Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün

Bir güzeller şâhı gördüm âyet-i ḳadr-âne yüz
(Bir) Naẓar ḳıldım (mâh) yüzüne sûre-i Raḥmâne yüz
Bir iki âyet oḳudum gördüm anıň emrini
‘Aşḳ olan hemân bilsün sevdigim civâne yüz

In English

1. I saw the king of the fair ones, a face like a verse of the sura al-Qadr. I cast a glance at his moon face; that face was the sura al-Rahman. I read a verse or two and saw his command. Let every lover know at once: my face is turned to the youth I love (or: such is the face of the youth I love).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The quatrain is the first stanza of a divan recorded under the name Ömer on page 28 of the cönk. In folk poetry the divan is a form sung in quatrains in aruz, usually in the pattern "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün"; it spread among minstrels from the seventeenth century on, and Âşık Ömer was one of its most prolific representatives. The first, second and fourth lines end in "-âne yüz"; "yüz" (face) is the redif and "kadr-âne, Rahmâne, civâne" the rhyme. The third line stays outside the rhyme. The words "Bir" and "mâh" in brackets were added in the article to complete the reading. The lines follow the pattern "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün"; the identification of the metre is ours.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The quatrain works on an image much loved in divan poetry: likening the beloved's face to the Qur'an. The face is read like a page of the scripture: the fine down on the cheek is compared to lines of writing, the mole and the brows to letters. The poet first names the face with "âyet-i kadr"; the sura al-Qadr tells of the blessed night in which the Qur'an was revealed, and the word "kadr" also carries the sense of worth and value. In the second line the face is likened to the sura al-Rahman, which counts the blessings of God and speaks of His mercy. In the third line the poet says that he "read a verse or two" in this face and saw the beloved's command. The last line can be read in two ways: the redif "yüz" either describes the face of the youth he loves or states that the lover has turned his face toward that youth. The comparison is taken from the language of religion but used within a love poem; this boldness is an example of the way Âşık Ömer carried the images of divan poetry into minstrel verse.

Historical Context

The poem is recorded in the Merzifon Cönkü under the pen name Ömer. Metin Hakverdioğlu refers the Ömer of the cönk to Şükrü Elçin's book Âşık Ömer, published in 1987, and so identifies him with the great minstrel poet of the seventeenth century. The Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü notes that Âşık Ömer's poems have become mixed with those of other poets using the pen name Ömer; since we could not compare the poem with the editions of Ergun or Elçin, the attribution rests on the record in the cönk. The poet's life is in the article Âşık Ömer.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Official sources

  • Şükrü Elçin, Âşık Ömer, Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 1987 (as cited by Hakverdioğlu 2019).

Books

Online sources