Abstract
The Phrases “Rabies” and “Scabies” as Diseases and Defamation at the Classical Turkish Literature
In the tradition of classical Turkish literature, which is dominated by the aim of art, the poets reflected the daily life of their community beside the cultural and social life. In this context, one of the subjects that poets dealt with is diseases. Divan poets turned the diagnosis and indications of scabies, which causes itchiness and skin rash; and rabies, which is a fatal disease caused and spread by infected animals; into the resources of their poems. The aforementioned diseases’ symptoms, negative influences, devastation in human body and methods used to diagnose and cure were treated in the couplets for a variety of matters.
In this study, it is examined that how the divan poets dealt with the “rabies” and “scabies” that old-time infectious and hazardous diseases up to standard of the Ottoman medical facilities. In the study, the pieces of different poets, who lived in different time period, were scanned and it is presented which rhetoric meanings were attributed to the features of the mentioned diseases in the light of the sample couplets.
Keywords
Classical Turkish poetry, medical, patient, disease, rival, rabies, scabies.