THE CONCEPT OF PLEASURE IN BAKİ’S, FUZULİ’S, SHAYK AL- ISLAM YAHYA’S AND NEDİM’S DİVÂNS
Journal Name:
- Turkish Studies
Keywords (Original Language):
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Abstract (2. Language):
The concept of pleasure, which is used in respect of all emotions evoking happiness, is considered as one of themes mostly discussed in ottoman poetry. Pleasure differs in accordance with poets' thoughts on pleasure, poets' personal characteristics, their worldviews and their cults. Some of the poets discuss worldly desires and earthly pleasures, whereas some other poets give place to the pleasure developed out of spirituality, love and its states. When poets discuss the concept of pleasure, it does not mean that they experienced the pleasure. For Poets, it a must that they put the pleasure at the centre of their own lives and have a philosophical background in order to be among those experiencing and enjoying the pleasure. It is considered that most of Ottoman poets handling the concept of pleasure created such philosophical and intellectual background, moved from this philosophical and intellectual base while dealing with the concept of love. Nevertheless, we witness that pleasure is used as a cliché concept within the stereotypical structure of Ottoman Poetry. It is concluded that shaykhes al-islam who had never known even the way of public house and had not taken any drop to drink alcohol exaggeratively depicted how they felt dizzy caused by the pleasure of wine and being in public house. So how should we explain it? To do this, the symbolic language of Ottoman poetry is considered as crucial; and we should think about the concepts of wine and public house in accordance with their meanings in the symbolic language of Islamic mysticism in order to understand the real intention of the poets. In this study, it is aimed to examine how such four leading poets of Ottoman poetry as Baki, Fuzuli, Shaykh al-Islam Yahya and Nedîm discussed the concepts of pleasure in their own collected poems.
The concept of pleasure, a subject of moral philosophy, are discussed within the history of philosophy under two headings, including material and spiritual pleasure. Although material pleasures are blessed in such philosophical movements as epicureanism, spiritual pleasures have been generally considered as superior to the material pleasures in the history of philosophy and it has been believed that spiritual pleasures sublimate people while material pleasures degrade. In this study, it is aimed to show what the concept of pleasure is, how it has been discussed by philosophers and to determine the views of four reowned Ottoman poets towards the concept of pleasure, the quality of their pleasure and the sources of pleasure. In this respect, We have tried to define the concept of pleasure in the introduction part of our study. Then we have examined how the concept of pleasure is discussed as the psychological and philosophical term, how the Western and Islamic philosophers evaluate the concept of pleasure and the progress of pleasure in the Islamic society. Starting from the fifth section, we have tried to give a place to the sources of pleasure and the views of four great Ottoman poets towards the concept of pleasure, the main subject of our study. In the fifth section, we have discussed the times, spaces and connoisseurs of the pleasure and the main objects of pleasure that are sources of four great poets' understanding towards the concept of pleasure. Both in the poems of four reowned poets and in the poems of some other Ottoman poets, the concepts of love, woman and beauty are considered significant so we have examined how the concepts of woman, love and beauty turn into the object of pleasure, whether such pleasure is worldly or spiritual, in other words, whether woman and beauty are taken as sexual objects by such poets and is turned into means of sensual satisfaction of sexual gratification or is handled with aesthetic concerns regardless of any interests.As being the main pleasure object of Ottoman poetry, Wine and drunkenness create another part of our study. As long as considered as a drink to be enjoyed, wine is also regarded as a mystical term in Ottoman poetry. Wine, one of indispensable parts of Bezm meetings, is a strong source of inspiration for poets with its intoxicating effect, making forget all the troubles and taking someone out of the current situation. As a word with Arabic origin, wine, either as water or as alcoholic drink, means a drinkable liquid in general and was used with this general meaning in the first periods. In Ottoman poetry, such expressions as bade, mei, bade-i engur, bint-i inab are also used in the same meaning with wine. In the mysticism, wine is illustrated in the forms of inspirations towards heart, divine enlightenment, knowledge, advices given to a Salik (devotee) by a mentor and revelation. The state of drunkenness after the wine is the internalization of the knowledge and the practical situation of such knowledge that is embodied in attitudes, behaviors and manners. In this respect, in Ottoman poetry, wine represents both material object that is the part of worldy life and pleasure and the change, the pleasure formed in the devotee's spiritual world from the divine source. Due to this characteristic of wine, in this study, we have tried to determine how four reowned poets had given a place to wine and the pleasure given by wine.
