Investigation on Moral Understanding and Religious Motives in Karacaoğlan's Poems

The Turkish oral tradition has lived in the memory of the people for generations. This cultural memory has been brought up to day by means of bards and minstrels who convey the feelings and thoughts of the people with their own way of expression. One of the important names in this oral tradition is Karacaoğlan. In his poems, love, longing, depictions of nature have taken place in the heart of the people with the impressiveness of his poetry and voice. Their poems were sung by the people and some of their poems were sung. Karacaoğlan, known as a love poet, has influential poems which show both mysticism and religious features behind these poems. Looking at these poems, we can see that spiritual sentimental poems are loved by the people as well as the strength of the language. In this work, we will examine how Karacaoğlan reflects his understanding of morality and religious motifs in his poems and the function and role of oral culture in terms of the period in which these reflections lived.