Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Dünyâ temeli benim özümdür
Bu kadrimi bilmeyen oguzdur
Nûrumdan olur cihân münevver
Yaklaşma ki sûretim yavuzdur

In English

1. The foundation of the world is my essence; whoever does not know this worth of mine is a coarse, dull fellow.

2. The world is lit by my light; do not come near, for my face is fierce (my appearance is harsh and burning).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a four-line piece of two couplets (beyit). The first, second and fourth lines end with the words "özümdür", "oguzdur" and "yavuzdur"; the suffix "-dür/-dur" is the redif (refrain word), and the rhyme is formed by the sounds "-üz/-uz" before it. The third line is left free. Hüsameddin refers to this piece, together with Âbî's answer, as "kıt'alar" (quatrains). The source does not indicate the metre; the lines fit the pattern "mef'ûlü mefâ'ilün fe'ûlün" of aruz (quantitative metre), and this reading is ours.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The quatrain is built on the meaning carried by the poet's pen name (mahlas). "Âzer" is Persian for fire, and here Âzerî speaks as fire itself. In the old natural philosophy the world was held to be made of four elements, fire, air, water and earth; the poet can therefore say that the foundation of the world is his own essence. The illuminating power of fire comes to the fore in the third line: the world becomes "münevver", bright, through his light. The fourth line turns the burning quality of fire into a warning: no one should come near it. "Sûret" means face, appearance. The word "yavuz" appears to be used here in its old Turkish sense of harsh, fierce, to be feared, rather than in its present sense of "brave". The meaning of the word "oguz" in the second line is not entirely clear; from the context it is understood that a coarse and dull person who does not know the poet's worth is meant.

Because the boast of the quatrain rests wholly on the play with the pen name, it has the air of a jest in a gathering rather than of serious arrogance. The same game is reversed in Âbî's answer: water, however sharp fire may be, puts it out.

Historical Context

Hüsameddin quotes the quatrain from Abdî Efendi's now lost tezkire (biographical anthology of poets) of the poets of Amasya and says that it concerns Âzerî's "mulâtafe ve mufâhare with Âbî", that is, his jesting and contest of boasts with Âbî. Âzerî and Âbî Mehmed Çelebi, secretary of the treasury, were the fire and water members of the quartet of poets called in Amasya "anâsır-ı erbaa-i edeb", the four elements of letters; earth was represented by Türâbî and air by Hevâyî. Since Âzerî died around 1025 (1616), the quatrain was composed before that date. For Âzerî's life see the article Âzerî İbrâhim Efendi, and for Âbî's answer the article Âbî's quatrain.

Bibliography

Online sources