THE IMAGE OF HEYDAR ALIYEV IN AZERBAIJANI CHILDREN’S POETRY: ARTISTIC VISION OF HISTORICAL REALITY

The study of historical figures and investigation of their activities is the duty of scientific history and at the  same time a debt of fiction. Literature, by creating the images of figures grown up in history builds a bridge of communication between the past, present, and future. The fate of people, their spiritual past, and the various figures that emerged at different stages of time, not only need to be studied by history and historians but also require the light of fiction. Literature, besides clarifying the dark layers of the past, has also a responsibility to create artistic images of its historical figures. One such historical figure is Heydar Aliyev, the national leader  of the Azerbaijani people. Taking a look at the image of Heydar Aliyev in children’s literature we can see a  savior whose presence is a promise of hope and prosperity and is also the hero of his people, a wise leader, and a father of the nation who does not only demonstrate and reaffirm Azerbaijan’s own national statehood and governance practices to his compatibles, but also to his opponents. The image of Heydar Aliyev is often  observed in poetry. Rafik Yusifoglu’s “Statue of the Leader”, “Great Leader”, Zahid Khalil’s “Heydar Bridge”,  “Bulag”, “Hand”, Nabi Khazri’s “Miracle of Will”, Bahlul Atakhanli’s “Heydar Son of the World”, Ilgar Daglaroglu’s “Heydar Baba”, Alamdar Guluzade’s portrayal of “Heydar Father, Leader Father” and the hundreds of unnamed poems illuminate the portrait of the Great Leader in various ways. The paper includes a detailed analysis of the
artistic samples dedicated to the national leader Heydar Aliyev.