Mehmet Akif as a Poet of Compassion

One of the interesting themes covered in Turkish poetry is compassion. Events experienced by poor, homeless, ill or desperate people in their daily lives, miseries felt or unfair situations encountered by people are covered within the scope of a sense of pity and compassion. The period in which this theme, which almost came to be a trend, was widely covered coincides with Servet-i Fünûn period. Mehmet Âkif Ersoy is one of the poets dealing with the theme of compassion, which maintained its attraction even after Constitutionalist period. These kinds of poems, which were collected by him particularly in the first book of Safahat, are the ones that made him famous and that are liked most. This study will evaluate the theme of compassion, which became one of the dominant elements of art of Mehmet Akif, in terms of factors leading poet to this theme and the manner in which this theme is covered in his poems.