This study examines the metaphors of “child” and “book” in classical Turkish poetry and analyzes the symbolic meanings of these concepts within the social and literary structure of the period. In classical Ottoman poetry, the concept of the child is associated with the metaphors of the beloved, the lover or the heart, while the book is used as a reflection of education, learning and aesthetic values. In Divan poetry, the child represents the concepts of innocence, purity and beginnings, while the book symbolizes the beauty of the beloved, the emotional journey of the lover and the basic elements of education. Especially in Turkish, which is in close contact with Arabic and Persian, there are many words for the concept of child: “tıfl / etfâl”, ‘veled’, ‘sabî’, ‘uşak’, ‘son’ are some of them. In this study, the image of the child (tıfl) is associated with different themes such as love, innocence, education and aesthetics. The article also provides important clues about the classical education system. Many materials for the education of the young are included as elements of metaphor: Qur'anic learning, memorization of verse dictionaries and other religious works, poetic reflections of the pedagogical approaches of the period, masnavis, commentaries... are some of them. Poets describe the beauty elements of the beloved with religious and education-based metaphors such as “mushaf”, “verse”, “hatt-ı gubâr”. Elements of nature such as the rose, nightingale and vineyard were also treated as aesthetic representations of school and educational processes. Keywords: Divan, Child, Metaphor, Education, Book.
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