Sheikh Galib Dede

One of the great poets of the final period of classical Turkish poetry, a Mevlevi shaykh and head of the Galata Mevlevihane; known for his mystical-symbolic masnavi Hüsn ü Aşk (Beauty and Love).

He was born in 1171 (1757) in Istanbul, in a house near the Yenikapı Mevlevihane. On the recommendation of the lodge's shaykh Küçek Mehmed Dede and his successor Seyyid Ebubekir Dede he was named Mehmed Esad. His grandfather was a Mevlevi, and his father Mustafa Reşid Efendi had taken the inabe from Peçuylu Arif Ahmed Dede; his mother was Emine Hatun. He received his first education from his father; he benefited from Hüseyin Efendi, who became shaykh of the Galata Mevlevihane in 1780, and learned Arabic from Hamdi Efendi and Persian from Hoca Neş'et. Neş'et Efendi gave him the pen name "Esad", but so as not to be confused with the poets of the day named Esad he later adopted the pen name "Galib".

After working for a time in the Divan-ı Hümayun chancery, he went to Konya in 1198 (1784) — though his family did not much approve — entered the retreat (çile) at the lodge of Mevlana and attended the gatherings of Çelebi Seyyid Ebubekir Efendi. When his father, unable to bear his son's absence, appealed to the Çelebi, the Çelebi judged it fitting that the retreat be completed at the Yenikapı lodge and sent the young dervish back to Istanbul. Galib completed his retreat in 1201 (1787) at the Yenikapı Mevlevihane and became a "dede"; he benefited from Ali Nutki Efendi and the head cook Şerif Ahmed Dede, and later received his authorization (hilafet) from Ali Nutki Efendi. On 5 Rajab 1204 (21 March 1790) he settled in a house he had bought beside the tomb of Yusuf Sineçak Dede in Sütlüce.

When the shaykh of the Galata Mevlevihane, Halil Numan Dede, was dismissed and his appointed successor Şemsi Dede died at Kütahya on his way to Istanbul, the shaykhship of the Galata Mevlevihane was given to Galib Dede on 9 Shawwal 1205 (11 June 1791) by order of Mehmed Emin Çelebi, shaykh of the Mevlevi Asitane in Konya. With this appointment his friendship with Selim III grew: the sultan — a composer, a poet with the pen name "İlhami" and a calligrapher — had the lodge repaired after a qasida Galib presented to him (1792); he had a fountain built for the lodge in 1793 and a royal gallery in the semahane in 1794, and had the semahane repaired again in 1795. The office of Masnavi reader at the Yenicami of the Humbarahane-i Cedid was also given to him. In 1793 the sultan, together with his sister Beyhan Sultan, spent 300 gold pieces to have his divan bound and illuminated; and by a decree dated 10 Safar 1209 (6 September 1794) the nomination of Masnavi readers was also entrusted to Şeyh Galib. The source notes that archival records show that, while an opposition to the Nizam-ı Cedid initiative was being led under the guidance of Mehmed Çelebi, shaykh of the Mevlana lodge in Konya, Şeyh Galib supported the initiative.

The deaths of his mother Emine Hatun in 1209 (1794) and of his disciple and "companion of the cave" Esrar Dede in 1211 (1796) grieved him deeply; he wrote an elegy for Esrar Dede. A year later he fell ill. His last poem, a response (nazire) to a Persian ghazal with the refrain "henüz" given to him by Hamdullah Efendi, contains couplets hinting that his death was near. He died on 27 Rajab 1213 (4 January 1799). Ali Enver relates that as the body was being washed his father Mustafa Reşid Efendi wept and said, "Ah, my son! That black beard does not befit this board." He had married a shaykh's daughter named Şerife Aişe, and from this marriage had a daughter, Zübeyde, and two sons, Ahmed and Mehmed; upon his death the sultan by decree assigned his children a stipend of 30 akçe each from the Customs revenue.

His Circle of Influence — According to the source, Şeyh Galib never fell from view because of the novelty and distinctiveness of his poetry, and has deeply influenced a great many poets from his contemporaries down to the present. The images in his terci-bends, terkib-bends, müseddeses and tardiyyes, and his compounds drawing abstract and concrete notions together, herald the poets of the Edebiyat-ı Cedide who would try them a century later. It is said that the strongest critique of the old poetry came from him long before Namık Kemal and Ziya Paşa.

His Poetry and Sufi Line — Nearly all critics agree that Şeyh Galib, who grew up at a time when classical poetry had fallen into repetition and imitation, was the last great poet of divan poetry. He was influenced by Hayali Bey, Nef'i, Fehim-i Kadim, Neşati and Fasih Ahmed Dede, and while using the classical conceits he consciously sought innovation. In this effort the influence of the sabk-i Hindi (Indian style), and above all of Shawkat Bukhari, was important; Galib felt a spiritual attachment to this Persian poet to the end of his life. In the "Fahriyye-i Şairane" at the end of Hüsn ü Aşk he sets out the basic principles of his poetics: the claim that nothing new remains to be said is false, for the bounty of God, who grants His servants the gift of speech, is endless; pure poetry is a kind of revelation and demands a fresh voice. Tanpınar described his poetry as "full of colour and light, like a chandelier".

His Works — ① Divan: he compiled it in 1781 when he was only twenty-four, and with later poems raised it to 5500 couplets; the divan printed in ta'lik script in 1252 (1836) contains 372 ghazals. ② Hüsn ü Aşk: a mystical, fantastic and symbolic masnavi written in 1783 in the short span of about six months, consisting of 2041 couplets and four tardiyyes; it narrates the spiritual journey of a seeker on the Sufi path. ③ Şerh-i Cezire-i Mesnevi: a commentary written in 1790 for beginners on the 366 couplets Yusuf Sineçak selected from the Masnavi; it is the author's only Turkish prose work. ④ al-Suhba al-safiya: Arabic glosses written in 1789 on the Arabic treatise al-Tuhfa al-bahiyya on Mevlevi manners and rites by Köseç Ahmed Dede of Trabzon. He also compiled the poems in Esrar Dede's Tezkire-i Şuara-yı Mevleviyye.

His Tomb and Complex — His grave lies in the garden of the Galata Mevlevihane in Beyoğlu, which today serves as the Museum of Divan Literature, in the Tomb of İsmail Ankaravi, which also contains four other cenotaphs. The eighteen-couplet chronogram he wrote for the first mukabele held after the repair, on 4 August 1792, was inscribed on the gate of the lodge, and his nine-couplet chronogram for the semahane was inscribed on that building's door.