Ğabdulla Tuqay facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ğabdulla Tuqay Габдулла Тукай
Born	Ğabdulla Möxämmätğärif uğlı Tuqayev (1886-04-26)26 April 1886 Quşlawıç, Kazan Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	15 April 1913(1913-04-15) (aged 26) Kazan, Russian Empire
Pen name	Şüräle
Occupation	poet, publicist
Nationality	Russian
Genre	romantism, realism
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Ğabdulla Tuqay (Tatar: عبد الله توقای) was a very important Tatar poet, writer, and publisher. He lived from April 26, 1886, to April 15, 1913. Many people see Tuqay as the person who started modern Tatar literature and the modern Tatar language we know today. He helped change the way people wrote in Tatar.

Ğabdulla Tuqay's Early Life

Ğabdulla Tuqay was born in a small village called Quşlawıç in the Russian Empire. His father was a village religious leader, but he died when Ğabdulla was only five months old. His mother also passed away a few years later. This meant young Ğabdulla had a tough start. He lived with different relatives and even with an old woman for a while.

In 1890, his grandfather sent him to Kazan to find someone to adopt him. A kind couple, Möxämmätwäli and Ğäzizä, took him in. But when they got sick, he had to go back to his grandfather. His grandfather then sent him to another village, Qırlay, where he lived with a peasant family named Säğdi. Here, Ğabdulla went to a madrassah (a religious school) for the first time. This is where he said his "enlightenment" or learning journey truly began.

How Tuqay Discovered Literature

In 1895, when Ğabdulla was ten, he was adopted by his distant relatives, the Ğosmanovs, who were merchants in Uralsk. He continued his studies at the Motíğía madrassah. In 1896, he also started going to a Russian school. This was a big step because it introduced him to Russian literature. He especially loved the works of Alexander Pushkin. This helped him start writing his own poetry.

Ğabdulla's adoptive father wanted him to become a merchant, but Tuqay was more interested in learning and writing. After his adoptive father died in 1900, Tuqay moved into the madrassah itself. He was a very hardworking student and finished a long program in just ten years. By the age of 16, he was deeply interested in poetry and started to question the traditional teachings of the madrassah.

Tuqay's Literary Career

Tuqay was very interested in folk stories and poems from a young age. He learned about Arabic, Persian, and Turkish poetry, as well as older Tatar poetry. A Tatar poet named Mirxäydär Çulpaní inspired him greatly. Tuqay started writing his own poems, and people at the madrassah called him "the first poet of the madrassah."

Starting as a Publisher

In 1904, a teacher named Kamil Motíğí started a publishing company. Tuqay began working there as a clerk and also taught younger students. After 1905, it became possible to publish newspapers in the Tatar language. Motíğí started a newspaper called Fiker (The Thought) and a magazine called Älğasrälcadid (The New Century). Tuqay became a typesetter and proofreader. He worked hard, writing poems, articles, and stories for these publications. He even translated fables by Ivan Krylov.

Tuqay believed in progress and wanted to see changes in Tatar society. He wrote poems like Millätä (To the Nation) and articles asking, Has our nation dead, or just sleeps? He also wrote for a satirical magazine called Uqlar (The Arrows), where he made fun of conservative religious leaders who were against new ideas. At first, he used an older, more formal Tatar language in his poems. But for poems aimed at ordinary Tatar people, he started using a simpler, everyday Tatar language, which was new for Tatar poetry.

Moving to Kazan

In 1907, Tuqay left the madrassah and moved to Kazan, which was the center of Tatar culture. He quickly met other important Tatar writers like Ğäliäsğar Kamal and Säğit Rämiev. He joined the team of a democratic newspaper called Äl-İslax. He also worked for Kitap publishers to earn a steady income. Tuqay continued to learn on his own, reading Russian classics and studying German. He also liked to visit markets and pubs to learn about the lives of ordinary people.

In Kazan, Tuqay wrote many poems and articles. He also published books of his verses. One of his most famous satirical works from this time was Peçän Bazarı yaxud Yaña Kisekbaş (The Hay Bazaar or New Kişekbaş). In this poem, he poked fun at problems in Tatar society, especially among the religious leaders and merchants.

Tuqay was a private person, and not much is known about his personal life. He wrote some poems about a young admirer named Zäytünä Mäwlüdova, but their relationship didn't develop further.

Later Years and Challenges

From 1909 to 1910, many of the freedoms gained during the 1905 revolution were lost. This made Tuqay feel sad and disappointed. Many of his friends also started working for more conservative newspapers. Despite this, Tuqay kept writing. He published many poems, two fairy tale poems, and his autobiography. He also wrote about Tatar folklore and compiled folk songs.

Tuqay became a strong supporter of leftist ideas. He criticized his friends who moved to more liberal or right-wing newspapers. He also became friends with Xösäyen Yamaşev, one of the first Tatar Marxists. In 1909, his satirical magazine Yäşen was closed due to money problems and censorship. A new satirical magazine, Yal-Yolt (The Lightning), started in 1910.

Tuqay was very interested in the ideas of Leo Tolstoy. He also wrote more than fifty poems and seven long poems specifically for children. He created two books for children and two schoolbooks for Tatar literature, showing how much he cared about educating young people.

Travels and Final Years

In 1911, Tuqay's health was not good. He traveled to different places to try and get better, including a trip down the Volga river to Astrakhan. He also visited Ufa and Saint-Petersburg, where he met with young Tatar students and activists. He wrote a hopeful poem called The Tatar Youth about them. However, doctors discovered he had a serious illness called tuberculosis. He was advised to go to Switzerland for treatment, but he refused. He then traveled to Troitsk and lived among Kazakh nomads, trying a traditional kumiss therapy.

Tuqay returned to Kazan in 1912. Even though his health was getting worse, he continued to write. He focused on social issues and the problems faced by ordinary people. Many of his poems were banned by the government and were only published after the October Revolution. In 1912, he published his last book, The Mental Food, a collection of poems.

In early 1913, Tuqay wrote a witty poem called The Frost, describing how people in Kazan behaved during cold weather. He also wrote a poem for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. Some people later criticized this poem, but it also spoke about friendship between Tatars and Russians.

On February 26, 1913, Ğabdulla Tuqay was taken to the hospital because of his tuberculosis. Even in the hospital, he kept writing poems for Tatar newspapers and magazines. He wrote about social issues and deep philosophical ideas. He also wrote his literary will, called The First Deed after the Awakening. He died on April 15, 1913, at the young age of 27. He was buried in the Tatar cemetery in Kazan.

Tuqay's Lasting Legacy

Even though his genius was questioned in the early Soviet years, Ğabdulla Tuqay soon became known as the greatest Tatar poet. His name is honored in many ways, including the Tatar State Symphony Orchestra being named after him.

Today, his poems about Tatarstan's nature, Tatar culture, music, and history are very popular. April 26, his birthday, is celebrated as The Day of Tatar Language. His poem İ, Tuğan tel (Oh My Mother Tongue!) is like an unofficial anthem for the Tatar language.

Excerpt from "Oh My Mother Tongue!"

Oh, beloved native language

Oh, enchanting mother tongue!

You enabled my search for knowledge

Of the world, since I was young

As a child, when I was sleepless

Mother sung me lullabies

And my grandma told me stories

Through the night, to shut my eyes

Oh, my tongue! You have been always

My support in grief and joy

Understood and cherished fondly

Since I was a little boy

In my tongue, I learned with patience

To express my faith and say:

"Oh, Creator! Bless my parents

Take, Allah, my sins away!"

A famous musical work called "In the rhythms of Tuqay" (1975) was created by Almaz Monasypov using Tuqay's poems.

Images for kids

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  Motíğí (left) with young Tuqay, not later than 1905

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  Ğabdulla Tuqay is holding Molla Nasreddin in 1907

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  Tuqay, Ämirxan and Qoläxmätovs

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  Yalt-Yolt cover

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  Ğabdulla Tuqay in hospital, 1913

See also

In Spanish: Gabdulla Tukai para niños