Abstract
Almond in The Classical Poetry
Almond, which is originally come from the Middle
East and Asia, has been a fruit planted in Anatolia since
the ancient times. Almond was widely planted and
largely consumed in the Ottoman times as well, also it
took its place in the Ottoman food culture that is known
with its delicious courses, it was used with its oil in the
folk medicine, it became a figure with its colour and form
in the traditional clothes and it was benefited from its
crust in setting fire. Like in the Ottoman times, Almond
is still widely used by cooks, gourmets, botanists, pharmacologists,
folk doctors and beauty experts. Almond,
that is precious with its crust and oil, colour and regardless
of its sourness and bitterness, took its place in the
Ottoman poetry reflecting the societal life with its different
aspects.
In this study, in order to display how almond was used
in the Turkish literature that was portraiting the societal
and cultural life of a long-dominating Ottoman Empire,
many couplets of the poets of the era were scanned and
examplified couplets were given with the titles that were
used under. Within the scope of the couplets, almond was
not only used as a metaphor of eye, it was also used as the
food of a sufi who aimed to eat little, sometimes it was the
eye of a lover that was gouged out because of his beloved
departed to eternity and finally it was the snack of a lover
who wished to see the almond eyes of his beloved.
Keywords
Classical Turkish Poetry, culinary culture, dervish, mourning, almond