Nedîm

In thisOttoman Turkishstyle name, thegiven nameisAhmed,thetitleisEffendi,and there is no family name.

For other people with similar names, seeNadeem.

Nedîm Effendi
نديم
A later artist's impression of Nedîm, no extant contemporary depictions of him exist.
Born	Ahmed c. 1681 Constantinople(present-dayIstanbul), Ottoman Empire
Died	1730 (aged 48–49) Beşiktaş,Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Resting place	Karacaahmet Cemetery,Scutari,Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Occupations	Poet scholar
Spouse	Ümmügülsüm Hanım
Writing career
Language	Ottoman Turkish Persian
Period	Tulip Era
Genres	Ghazal Qasida Şarkı
Literary movement	Diwanvernacularism(Turkish:Mahallîleşme)

Ahmed Effendi,better known by hismahlas(nom de plume)Nedîm(Ottoman Turkish:نديم;c. 1681– 1730), was anOttomanlyric poetof theTulip Period.He achieved his greatest fame during the reign ofAhmed III.He was known for his slightly decadent, even licentious poetry often couched in the most staid of classical formats, but also for bringing the folk poetic forms oftürkü and şarkıinto the court.

Life

Early life

Not much is known about Nedîm's early life, except for what can be inferred from records of the time. Nedîm (then Ahmed) was born inConstantinople,most likely in 1681.His pre-nomialMülakkabzâde(lit. descendant of the nicknamed [man]) was given to him as a result of his grandfatherMerzifonluMülakkab Mustafa Muslihiddin Efendi; akazaskerwho was known as a "man of unusual preferences", and was nicknamed as such, before beinglynchedin front of theSultan Ahmed Mosquein 1648.

As the son ofKadıMehmed Effendi, and a family vested in Ottoman bureaucracy, Nedîm's education is thought to be quite robust, including a variety of sciences, as well as "enoughArabicandPersianto write poetry. "Following this education, he passed an examination process led byShaykh-al IslamEbezâde Abdullah Effendi, and started work as a scholar in amadrasa.While the exact date of this examination is unknown, it is known that Nedîm had already started to publish poetry by this time.Despite this, he continued to work as a teacher and scholar, in schools such as the Molla Kırîmî, Nişancı Pasha-yı Atîk,and Sekban Ali Pasha madrasas,eventually becoming a leading scholar in the Sahn-ı Seman Madrasas while teaching various subjects until his death in 1730.

Active years

While his first poems were most probably published before this, Nedîm's more traditionalqasidashad become quite well known by the start ofAhmed III's reign in 1703; these had helped him obtain connections with high-ranking officials, such asNevşehirli Damat Ibrahim Pasha,who would later offer himpatronage,as he considered Nedîm's odes to be superior to other poetry written to his name.

Nedîm was, however, better known for the challenge he provided to the literary environment ofConstantinople,which by then strongly favored theNâbîschool; a school of highly philosophical, almostdidacticghazals.In this environment, which left little space to Nedîm'slyricstyle, he came to be known as the pioneer of hisNedîmâneschool of poetry; emphasizing inventiveness,vernaculardiction, and a certainlicentiousness.His works suggest that he was aware of the innovative nature of his poetry, as he claims this status in multiple poems:

Ma‘lûmdur benim sühanım mahlas istemez
Fark eyler onu şehrimizin nüktedânları

My word is obvious, it doesn't need my name,
The writers of our city can recognize it as mine.

— Nedîm

During these years, Nedîm was noted as an accomplished teacher, being invited tohuzursessions inRamadanfor his knowledge on Islamic matters, while also being highly productive; climbing through the ranks of Ottoman bureaucracy in various fields: as a scholar, chief librarian, translator of historical works,naîb(an assistant to thekadı), and, later, the sultan'snedîm(lit. companion); all while continuing to write poetry.

