Basîrî was a poet who came to the Ottoman lands from the east at the end of the fifteenth century, spent the rest of his life there and wrote poetry in both Persian and Turkish. His real name was Mehmed; in the preface of the Persian divan he arranged in his own hand he records his full name as Mehmed b. Ahmed b. Ebü'l-Meâlî el-Murtazâ. Because of the mottled patches on his skin caused by the disease baras, he was also known as "Alaca Basîrî", piebald Basîrî. The biographical anthologies present him above all as a wit and a teller of jests, sought after in the gatherings of the great men of state. His life, stretching from the Akkoyunlu court to Herat and from there to Istanbul, made him a bridge between the literary circle of Nevâî and Câmî and Ottoman poetry.

Basîrî's tie to Amasya is disputed. The anthologies and his entry in the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam do not mention Amasya. Hüseyin Hüsameddin, however, presents Basîrî in his History of Amasya as a poet who grew up in Amasya, became the boon companion and private poet of Prince Ahmed, and presented a victory kaside to Sultan Selim when he came to Amasya in 1514; elsewhere he counts Basîrî among the "Persian poets" known in the city at the time of a princely wedding held in Amasya in 911. Basîrî is therefore mentioned among the Divan Poets of Amasya with the contradiction of the sources stated plainly. The details of his life are told in his biography in the Historical Figures section of our site; here the emphasis is on his poetry.

Life and Ties to Amasya

The sources do not agree on where Basîrî came from. Muhammed-i Kazvînî, Sehî Bey and Gelibolulu Âlî count him Persian; Latîfî says "Vilâyet-i ʿAcem ser-ḥaddine ḳarîb yerden ġalibâ Baġdaddandur", from a place near the Persian frontier, probably from Baghdad; Âşık Çelebi and Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi after him write that he was from Khorasan, and Riyâzî and Kâtib Çelebi that he was from Baghdad. Mehmed Çavuşoğlu, in his entry in the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam, argues that he was neither from Khorasan nor from Baghdad but most probably from the south-eastern provinces of Turkey, and explains the biographers' word "Acem", Persian, by the Ottoman intellectuals' habit of counting as Persian everyone who lived beyond the eastern frontier. Ahmet Kartal, drawing on Nâil Tuman, gives his date of birth as 871 (1466).

According to Çavuşoğlu, Basîrî in his youth was with Uğurlu Mehmed and Yakub Bey, sons of the Akkoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan, and presented kasides to them. He travelled widely; around 892 (1487) he met Ali Şîr Nevâî, Hüseyin Baykara, Câmî and Binâî in Herat, and Nevâî introduced him to that circle by writing a riddle on his name. Around 1491 he was briefly in Istanbul, then became the companion of the Akkoyunlu ruler Göde Ahmed Bey, was sent by him as envoy to Bayezid II in 901 (1495-96), and never went back, remaining in Istanbul. Latîfî says that Basîrî was the first to bring Nevâî's divan to the Ottoman lands; Âşık Çelebi too writes that he came with the books, ghazals and letters of recommendation of Nevâî and Câmî.

In Istanbul Basîrî enjoyed the patronage of Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi, Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Çelebi and later the treasurer (defterdar) İskender Çelebi. According to Âşık Çelebi he was for a time the companion of Uğurlu Sultan Ahmed, son-in-law of Bayezid II, and was granted an annual stipend from the sultan's treasury and a daily allowance from the surplus revenue of the endowment of Hagia Sophia. He lived on the rewards he received for the kasides he presented to the sultan and the great men of state. Âşık Çelebi writes that he died in Istanbul in 941 (1534-35) at about seventy; he was buried in the poets' cemetery outside Edirnekapı.

The life Hüseyin Hüsameddin tells is quite different. According to him, Basîrî Mehmed Çelebi was known as "Nişânîzâde" and was the son of Ahmed Çelebi bin Kutbeddin Câmî, chancellor (nişancı) in Amasya. His father, a relative of Molla Câmî, had come to Amasya with Câmî's letter of recommendation and won Bayezid's favour during his princely years; Basîrî grew up in Amasya, studied literature under his father's patronage when his father became chancellor to Prince Ahmed, and by approaching the prince with his kasides became his boon companion and private poet. According to Hüsameddin, after the killing of Prince Ahmed in 918 Basîrî remained in Amasya in disfavour, and in 920, when Sultan Selim came to Amasya, he won the sultan's favour with a victory kaside and went to Istanbul, where he became the boon companion of the treasurer İskender Çelebi of Amasya, and died in 940. Hüsameddin also notes that Münîrî's Münşeât records Basîrî as twenty-seven years old in 916; this does not accord with Âşık Çelebi's statement that he was seventy at his death. Hüsameddin adds that the story of coming to Rûm with Câmî's letter of recommendation in fact belongs to his father Ahmed Çelebi, Basîrî's age not fitting it. Since this account conflicts with the information of the anthologies and of Çavuşoğlu and cites no source, it should be treated with caution. Elsewhere in the same work, describing the circumcision feast Prince Ahmed held in Amasya in 911, Hüsameddin counts Basîrî, Penâhî and Kutbî among the "Persian poets", alongside the Turkish poets, who were known in Amasya at that time.

