Süleyman Çobanoğlu, Dergâh dergisinde yayınladığı ilk şiiriyle dikkatleri üstüne çekmeyi başaran nadir şairlerden biridir. Şüphesiz bu gelişmedeki en büyük etken, şairin hece vezniyle modern şiir yazıyor olmasıydı. Zira doksanlı yıllarda heceyle şiir yazmak, şairini modern şiirden habersiz olmakla yaftalamaya yol açacağı için cesaret gerektiren bir girişimdi. Fakat Süleyman Çobanoğlu şiirinin tamamen hece veznine dayanan iskelet metinler olduğunu ileri sürmek de elbette doğru olmaz. Şair, içerik bakımından da hem gayet nitelikli hem de çağdaşlarından farklı şiirler yazıyordu. Bu tutumunu devam ettiren şair, ilk kitabı Şiirler Çağla’nın çıkması üzerine İsmet Özel’in buna dair kaleme aldığı yazıdan sonra, daha çok ilgi odağı olmaya başladı. Çobanoğlu’nun hem şiirlerini heceyle yazması hem de her fırsatta kaybedilen değerlere atıfta bulunması onun sıkı bir anti-modernist olmasından kaynaklanmaktadır. Şair, modernizmin müspet ve menfi taraflarına bakmaz. Ona göre modernizmle yoğrulmuş bir hayatın hiçbir tarafı olumlu değildir. Çağdaş dünyada iyi olarak nitelendirilen birçok şey, eskiyi yok ettiği için kötüdür. Bu tavır pek tabii şairin geri kalmışlığı olarak anlaşılmamalıdır. Çobanoğlu’nun eskiye muhabbeti; daha çok nesnelere, kuşlara, doğaya, kaybedilen değer yargılarına yönelik otantik diyebileceğimiz bir özlemden ibarettir. Bu sebepledir ki Süleyman Çobanoğlu, şiirlerinde -yazdığı dönemde pek görülmeyen bir şekilde- daha çok tabiat varlıklarına yer veriyordu. Modern olma adına şairlerin genellikle ruh bunalımlarını, kapitalist sistem içerisinde yozlaşan benmerkezci insanların tüketim çılgınlığını, çarpık kentleşmeyi dile getirerek olumsuz bir hava çizdiği doksanlı yıllarda, şiirin köklerine inmeye çalışan Çobanoğlu’nun bu tutumu, gözlerden kaçmadı ve kısa sürede hak ettiği ilgiyi görmesini sağladı. Çalışmamızda Süleyman Çobanoğlu’nun şiirlerinde görülen modernizme başkaldırı unsurları, şairin değerlere ve maziye olan özlemi çerçevesinde incelenmiştir.

Suleyman Cobanoglu is one of the uncommon poets who have attracted attention by his poems published in Dergah. Certainly the most significant factor in this reality is the fact that the poet was writing modern poetry in syllabic meter. Because writing poetry in syllabic meter in the 90s was a brave act as the poet could have been accused of being unaware of modern poetry. However, it would not be correct to claim that Cobanoglu’s poetry is composed of skeleton texts based on syllabic meter. The poet was writing poems qualified in content and different from those of his contemporaries. Maintaining this approach, the poet became a centre of attention after Ismet Ozel’s commentary on the publication of his book Siirler Cagla. Cobanoglu’s composing his poetry in syllabic meter and referring to the lost values is the result of his being a strict antimodernist. The poet does not consider the positive or negative features of modernism. According to him, no aspect of a life combined with modernism is positive. Things called good in modern life are actually bad as they have destroyed the past. This attitude, of course, must not be considered as backwardness of the poet. His attachment to the past is mostly an authentic yearning to things, birds, lost values. Due to this, Cobanoglu was – as rarely witnessed in his time – mostly talking about natural assets. His stance of drawing generally the poets’ psychological distress for the sake of being modern, corrupt and egoist man’s delirium in the capitalist system and irregular urbanisation of the 90s attracted attention. In our study, Cobanoglu’s revolt to modernism in his poetry is analysed within the poet’s longing for the values and the past. Besides the advantages such as its contribution to technological development, better conditions and social progress, modernism that appeared during the enlightenment with its stress on reason has its disadvantages like its involvement in egoism and consumption far away from value judgements. Is is possible to observe the reflection of both concepts in native and foreign works. Another native artist who has dealt with modernism is of course Suleyman Cobanoglu. However, it is obvious that Cobanoglu posits totally an antimodernist attitude in his poetry. The poet does not consider the positive or negative features of modernism. According to him, no aspect of a life combined with modernism is positive. Things called good in modern life are actually bad as they have destroyed the past. This attitude, of course, must not be considered as backwardness of the poet. His attachment to the past is mostly an authentic yearning to things, birds, lost values. In a conversation the poet says, “I spray poetry on everything that burns my hart. I have not seen a crane since I left the village.” (Kilic, 1995) and is disturbed by the extinction of the great bustard fighting back against the DDT and the fact that we can only see the bird in an encyclopaedia: You saw me a lot on this meadow Flown you made green and dead you rot Auto and ddt had not knocked you down; Like a graceful king you walked to the fallow… Now you are an Amon Ra: the infamous encyclopaedia Does not give away your shadow in sunlight It is said you perched on this print, And said to see you finished on the meadow… (Cobanoglu, 1995:21) To carry the great bustard into poetry when the modern man suffers from the problems of the modern life and thinks nothing but his job shows us the strong relations the poet has established with his past, his childhood and nature. The poet who builds his art with the sources of the past, the tradition and nature claims that poetry just corresponds to this. “There is born a calf onto the lap of the madman of the village late at night; while it is licking its mother, the mad man cries… Poetry is like this.” (Cobanoglu, 1999a: 52). It is possible to come across with parts from the past, nature, the deep rooted Turkish-Islamic cultural repertoire.