article The Poetry of Nuri Efendi Tavdgiridze – the Muhajir Georgian

Abstract

As is well known, historical hardships and political climate in Georgia have driven a segment of the Georgian population to leave their homeland and seek new lives abroad. Even in exile, they managed to revive the Georgian artistic spirit, producing impactful works of Georgian prose and poetry. This paper focuses on the poetry of Nuri Efendi Tavdgiridze, a prominent Muhajir Georgian. The research intends to study, evaluate, and analyze his poems, while familiarizing readers with his literary legacy. Unfortunately, only a small portion of his poems has survived, while his diaries and folkloric-ethnographic notes were destroyed in a fire in his village. Nevertheless, the surviving materials offer a glimpse into his poetry, allowing us to identify its primary themes and subthemes. Several of his poems stand out for their distinctive modes of expression and content, positioning Nuri Efendi Tavdgiridze as the author of a remarkable poetic signature.

The poems of Nuri Efendi Tavdgiridze are poignant fragments of pain and sorrow. He dedicated many of them to historical places and figures, and occasionally to love; however, most of his works reflect a painful epic of emotions stemming from exile and an overwhelming longing for his native land. His poems are episodes of his spiritual biography, offering profound insights into his inner world. They depict the movements of a muhajir soul—from the moments of anguish following his departure from the homeland to the final days of an elderly exile, his hair turned white. Although sorrow, grief, and pain were constant companions in his life— because, as he noted, “the native soil has a different taste”—the longing became unbearable. His message reaches the reader with immense emotion, yet without embellishments of intricate artistic devices. We believe that his poetry requires no such adornment, as the pain itself acts as its expressive essence.

The paper focuses on the sorrowful and emotionally intense spiritual state of Nuri Efendi Tavdgiridze. Engaging with his poems allows us to conclude that his poetic insights should not be restricted to the domain of émigré poetry alone; instead, they deserve recognition and appreciation by his homeland and a wider readership. We may even suggest that several of his poems deserve a modest yet significant place in the history of Georgian poetry.