Teaching divan literature in high schools

Abstract

There is a need for a new approach in introducing the forms and contents of classical Ottoman literature. The main objective of the new high school curriculum should be the reflection of the internal and external developments of this literary period by using appropriate examples from the great literary tradition of Divan poetry. Divan literature, taught in the frame of aruz meter, poetic forms and literary arts, should also be carefully presented in terms of the development of ideas and imaginations. However, this is possible only with the right approach to this literature produced by the Ottoman society. Inevitably, an understanding that slanders Ottoman history will consequently vilify the literature that is the form of its own way of life and thinking. Exhibiting these precious literary values of our history with beautiful examples and examining the characteristics of this tradition with a constructive and objective approach have great importance in terms of teaching aesthetics to our youth.