The Mesnevi "Leyla vü Mecnun" of Behişti (Examination-text)

ABSTRACT THE MESNEVİ "LEYLA VÜ MECNUN" OF BEHİŞTİ (EXAMINATION - TEXT) Zeynel Abidin AYGÜN Ph. D. Thesis, "Turkish Language and Literature" Department Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mine MENGİ March 1999, ix + 417 pages This Ph. D. Thesis has formed on transcribed text which had been written by XVth Century Ottoman poet Behişti who had written firstly "hamse" in Anatolia; examination of this text and comparison the mesnevi with Nizami and Fuzuli' s Leyla vü Mecnun. The mesnevi "Leyla vü Mecnun" of Behişti attracts attention with its language and expressions; reflecting successively the formal characteristics (prosody, rhyme etc.) and imagination of Ottoman poetry, and also its simple but strong narration. Behişti had been inspired by famous Iran poets; Nizami (Turk by origin), Molla Cami and Husrev-i Dehlevi. The poet had emphasized especially "suffering" and belief of "vahdet" (unity: an idea in the mystical Islam belief; tasavvuf) and joined the lovers who hadn't reunited in this world, "in the love of God", after of death (in the same grave). The poet's mesnevi be separated from other Leyla vü Mecnun, with emphasizing "suffering" and "vahdet" belief; detailed feeling, person and place descriptions (sometimes allegoric) and also its interesting images. In spite of Behişti' s boasting of in his mesnevi saying invent "a new manner or style" (or the couple); he hadn't affected following mesnevi poets too much. However, from the point of view of emphasizing suffering and vahdet belief, he probably had affected Fuzuli. Keywords: Ottoman poetry, narration, mesnevi, love, Mecnun