Türk Edebiyatı'nın yüzyıllar süren bir periyodunu kapsayan Divan edebiyatında nazmın, nazım türleri içinde de kasidenin önemli bir yer vardır. Tevhit, münacat, hicviye, methiye gibi türleri bünyesinde barındıran kasidede methiye önemli bir yer tutmaktadır. Divan şiir geleneğinde saray ve çevresi tarafından himaye edilen şairlerin yer aldığı edebi muhitte oldukça fazla örnekleri verilen methiyeler, XIV. yüzyıldan başlayarak XIX. yüzyıla kadar yayılan bir dönemin seçilen örneklemi doğrultusunda biçim ve biçem açısından incelenmiştir. Yüzyılların genel edebi görünümleri ve tekâmül süreçleri de göz önüne alınarak her yüzyılı yansıtan şairler seçilmiştir. Yüzyılların edebi özellikleri birbirinden farklı olduğu için seçilen şair sayısı da her yüzyıl için eşit olarak belirlenmemiştir. Her sosyal tabakadan bilhassa birinci sınıf olarak nitelendirilen şairler seçilerek, divanlarının tenkidli metinleri esas alınmış, kasideler tek tek incelenerek övgü kalıpları ve bu kalıpların yer aldığı beyitler tespit edilmiş ve bilgisayar ortamına aktarılarak işlenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgu ve tespitler beyitlerle desteklenmiş, gerek beyitlerin gerekse övgü kalıplarının künye bilgileri çalışmamızda yer almıştır. İnceleme yapılırken teşbih, istiare, telmih gibi edebi sanatların kullanımı yoluyla söyleyiş kalıplarının sanatsal söylem açısından yüzyıllar arasında mukayese ve değerlendirilmesi yapılarak biçim ve anlam açısından değeri ortaya konulmaya çalışılmıştır. Saray ve çevresinin himayesi ve düzenlenen şiir meclislerinin fazlaca katkıda bulunduğu şair-memdûh ilişkisinden yola çıkılarak divan şairi gözünde padişahların sahip oldukları vasıflara değinilmiş ve bu vasıfların salt padişaha övgüde bulunmak, onu gerçekçi olmayan söylemlerle, mübalağaya varan bir biçimde yüceltmekten ziyade ideal hükümdar yaratmak, toplumun karşısına memdûhu bir rol model olarak sunmak, hatta bu yolla ideal bir toplum yaratmak gibi bir amaca katkıları ele alınmıştır

Introduction and Purpose of the Study Having been first performed by Hoca Denhanî in Turkish Literature, the Divan Poetry incorporates many types of works including ghazals, qasidas, masnavi, and mixed verse style in verse, and sirahs, physiognomies, and munseats in prose for a period of 7 centuries from 13th to 19th century. Although prose always had a distinguished place in this tradition, ghazals and qasidas, which left more room for display of artistic talents, were more preferred by poets. As it is written for other purposes than artistic ones, qasida bears a particular significance. The most common type of qasidas, which are considered verses of praise in terms of its purpose, is panegyrics among tawhids, invocations, na't, epigrams, and panegyrics as different classes of topics. Among the qasidas attributed to several people, primarily the statesmen, those which feature praises for rulers stand out in the tradition of qasida in our classical literature. Except for rulers who are also poets, a significant part of Divan poets wrote qasidas attributed to the sultans of their age. Since the ancient times, like many societies and states, Turkish states protected scholars and artists, which was turned into a state policy by the rulers of the state. Scholars and artists in conquered lands were lavished upon many blessings, and were invited to the capital city. This attitude of rulers continued in Ottoman Empire, and especially Mehmet the Conqueror had the new capital İstanbul redesigned as a sign of his substantial power after the conquest, and started an operation of cultural development by inviting many scholars and artists from different countries to the newly-conquered city, which was not restricted to the reign of Mehmet II and continued until the period of stagnation. The royal court was crucial for formation and development of the tradition of divan poetry. In that period, poetry had a special place in literature, which in turn had a special place in art. Therefore, the poets nurtured in the culture of divan poetry were safeguarded by the court and royal circles, and supported by regular salary throughout the period from the emergence of Divan Literature in 14th century to the Tanzimat Literature (Literature of the Constitutional Era). Certainly, the protection and appreciation offered to arts and artists had some consequences. Just like the fact that the works of miniature artists, calligraphers, goldsmiths, painters, and architects were the result of the appreciation offered to them, the poets, particularly the qasidas written as part of the classical culture were also the result of this appreciation. The community of poets in Ottoman Empire emerged in the era of Mehmet I, and the community of surrounding the court grew or diminished according to the interest of the court and royal circles in poetry. (İpekten, 1996, s. 15-16) From 14th to 19th century, lots of qasidas were written with the support of the communions of poetry and conversation in houses of senior state officials, primarily the houses of sultans and princes, and the tradition of qasida grew in richness with metaphors and imagery with the trends such as Sebk-i Hindî until the 18th century. Thus, a firm and established relationship emerged between the memdûh and the poet within the tradition of qasida, and this relationship had an important place for the tradition of divan poetry and its continuity for centuries. In the qasidas based on appreciation of the memdûh, the poets depicted some traits of the memdûh as is while idealizing others, and played a guiding role as what can be called social engineers creating idealized human being out of the memdûh’s. While they stated their gratitude towards their memdûh, they made no compromise in art and aesthetics by making use of all possibilities of Turkish language. Therefore, supposing that poets wrote poems by exaggerating the traits of the memdûh from an unrealistic perspective for the purpose of receiving reward in return for their poems would not constitute an accurate and fair approach. Those who are called "memdûh" (the praised one) constituted the subject of panegyrics. They include a wide range of people from the court and royal circle, which make up the top class of the society, to mid-level officials such as the agha of the gate, chamberlains, and even court musicians, sheikhs of sects, and poets of the time. Occupying the largest literary space within the tradition of panegyrics, sultans are the most common subjects of qasidas. The study attempts to present within the scope of the research universe the perception of sultan, how poets depicted the sultan, and the establishment period of Divan Literature from the 14th to 19th century from the perspective and writings of poets. Theoretical Framework regarding the Subject of Study In order to make the results presented in our study understandable, the phrase of praise that forms the basis of our study should be clarified. What is meant by phrase of praise is the usage of noun or adjective phrases, metaphors and metonymies used for praising the memdûh’s in qasidas. While the phrases of praise that are not encountered in every couplet come up in certain parts of couplets, they might as well be extended to the entire couplet. “Memdûh” means the one who is praised. As translating the concept would be uneconomical in the discourse, as a requirement of the literature, we will keep this concept as is without translating it. Method Anthologies of 35 poets including Ahmedî, Ahmed Paşa, Şeyhî, Mihrî Hatun, Mesîhî from 14th to 15th century; Hayâlî Bey, Bağdatlı Rûhî, Necâtî Bey, Bâkî, Fuzûlî, Usûlî, Edirneli Nazmî, Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey in 16th century; Azmizâde Hâletî, Nev’izâde Atâyî, Fehîm-i Kadîm, Cevrî, Nâbî, Nef’î, Şeyhülislam Yahya, Nâ’ilî-i Kadîm, Neşâtî in 17th century; Koca Râgıp Paşa, Fıtnat Hanım, Osmanzâde Tâ’ib Ahmed, Nedîm, Kânî, Şeyh Gâlib in 18th century; yüzyılda Leylâ Hanım, Osman Nevres, Hâlet Bey, Yenişehirli Avnî, Lebîb Efendi, Enderûnlu Vâsıf and Keçecizâde İzzet Molla in 19th century, which were selected by random sampling among first and second class divan poets for this study in order to identify their qasidas. Then the perception of sultan is depicted through analysis of the praised traits identified by assessment of the discourse phrases in the qasidas. Findings and Discussion It is inferred from this study that praises made by divan poets on sultans based on their traits as real persons should not be considered unrealistic and exaggerated attempts of exaltation. Divan poets, in fact, employed a perspective that served a purpose beyond praise. From that perspective, poets created a figure of "ideal sultan", who should, as suggested to readers by poets, embody certain qualities. Results and Suggestions The protective attitude adopted by sultans and senior governors whereby they gathered many talented poets around them through communions of poetry had a considerable effect on formation and development of the relationship between the poets and memdûh’s, which occupies a very significant place in the tradition of qasida in divan literature. The literary circles that are thus established made it possible to create rich examples of the tradition of qasida, and the poets who were rewarded for their art were always eager to praise their memdûh’s. Having started in the 14th century, the tradition of qasida continued until the 19th century, and had its most efficient time in the 17th century. Many figures of speech such as exclamation, leff ü neşr, metaphor, and reference were used in simple phrases as well as the phrases that could extend up to 1 verse and have a great aesthetic value. In the arts of personification, metaphor, and reference, elements such as cypress, lion, cloud, hummingbird, and historical - mythological characters such as Umar, Uthman, Nûşirevan were used to praise certain traits of the memdûh. From a poet's perspective, memdûh sultans are role models who have the traits of leadership, courage, generosity, good fortune, supremacy, good character, justice, caliphate, wisdom, beauty, piety, nobility, competence in horse riding, talent of poetry, maintaining a communion, being skilled, being a high-spirited person who cheers communions they participate. It will be possible to understand by the analysis of six centuries of divan poetry that viewing the qasidas as enclosed literary products that are not related to real life, and poets of qasidas as artists who are broken off from the rest of the society and who work solely with the motivation of reward, by ignoring their artistic talents, social engineering and guidance just because poets reflect the concept of "ideal ruler" to their works based on real lives and persons in qasidas that are considered poetry of praise, and because they get inspiration from their memdûh's victories and accession to the throne or other historical events.