Neşâtî

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Neşâtî (نشاطى) (?–1674) was the pen name (Ottoman Turkish: ﻡﺨﻠﺺ mahlas) of an Ottoman poet. He was a Sufi, or Islamic mystic, of the Mevlevî order, and his poetry is often considered exemplary of the "Indian style" (سبك هندی sebk-i hindî) of Ottoman poetry, a movement which flourished beginning in the 17th century.

Life

Turkish Literature

Epic Tradition

Orhon Dede Korkut - Köroğlu

Folk Tradition

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Ottoman Era

Poetry | Prose

Republican Era

Poetry | Prose

Though one sourceSefîne-i nefîse-i Mevleviyye ("Beautiful Ship of the Mevlevi Order"), Mustafa Sâkıb Dede (d. 1736) claims that Neşâtî's real name was Süleymân (سليمان), the majority of sources give his name as Ahmed (أحمد). He was born in Edirne, in the region of Thrace. It is not known exactly when he was born, though it is speculatedAndrews 252 that it was around the year 1600, on the evidence of a poem commemorating the winter of 1621–22, in which year the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul was known to be covered with ice:

ن نقش گوستره آیا مشاعبيز سرما

كه همچو آيينه يغ بسته اولدى صفحه آب

Ne naķş göstere âyâ müşa`biz-i sermâ

Ki hemçü âyîne yah-beste oldu safha-i âbAndrews 297

Oh what designs might the magician of cold

:display?

Like a mirror, the page of the water

:is bound in iceAndrews 133

Neşâtî first become affiliated with the Mevlevi order as a disciple of the shaykh Ağazâde Mehmed Dede, first in Gelibolu in Thrace and then in Beşiktaş in IstanbulAndrews 252. After Ağazâde Mehmed Dede's death, Neşâtî went to Konya in central Anatolia, where he served for a time at the tomb of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi—the founder of the Mevlevi order—before finally returning, around the year 1670, to Edirne as the shaykh of the Murâdiyye Mevlevîhâne there. He died in 1674, and was buried in the courtyard of the Murâdiyye MosqueŞentürk 555.

Work

Neşâtî was not as prolific as many other Ottoman poets, but is nonetheless considered to be among the masters of the gazel form of poetryCengiz 535. He was strongly influenced by, and a great admirer of, the Persian poet `Urfî of Shîraz (d. 1591), about whom he wrote a treatise, the Şerh-i Müşkilât-i `Urfî (شرح مشكلات عورفى "Explanation of the Difficulties of `Urfî"). It was primarily through the influence of `Urfî, among other Persian poets, that Neşâtî's poetry took on certain aspects of the so-called "Indian style", which was characterized by extravagant conceits; a complex, Persian-derived syntax; and a high level of lexical and syntactic ambiguityAndrews 147. An example is the following beyit, or couplet, from one of Neşâtî's most famous gazels:

گه خامه گبی شکوه طراز غم عاشقز

گه ناله گبی خامه شکواده نهانز

Geh hâme gibi şekve-tırâz-ı gam-ı aşkız

Geh nâle gibi hâme-i şekvâda nihânızCengiz 544

Sometimes we are like the reed pen that illuminates

:the plaints of love

Sometimes like the lament hidden in the pen

:as it writesAndrews 131

The image used in the second line makes use of a double meaning—known in Ottoman Turkish as tevriyye (توريه)—of the word nâle (ناله): it can mean not only "lament" or "moan", but can also refer to a "reed pen", and specifically to the sound made by such a pen as it moves across the page in the act of writing.

Despite his word play, however, Neşâtî was also a poet of high—if sometimes restrained—emotion, as present-day Turkish poet İlhan Berk points out in a short essay:

Above all, Neşâtî was a master of expression, a man of great precision and sensitivity. Not a shouter, hidden, quiet, sparkling, genuine. In his poems, one is always struck with a great and profound sensation. More importantly, despite his being a Mevlevî poet ... he does not attempt to appear learned or to pretend to wisdom, but prefers in his poems to behave like a person, pure and simple. And like all great poets, he is humble.Her şeyden önce, büyük bir söyleyiş ustası, büyük bir duyarlık adamıdır Neşâtî. Bağırmayan, gizli, sessiz, parıltılı, özgün. Hep büyük, derin bir duyarlık vurur şiirlerinden. Daha önemlisi, Mevlevî bir şair olmasına karşın ... bilge görünmeye, bilgelik taslamaya yanaşmaz, şiirlerinde sade bir insan gibi davranmayı yeğler. Bütün büyük şairler gibi de alçakgönüllüdür. (Berk 245)

The honest and undisguised expression of emotion that Berk's appreciation hints at can be seen, for example, in the opening couplets to one of Neşâtî's most often anthologized gazels:

كتدك اما كه قودك حسرتله جانى بله

استه مم سنسز اولن صحبت يارانى بله

باغه سنسز واره مم چشممه آتش کورينور

كل خندانى دكل سرو خرامانى بله

Gitdin ammâ ki kodun hasret ile cânı bile

İstemem sensiz olan sohbet-i yârânı bile

Bağa sensiz varamam çeşmime âteş görünür

Gül-i handânı değil serv-i hırâmânı bileCengiz 546

You're gone—I'm alone in the company

:of longing

I no longer want sweet talk with friends

:if you're not there

I dare not go to the garden without you

The laughing rose seems red as fire,

:the swaying cypress a pointed flameAndrews 132

Notes

References

 

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