Irony and emotional regulation in Tanzimat poetry

Tanzimat poetry has often been evaluated within the framework of sincerity, Romantic sensibility, and intense lyricism. A closer examination of these poems, however, reveals that emotions are not always expressed directly or continuously. Irony, humour, contrasts, and various forms of poetic play interrupt emotional intensity, soften it, and redirect it toward different meanings. Drawing upon Friedrich Schlegel’s conception of Romantic irony, this study argues that irony functions not merely as a rhetorical device but also as an aesthetic strategy that reorganizes emotional experience. Irony enables the poetic subject to approach its own emotions from a certain distance, allowing intense emotional expressions to shift, transform, and acquire new meanings. Selected poems by Şinasi, Ziya Paşa, Namık Kemal, Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem, Leylâ Hanım, and Nigâr Hanım are examined through the method of close reading. The findings demonstrate that irony performs an important aesthetic function in Tanzimat poetry and plays a significant role in the construction of poetic meaning. Tanzimat poetry may therefore be understood not merely as a space in which emotions are expressed, but also as an aesthetic domain in which they are disrupted, transformed, and reconfigured.