In the " Spring: The Transformation of nature and Time into Pleasure" section of our study, one of the main topics of Ottoman poetry and also one of the sources of inspiration is Nature. Poets created colourful and a variety of connotations, imaginations and layers of meaning by basing their poetries on the various elements of the nature. Even if it was generally used as a means of showing talents by Ottoman poets, nature was handled and discussed as a part of the entertainment and taking pleasure in the life. Such natural elements in Ottoman poetry as rose garden (Gulistan, gulşen), vineyard, fenugreek, tulip garden (lalezar), cuy (river) were used in Sadabad Valleys and with a variety of metaphors in such valleys and these concepts have formed the basis of the poet's sense gratification when coupled with entertainment and worldliness. As natural spring is the season when God's beauty attribute is perfectly manifested, it is the main object spiritual pleasure and spectacle. In this section, we have discussed how the manifestation of these two features of the spring in four renowned poets' poems and what is the nature of pleasure coupled with the spring.
In the section, " A Masochist Tendency: Conversion of Agony into Pleasure". We have examined how the agony, which is antonymous pleasure and evokes misery, suffering and unrest in human being in Ottoman poetry, turns into pleasure and how the oppression of the beloved iis considered as the main object of happiness for the poets. In the section " Pleasure Competents, Spaces and Meetings" we have discussed main spaces of pleasures, wine and entertainment meetings and ehl-i mezak transforming pleasure into its lifestyle. We have examined how Public house, wine meetings and entertainment meetings, as used both with their real meanings and with technical terms, was discussed by four reowned poets and by which aspects they created the elements of pleasure.As a result, in the current study discussing the pleasure, we have tried to determine the views of four celebrated poets towards pleasure by starting from couplets about the pleasure. Due to the qualityof pleasure, the concept of pleasure is discussed by four poets differently. The concept of pleasure is discussed both with its worldly and spiritual aspects by Shaykh al-Islam Yahya and Baki who had extrovert temperament. Baki and Yahya used such main elements of pleasure as beloved, wine, public house in accordance with both daily use and sufistic symbols. It is clearly understood that nearly whole use of such concepts have been in the mystical meaning by Fuzuli, the concept of pleasure is regarded with spirituality and the beloved, the beauty may be claimed as Allah (God), the absolute beauty. Nedim did not give much place to mystical elements, and in his collected works, he used such elements as wine, woman, public house in real terms. Even if the concept of pleasure mentioned in his works can be basen on worldly aspect, the common language of Ottoman poetry makes it possible to interpret the pleasure in the form of spirituality. Nevertheless, worldliness is much more apparent in the poems of Nedim than in the those of other three poets.
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Abstract (Original Language):
Mutluluk uyandıran, zevk veren tüm duyguların karşılığı olarak kullanılan haz kavramı, Divân şiirinde çok sık olarak işlenen temalardandır. Haz, şâirlerin hazza bakışlarına, kişisel özelliklerine, mensubu olduğu düşüncelere, bağlı olduğu tarikatlara göre farklılık arz etmektedir. Bazı şâirler, şiirlerinde dünyevi arzuları, bedensel zevkleri işlerken bazı şâirler ise manevîyattan, aşk ve aşkın hallerinden duydukları zevki konu edinmektedirler.
Kişinin haz kavramını ele alması, kişiyi hazzı yaşayan biri haline getirmez. Kişinin hazzı yaşayan, onu tadan biri olması için hazzı hayatının merkezine oturtup ona dair bir felsefî altyapı oluşturması gerekmektedir. Haz kavramını ele alan birçok Divân şâirinin bu felsefî ve düşünsel altyapıyı oluşturduklarını, aşk kavramını ele alırken bu felsefî ve düşünsel altyapıdan hareket ettiklerini görürüz. Şâirlerin kendilerini rind, âşık, mutasavvıf, zahid olarak tanıtmaları onların aldıkları hazzın felsefî arka planı hakkında bilgiler verir. Ama Divân şiirinin klişe yapısı içinde, hazzın da klişe bir kavram olarak kullanıldığına şahit olmaktayız. Hayatı boyunca içkinin bir damlasını ağzına almayan, meyhânenin yolunu bile bilmeyen şeyhülislâmların şarabın ve meyhânenin verdiği zevkten başlarının nasıl döndüğünü ballandırarak anlattığı görülür. Peki bunu nasıl izah etmeliyiz? Bunu izah için de devreye Divân şiirinin sembol dili girmekte; şarap, meyhâne gibi kavramlar tasavvufun sembolik dilindeki anlamlarıyla düşünmemiz gerekmektedir ki şâirlerin asıl maksatlarını ne olduğunu anlayabilelim.
Bu çalışmamızda Divân şiirinin dört büyük şâiri Bâkî, Fuzûlî, Şeyhülislâm Yahyâ ve Nedîm’in divânlarında hazzı nasıl ele aldıklarını incelemeye çalışacağız.
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