Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

Zīrek Oġlına şā‘irüñ birisi
Medḥ iletdi çü devlete irdi
Ger ṣorarısañ ne virdi cāyizesin
Luṭflar itdi va‘deler virdi

In English

1. When Zeyrekoğlu attained fortune, that is, high office, a certain poet carried a poem of praise to him.

2. If you ask what he gave as the câize, the reward for the praise: he showed kindnesses and gave promises.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a kıt‘a (fragment) of two couplets; only the second lines of the couplets rhyme: irdi, virdi. The metre is the pattern "fā‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün" of the hafîf family of aruz (quantitative metre); the last foot at times becomes "fa‘lün", and the word "Oġlına" requires lengthening of a vowel (imâle). The edition does not state the metre. It is number XLIX in Ahmet Kartal's edition. The text in Âşık Çelebi differs in two places: in the second line "vü" (and) is read instead of "çü" (when), in the third "ṣorarsañ" instead of "ṣorarısañ". The "ṣorarısañ" of Kartal's edition adds a syllable to the line and breaks the metre; Âşık Çelebi's reading "ṣorarsañ" appears correct.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole point of the kıt‘a lies in its last line. The first three lines relate, in plain narration, the presentation of a kaside (qasida) and the expectation of a reward. The poet speaks of himself as "şā‘irüñ birisi", a certain poet; this is the voice of a storyteller relating the event from outside, and it makes the target of the satire all the clearer. The reader expects the answer to be money or a robe of honour, but the answer is "luṭflar itdi, va‘deler virdi". The verb "virdi", gave, occurs twice in the second couplet: in the question its object is the reward, in the answer not the expected reward but promises; in rhyme position it also makes a play of sound with "irdi" (attained). That promises are "given" like a gift adds a mocking contrast to the kıt‘a.

The phrase "devlete irmek" also has two senses. It can describe Zeyrekoğlu's attaining an office such as that of kazasker, that is, power and standing, and also the poet's believing, after presenting his praise, that he himself had come into good fortune. In this second reading the line also mocks the poet's own naivety.

Historical Context

Âşık Çelebi tells why the kıt‘a was written. When Zeyrekoğlu became kazasker, Basîrî presented a kaside to him; Zeyrekoğlu promised to give a reward but did not. Thereupon Basîrî first spoke this kıt‘a, and then, under the heading "Der-īn ḥāl" (on this situation), a second kıt‘a beginning "Ey muḥīṭ-i ‘ulūm". In Kartal's edition this second kıt‘a is number XLVI; Kartal quotes the two together from Âşık Çelebi and notes that Basîrî satirised in his poems those who promised a reward and did not give it.

Basîrî's livelihood rested on the rewards he received for the kasides he presented to the sultan and the grandees of the state and, according to Âşık Çelebi, on a stipend assigned from the surplus revenues of the Ayasofya endowment. Âşık Çelebi says that he needled the grandees with his words, yet still wore their kaftans and ate their bounty. This kıt‘a records, in short and sharp language, a moment when this relationship between the poet and his patron broke down.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Filiz Kılıç, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), pp. 180, 182, entry on Basîrî. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

Books

Online sources