Nedîm's unique lyric style, vernacular vocabulary, and literary innovation had already caught the eye of many observers during this lifetime, including that of notedtezkireauthor Sâlim, who praised him as thetaze-zebân(lit. fresh-tongued) poet of his era.Others, such as occasional poets Râşid and Âsım, embraced his school of poetry by writingtanzîrs(pastiches) of his works. Despite this early bout of fame, he was not nearly celebrated to the extent that he is today, and his collected poems would not be organized into and printed as aDiwanuntil 1736.

Final years

The nature of Nedîm's final years are often disputed, with different sources claiming different causes of death, as well as different series of events.Well known, however, is hismental illness(illet-i vehîme,lit.anxiety disorder), frequent use ofalcoholandopium,as well as his "already fragile nature".Sources do state that he was married to Ümmügülsüm Hanım, and that they had one child before his death, however, not much information about this marriage exists.

Most sources claim that he died during thePatrona Halil Rebellion.Some, including biographer Süleyman Sâdeddin, assert that his death was an accident; that he fell from the roof of his house during the rebellion. Others, including Muhsin Macit, argue that he climbed the roof of his house to avoid a similar fate to that of his grandfather, which eventually led to his fall.Other sources claim that he could have died of tremors, most likely from substance abuse or a disease resemblingParkinson's.Either way, it is known that he remained a scholar at the Sekban Ali Pasha Madrasa up until his last days.

Work

Introductory page from theDîvân-ı Nedîm,Nedim's collected works

Nedim is now generally considered, along withFuzûlîandBâkî,to be one of the three greatest poets in the Ottoman Divan poetry tradition. It was not, however, until relatively recently that he came to be seen as such: in his own time, for instance, the title ofreîs-i şâirân(رئيس شاعران), or "leader of poets", was given by SultanAhmed IIInot to Nedim, but to the now relatively obscure poet Osmanzâde Tâib, and several other poets as well were considered superior to Nedim in his own day. This relative lack of recognition may have had something to do with the sheer newness of Nedim's work, much of which was rather radical for its time.

Nedîm's works are a diverse collection; consisting of 170ghazals,34şarkıs,44qasidas,88strophic forms,3mathnawis,11rubaisand 2koşmas,as well as a few poems of other forms.More traditional poems are also interspersed with works often claimed to be satires of said traditional forms, as well asavant-gardepoems in his collection.Because of this diversity, as well as cultural forces such asmodernization,nationalismandheteronormativity,Nedîm's poems have been analyzed in a range of different, and sometimes contradictory ways.According toH. A. R. Gibb,for instance, Nedîm's school of poetry could have been described as a local, vernacular style oflyric poetrythat makes use of "realistic descriptions of women", with a worldly focus and a lack of interest inSufi mysticism.However, these older descriptions have faced criticism, notably by Stephen Murray and others, for being shaped by certain ideological and cultural forces.

Vernacularism

The early 18th century, defined by theOttoman Old Regimeand theTulip period,was a relatively peaceful period in Ottoman history. This environment allowed Ottoman art to enjoy a renaissance; the old musical canon was renewed and partially replaced, architecture took on perceptibleEuropeanandSafavidinfluence, and poetry written in a more local, lessPersianateOttoman Turkishflourished.Nedîm's poetry is specifically considered a pioneering work in this sense, influencing later poets such asEnderunlu Fazıl.

His writing style, often described as "joyful" and "melodious",was aimed at bridging the gap between folk and art literature; adopting the prose register of Ottoman Turkish, referring to beloveds in concrete, clear terms, and using a relatively narrow, local vocabulary. He was, according to Mazıoğlu, the "primary representative of the joyous, high-spirited nature of the Tulip period."

Despite this, there is wide consensus that there were aspects of Nedîm's poetry which borrow heavily from earlier traditional poetry, especially in hisqasidaodes and panegyrics, and Ziya Avşar argues that his usual high-spirited style was mainly an artistic choice, rather than being reflective of his state of mind.Tanpınarand Avşar both argue that there are traces of sadness in his poems that are more typical of Ottoman Diwan poems than vernacular Turkish poetry, which Avşar argues to be prominent in these lines:

Bir nîm-neşve say bu cihânın bahârını
Bir sâgar-ı keşîdeye tut lâle-zârını

Assume this world's spring to be half as happy,
Assume its flowery [joy] to be a used wine-glass.

