Abstract
A Reflection Of Ottoman Nightlife in Classical Turkish Poetry: Mehtabiye
Mehtab enjoyment is a moonlight entertainment organized in the Bosphorus with boats. The moonlight entertainment, which has taken their place in the Ottoman daily life, has attracted the attention of the people of Istanbul for many years. The moonlighters who went to the various districts of the Bosphorus with boats under the moonlight, in other words, those who participated in the moonlight entertainment, spent time as they wish accompanied by Ottoman music. The moonlight entertainment, which seems also caught the attention of classical Turkish literature poets, especially the 18th-century poets, and others as they mentioned the moonlight entertainment in their poems. In this study, the divan poets who used moonlight entertainments in their poems is tried to be revealed and it was concluded that the poems that are about the moonlight entertainments can be called as “mehtabiye”. Concepts that can be determined about moonlight entertainment are examined through related texts.
Keywords
Classical Turkish literature, Ottoman nightlife, moonlight, moonlight entertainments, mehtabiye.