Can Yücel

Can Yücel (1962-1999) was a Turkish poet. Born in İstanbul, he was the son of a former Minister of National Education, Hasan Ali Yücel, and a grandchild of an Ottoman sea captain who perished with the frigate Ertuğrul. Yücel studied Latin and Ancient Greek at Ankara and Cambridge Universities. He later worked as translator in several embassies and in the Turkish language section of the BBC in London. After his return to Turkey in 1958, he briefly worked as a tourist guide in Bodrum and Marmaris, and then lived in Istanbul where he worked as a freelance translator and started writing poetry. In his later years he settled in the remote peninsular town of Datça in southwestern Turkey. He died in İzmir in 1999 and is buried in Datça. His tomb is much visited. He had two daughters, Güzel and Su, and a son, Hasan, from his marriage to Güler Yücel. He is known for often using slang, and sometimes vulgar language, in his poems. However, his critics also agree that his effectiveness in using words in a simple and understandable way is worthy of praise and appreciation. His family was of utmost importance to him, and his loved ones are mentioned in many of his poems, such as "To My Little Daughter Su", "To Güzel", and "I Loved My Father the Most in Life". Yücel also translated the works of Shakespeare, Lorca and Brecht into Turkish. He has released an album of his own work called Kendi Sesinde Şiirleriyle..., which includes some of his famous poems, such as "Seke seke","Datça", "Yukardalar", and "Bizim Deniz". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.