— Nedîm

There have also been researchers, such as Muhsin Macit, who have characterized Nedîm's poetic style as less an innovation and more a synthesis of earlier avant-garde tendencies, which until then had not become widespread.Indeed, it is known that Nedîm had admired the poetry of earlier Diwan poets, such asFuzûlî,Nef‘î,Bâkî,Yahyâ, Nev‘îzâde Atâî and Azmîzâde Mustafa Hâletî.However, Macit does accept that his lack of symbolism when referring to lovers is almost certainly new.

Architecture and praise of Constantinople

Nedîm is well known for his praise ofConstantinopolitanarchitecture, which Mehmet Kaplan suggests to be his most prominent aspect.Many authors, including Kortantamer, single out his praise ofConstantinopleas one of his most innovative facets, which Nilüfer Karadavut describes it asrealist;praising his ability to depict a real city in poetic form.Nevertheless, Karadavut also points out that his depiction of Constantinople frequently engages in symbolism and hyperbole more typical of Ottoman poets, which is seen in these lines:

Bu şehr-i Stanbul ki bî-misl ü bahâdır
Bir sengine yek-pâre Acem mülkü fedadır

[O], city of Istanbul, priceless and peerless!
I would sacrifice all of Persia for one of your stones!

— Nedîm

His interest in architecture is likely because of his participation in state gatherings, and so-called "halvanights ", where the state bureaucracy would spend time together in major locations aroundConstantinople.He seems to have had a great affinity with these nights, describing them as "assemblies thatAlexandercould not have imagined in his dreams ". In his qasidas, lively descriptions ofRamadandays are interspersed with praises for the architecture ofSa'd-âbâd,which he portrays as "the highest level of paradise".Meanwhile, locations such as the Hippodrome,Eyüp,Üsküdar,Kasr-ı Cinân, Çeşme-i Nur, Cetvel-i Sim, Nev-Peyda, Hayr-âbâd, FerkadanandCesr-i Sürurare repeatedly praised in his poems, specifically in hisOdeto Sa'd-âbâd (Sa'd-âbâd Kasîdesi).Along with his qasidas, he seems to have noted down features and scenes from the city, and later used them in hischronogram(tarih) poems,most of which he wrote for theGrand Vizierof the time, İbrahim Paşa.

Satire of tradition

Ottoman poetic tradition,being an offshoot ofPersian poetry,was one that often made use of highly symbolic, ideal beloveds and hopeless, desperate lovers, specifically in itslyrics.This detached attitude seems to have left Nedîm unsatisfied, and some of his most notable works are often identified as satires of this tradition. Nedîm mentions this in aghazal:

Yok bu şehr içre senin vasfetdiğin dilber Nedîm
Bir perî sûret görünmüş bir hayâl olmuş sana

[O] Nedim; the beauty you praise, they don't exist in this city,
A fairy-face has become your visions, your daydream.

— Nedîm

Gültekin argues, using this line as well as the rest of theghazal,that this is a criticism of the idealized beloved present in much of Ottoman poetry and that Nedim states, in satirical fashion, that a person of such standards can not be found in all ofConstantinople.Earlier in the same ghazal, he mentions the process of arolling millto describe how his beloved came to be made, which Gültekin purports to be humorous criticism of how unachievable the body standards mentioned in traditional poetry would have been.Other poems of his, such as the so-called "infidel" poem, generally read as Nedîm describing his love for a person whose gender he can not figure out, could, according to Gültekin, also be related back to his criticism of gender ambiguity in traditional Ottoman poetry.The lines in which this is most obvious is the following:

Kız oğlan nâzı nâzın şehlevend âvâzı âvâzın
Belâsın ben de bilmem kız mısın oğlan mısın kâfir

Your coquetry is the coquetry of a young woman, your voice the voice of a handsome [young] man,
What a torment you are! I do not know whether you are young woman or a young man, [O] infidel!

