its main trends and conventions, the chapter moves to present a new perspective on the emergence of modern Kurdish poetry, and challenges the established explanation of its emergence. The main stages of the development of modern poetry throughout the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries and its instrumental role in the dissemination of Kurdish nationalism are also discussed.

Keywords

classical Kurdish poetrymodern Kurdish poetryKurdish nationalismKurdish ghazal
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the Kurds , pp. 707 - 728
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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