Poetry in the Garden of Love: The Context and Setting of the Ottoman Meclis

At the highest reaches of Ottoman society, including the palace, the most popular and common entertainment was a gathering—meclis—for relaxation, and sophisticated conversation.  The typical meclis would contain all or some of the following: delicious food, drinks (sometimes wine), music, witty conversation with humor, and poetry, poetry, and more poetry… The gathering would ideally take place in a garden or pavilion with a natural view.  Ottoman poetry usually reflects the garden setting, the season, time of day, the conversation, the bonding of beloved friends expressed in erotic imagery, extravagant praise, complaint, and begging addressed to an unidentified beloved who is always capable of being understood as a public or personal object of desire, or as one of the guests, or the ruler, or the Divine…