— Nedîm

Despite this, not all scholars of Nedîm agree that he had satirical intent. Avşar argues that the "daydream" poem reflects Nedîm's pessimism, on how worldly pleasures can never truly mend his pains, and how the love that could do such a thing is purely imaginary.Avşar further argues that what could easily be perceived as satire of poetic tradition, can also be interpreted as an emotional outcry or even subtle political criticism, principally of the unsustainability of theTulip Era,which would ultimately cause the Ottoman Empire to fall behind Western powers in terms of technology around 20 years later.

Homoeroticism

WhileOttoman poetrywas largely preoccupied by love in a lyric sense, explicitly erotic, and especially homoerotic literature was "far from absent" in the Ottoman Empire.Writers often mentioned erotic details even in the most staid of classical forms, and to this Nedîm was no exception.

In the 17th century, anti-Sufipolemic and conservative movements in the Islamic world "eroded toleration of social, sexual, and spritiual diversity", marking a "conservative turn" from a more tolerant 16th century.Nedîm wrote his poetry during a revival of erotic sensibilities in the 18th century, about the time when the effects of the previous "conservative turn" was coming to an end, setting him apart from other poets of his era.

Furthermore, Nedîm seems to have subverted the ideals of Ottoman erotic poetry, as erotic desire in his works seem to also be directed towards older men, in stark contrast to the mostlypederasticnorms of erotic literature at the time.In a poem, Nedîm mentions how his lover is kissable "from hair to hair"; this, according to Murray, can only be used to refer to an adult male.Homoerotic themes can also be found in his frequent usage of the phraseserv-i revân(flowing cypress), which is a gendered term in the context of Ottoman poetic tropes, referring almost exclusively to tall men.

Intercultural and interfaith aspects

Due to the empire's cultural and religious diversity, Ottoman poetry often involved "interfaith love", that is, generally, love between aMuslimlover and adhimmibeloved.Such characterizations are typical of Nedîm, and Matthias Kappler singles out Nedîm as a prolific author of interfaith love poems.According to Kappler, the "infidel" lover in Nedîm's poetry (and Ottoman poetry in general) represents some level of paradoxical incompatibility between lover and beloved, and the idea that cultural, religious and sexual diversity is necessary for a "perfect" human relationship.Therefore, the "infidel" stands both for the attractiveness of the beloved and their unreachability.Kappler gives this as an example:

Hâl kafir zülf kâfir çeşm kafir el-amân
Ser-be-ser iklîm-i hüsnün kâfiristân oldı hep

The mole is infidel, the curl is infidel, the eye is infidel, alas!
From end to end the country of your beauty has become the land of the infidels!

— Nedîm

Sufism and philosophy

While there is wide consensus that Nedîm's focus was not onSufismorphilosophy,there is dispute on his religiosity and philosophical beliefs.It is known that he did want to join atariqaat one point, however most dispute that he was a member.Some researchers, including Gölpınarlı, suggest that his religious beliefs might not have been fully genuine.Others, such as Muhsin Macit, have pointed out a lack of a "greater power" in Nedîm's poems, arguing that "[in his works], everything seems to happen on its own."Furthermore, he seems to have been dismissive of earlier philosophical traditions, to the point of openly disliking bothPlatoandAristotle,calling their supporters "confused"; whether this was his genuine thoughts is however still debated.

References

Bibliography

• Andrews, Walter G. "Nedim" inOttoman Lyric Poetry: An Anthology.pp. 253–255.ISBN0-292-70472-0.
• Gölpınarlı, Abdülbâkî;ed.Nedim Divanı.İstanbul: İnkılâp ve Aka Kitabevleri Koll. Şti., 1972.
• Kudret, Cevdet.Nedim.ISBN975-10-2013-1.
• Mansel, Philip.Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453–1924.London:Penguin Books,1997.
• Şentürk, Ahmet Atilla. "Nedîm" inOsmanlı Şiiri Antolojisi.pp. 596–607.ISBN975-08-0163-6.