Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef'ûlü fâilâtün mef'ûlü fâilâtün (muzâri). The pattern is not written in the edition; scanning the line together with its answers, we found it to be muzâri.

Hattuñ hadüñ yüzini dutdı nitekim ey cân

In English

1. O soul, the down on your face has covered the face of your cheek (just) as...

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

A single line that Mehmed II spoke and left unfinished stands on the last folio of the Millet manuscript, 23b: "Hattuñ hadüñ yüzini dutdı nitekim ey cân". The line is an unfinished comparison. It ends with the word "nitekim" (just as) and waits for a second line. As Doğan notes, twenty poets of the age each added a second line of their own to this line, building separate couplets, and these answers are written beneath the line in the manuscript. Ali Emîrî took eight more lines, written in another hand in the margin of the manuscript, into his own copy and noted that they were also found in two anthologies written before the hijri year 1000 (1591-92). The metre is the muzâri pattern "mef'ûlü fâilâtün mef'ûlü fâilâtün"; the answering lines follow the same pattern and the rhyme in "-ân".

This form reflects a game of the gathering: the sultan speaks a line, and the poets in the gathering each complete it with a line of their own. For this reason the edition, too, gives the line not as a poem but as the last piece of the divan.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

"Hatt" is the down that appears on the cheek of youths; "had" means cheek. The line seeks to tie the down's covering of the face of the cheek to a comparison: "O soul, your down has covered the face of your cheek, just as..." In divan poetry the down is likened to writing, ants, hyacinth, violets and armies; the cheek becomes a rose garden, a moon, a page or a land. The answering lines try almost all these comparisons and can be read like a dictionary of conceits. Ahmed Paşa uses as his comparison Solomon ceding his realm to the ants; Hayâlî Çelebi, the black army surrounding the land of Rum rank upon rank; Mevlânâ Kırımî, the pen writing verses of the Qur'an on a tablet; Mahmud Paşa, the poetry of the divan showing a chain to the land of Rum; and Kadızâde of Serres, with the words "Hindûya itdi teslîm Rûm mülkin İbn-i 'Osmân", the son of Osman handing over the land of Rum to an Indian. At the end of the list Hayrân and Ayâzmendî, named with the epithet "mudhik" (comic), turn the game into a joke by likening the down to blackberries and to an aubergine among green leaves.

Historical Context

The list of those who answered is a picture of Mehmed II's circle. Hızır Bey, the first judge of Istanbul, the sultan's teacher Molla Gürânî, Ahmed Paşa, the grand vizier Mahmud Paşa, poets such as Hayâlî and Ulvî, Kadızâde, Sâhibî and Tâlibî all answered the same line. Among the eight lines added later appear the names of Efdalzâde Hamîdüddîn, who later became şeyhülislam, the chief judge Kestelî, and Mehmed II's teacher Hatîbzâde Muhyiddîn Mehmed. The list is given below in the order of the manuscript.

The twenty answers written beneath the line in the manuscript:

  • Hızır Beg: Âyîne-i vücûdı dûd-ı dil-i muhibbân
  • Gürânî: La‘lîn tabak içinde pîrûze-rîze lerzân
  • Dâvûd-ı Gûyende: Cennet çemenlerini bitürdi ebr-i nîsân
  • Hayalî Çelebi: Saf saf sipâh-ı Zengî etrâf-ı Rûmı yek-sân
  • Bâlî Paşa: Levh-i kamerde yazdı satr-ı hurûfı Yezdân
  • Ahmed Paşa: Mûra müsellem itdi emlâkini Süleymân
  • Hâci Hasanoğlu: Yâkût safhasını hatt-ı gubâr-ı reyhân
  • Mevlânâ Kırımî: Levh üzre yazdı hâmeñ âyât-ı nazm-ı Kur’ân
  • Hâce-zâde: Etrâf-ı gül-sitânı itdi benefşe gerdân
  • ‘Işkî: Bâğ-ı Behişt içinde gül çevresini reyhân
  • ‘Ulvî: Devr-i kamerde Rûmî tuğrâ-yı şâh-ı devrân
  • Kâdî Ayâzmendî: Misk-i Hoten çerisi gül milketini yek-sân
  • Mahmûd Paşa: Rûm iklîmine zencîr gösterdi nazm-ı dîvân
  • Sâbirî: Gül safhasında olmış miskîn benefşe-efşân
  • Sâbirî ‘Îsâ: Hüccâc-i Hind dolmış Mekke içinde ‘uryân
  • Kâdî-zâde-i Siroz: Hindûya itdi teslîm Rûm mülkin İbn-i ‘Osmân
  • Sâhibî: San mûrçe irişüp Firdevse oldı mihmân
  • Tâlibî: Geldi Habeş ilinden Rûm içre buldı îmân
  • Hayrân-ı mudhik: Kara çalu böğürtlen iğde dükânı sencân
  • Ayâzmendî-i mudhik: Yaşıl yaprağ içinde hoş yaraşur batıncân

The eight answers written in another hand in the margin of the manuscript and added by Ali Emîrî to his copy:

  • Mevlânâ Hamîdüddîn Efdal-zâde Hüseynî: Gül defteri dürildi geldi vücûda reyhân
  • Kâdîasker Mevlânâ Muslihüddîn Kastalânî eş-şehîr bi-Kestelî: Devr-i kamerde yazdı tuğrâyı şâh-ı devrân
  • Mevlânâ Muhyiddîn Muhammed bin Tâcüddîn İbrâhîm eş-şehîr bi-Hatîbzâde muallim-i Cenâb-ı Fâtih (teacher of Mehmed II): Düşmiş kenâr-ı şemse zıll-ı sehâb-ı nîsân
  • Mevlânâ Ebherî: Zeyn itdi gülistânı irişdi tâze reyhân
  • Şeyh Firâkî: Âyine-i cihânı kapladı ebr-i bârân
  • Şerîfî-i Âmidî: Gülzâr-ı hüsn içinde bitdi benefşe reyhân
  • Lâ-edrî (anonymous): Geldi ecel dirîğâ uşşâkı itdi bî-cân
  • Lâ-edrî (anonymous): Bitse benefşe yir yir ziynet bulur gülistân

Bibliography

  • Fâtih Sultan Mehmed (Avnî), Fâtih Dîvânı ve Şerhi / Dīwān of Sultan Mehmed II with Commentary, ed. Muhammet Nur Doğan, English trans. Michael D. Sheridan, 3rd ed., Istanbul: Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı, 2023, poem 85, pp. 559-561 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 23b; the answering lines on the same folio and in the margin). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources