An Existential Call: The Stop to Look at the Sky

Abstract

This article analyzes Turgut Uyar's poem G & ouml;& gbreve;e Bakma Dura & gbreve;& imath; (The Stop to Look at the Sky) through philosophical lenses, tracing its roots from antiquity to modernity. The act of "gazing at the sky" is examined via Aristotle's cosmology, Plato's ideals, H & ouml;lderlin's divine-human bridge, Nietzsche's & Uuml;bermensch, Jung's collective unconscious, and Bachelard's imagination. The Qur'anic verse al-Mulk (67:3) on celestial perfection enriches its metaphysical depth. Central to the analysis is Heidegger's verweilen (dwelling) and schauen (gazing), which reframe gazing as ontological resistance against urban haste. The title's durak ("stop") juxtaposes mundane transit with existential pause, critiquing modernity's alienation through Heideggerian unconcealment. Uyar's linguistic irony transforms a bus stop into a meditative space, merging the ephemeral and eternal. The poem bridges ancient metaphysics, Islamic theology, and existential philosophy, illustrating poetry's role in universal inquiry. By interweaving literary close-reading with interdisciplinary philosophy, the study positions Uyar's work as a counter-narrative to modernity's fragmentation, where "gazing" becomes a radical act of reclaiming presence.