Abstract:

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 BÂKÎ, Fuzuli, Seyhulislâm Yahya and Nedîm discussed the concepts of pleasure in their own collected poems.

Keywords: