As someone reading this prologue, you must be going to read Words of Advice very soon. But before reading Words of Advice, I want you to read the story behind it, which I believe will make it easier for you to understand the content of the sonnets.

    When I was 16, studying English at high school, I used to pen short writings on various issues whenever I pleased. Some of them were not worth reading at all, some were just the opposite. My Turkish Literature teacher, Mrs. Hülya, was one of the few people who really appreciated my writings. I had chance to share one of my sonnets with her. It was written in English and then poorly translated into Turkish. Despite the poor translation, she pretty much liked it.

    A few days later, she gave me a sheet of paper with a poem on one side, requesting me to read. I read it. The use of the language was far better than any that I had reached with my pieces. She had not told me who had written it; thus I thought it to have been written by a student from my school. The thought was both pleasant and displeasant. Pleasant for there was someone writing with such skill. Displeasant for that person could actually be just my age. I could not bear the thought; "someone writing better than me, someone at my age". She then told me whom it was written by. To my surprise, it was Mrs. Hülya herself.

    After reading her poem over and again, I felt so in debt to write sonnets encouraging her further writing despite the lack of free time sha had. As I believe; neither I myself, nor other persons deserve to be lacking such brilliantly exposed thoughts as in her poem. My aim with Words of Advice was to make her see how important her writings were, both for us as her students, and for herself.

    That is the story of this sequence. You will better understand what I try to communicate with Words of Advice when you read it. You will also find Mrs. Hülya's poem as original in Turkish and as translation in English.

 

Author,

 

Çetin Sert