Works

The only known manuscript of Basîrî in his own hand is the miscellany no. 292 in the Âşir Efendi collection of the Süleymaniye Library. At the beginning of this miscellany is Hâce-i Cihân Mahmûd b. Muhammed el-Gîlânî's Riyâżetü'l-inşâ, followed by Basîrî's Persian divan (fols. 229b-281a). The Persian divan contains a preface, twenty-three kasides, 121 ghazals and poems mostly in the form of chronogram kıt‘as. No separate manuscript of the Turkish divan mentioned in the sources has been found; but Basîrî's Turkish poems are found together at the end of the Persian divan. According to Ahmet Kartal's count there are one kaside, forty-six ghazals and some kıt‘as and couplets; Çavuşoğlu speaks of more than fifty Turkish poems. Kartal published these poems in transcription in 2000 in his article "Basîrî ve Türkçe Şiirleri". Kâtib Çelebi mentions Basîrî's Turkish divan in the Keşfü'z-zunûn; according to Kartal, Kâtib Çelebi had not seen this divan and reached this conclusion from four couplets he saw in a work called Zübde.

The work that brought Basîrî his real fame is his Letâif. This collection of jests has not come down complete; an incomplete manuscript is in the library of the Koyunoğlu Museum in Konya. Some of the jests are also found among the jests compiled by Lâmiîzâde Lem'î Çelebi and attributed to his father. Âşık Çelebi also mentions a work called Bengînâme; it is not known today. The anthologies also state that Basîrî was a master of the chronogram: Âşık Çelebi quotes the chronograms he composed for the birth of Prince Cihangir, the conquest of Rhodes and the conquest of Belgrade.

On our site twelve of Basîrî's Turkish poems have been published in separate articles with their original texts, modern renderings and commentaries. They include the ghazal at the head of the divan, a Sufi ghazal, the food ghazal, the kaside presented to Sultan Selim Shah, the satirical kıt‘as on Zeyrekoğlu and the physician Nasûhî, and the opening couplet spoken on Müeyyedzâde.

Literary Persona

The biographers' judgements on Basîrî dwell more on his wit than on his poetry. Âşık Çelebi praises him as "meṭā‘-ı naẓmuñ vāḳıf u ḫabīri ve fenn-i şi‘rüñ nāḳıd u baṣīri", the knowing connoisseur of the wares of verse and the critic and seer of the art of poetry, playing on the meaning "insight" of his pen name. He writes that his poems were "gāh cidd ü gāh hezl", sometimes serious and sometimes in jest, that he joked with the great men of state and was the salt of every gathering. Latîfî too mentions him as "laṭîfe-gûy cerb-zebân ve şûḫ-mizâc", a jester, sweet-tongued and merry-natured, and jokes about his nickname, saying "ḫûy u ḫaṣletde alacaluġından ġayrı ʿaybı yoġidi", in temper and character he had no fault but his piebaldness. Kınalızâde counts him "fünûn-ı leṭâ'ifün nâkıd u basîri", the critic and seer of the arts of the jest.

According to Çavuşoğlu, Basîrî's poems are almost flawless in metre and easy in expression; the play on meaning practised by most of his contemporaries is seldom found in him. At first he wrote in his own Azeri dialect, which the biographers called "Acemâne", in the Persian manner, and later began to use the Turkish of Istanbul; even so, traces of the Azeri dialect can be seen here and there in the poems he recorded in his own hand. Gelibolulu Âlî also says that although he was "Persian" he had a good grasp of Turkish idioms and the expressions of the spoken language. He formed friendships with the poets of the first quarter of the sixteenth century, above all Zâtî, Kandî and Keşfî.

Kartal shows that love holds an important place in Basîrî's Turkish poems, that the poet often compares himself with Majnun and Ferhad, and that Sufism too is prominent in his poems. In the closing couplet of one ghazal the poet says that his word is his own and that he has made no "isti‘âre", no borrowing, from any divan. His two ghazals containing the names of dishes carry his jesting side into poetry. The jests told by the anthologies show the same side. According to Âşık Çelebi, Basîrî in a treatise distributed judgeships to his friends to suit their nicknames, reserving "Alacahisar", the Piebald Castle, for himself. His exchanges with Revânî are told at length by Latîfî: when he received ten akçe, five of copper and five of lead, for a kaside he had presented to Revânî, he satirised his stinginess in kıt‘as, and Revânî answered with a kıt‘a teasing him about his piebaldness.

Examples of His Poetry

Ghazal: Gül eger buyısa baña gül-‘iẕārum gül yiter

Gül eger buyısa baña gül-‘iẕārum gül yiter
‘Ārife bir gül yiterse baña yarım gül yiter

If this is what they call a rose, the beloved is rose enough for the lover; if one rose is enough for the gnostic, half a rose is enough for him. The couplet rests on the saying "a hint is enough for the gnostic". In Latîfî's text the second line reads "baña yârüm gül yiter", "my beloved is rose enough for me", and this reading fits the ghazal's rhyme (Kartal 2000, p. 89; Latîfî, Tezkire, p. 148).

Ghazal: Ol iki sermest gözler ‘ārıż-ı dildārda

Ol iki sermest gözler ‘ārıż-ı dildārda
İki nergisdür açılmış kūşe-i gülzārda

The two drunken eyes on the beloved's cheek are two narcissi blooming in the corner of the rose garden. Hüsameddin too gives this opening couplet, which Latîfî quotes as "maḫmûr gözler", in his History of Amasya (Kartal 2000, p. 95; Latîfî, Tezkire, p. 148).

Opening Couplet: ‘Āşıḳlarını āh o Mesīḥā-dem öldürür

‘Āşıḳlarını āh o Mesīḥā-dem öldürür
Bu ādem öldürür ki Mesīḥ ādem oldurur

The beloved with the Messiah's breath kills her lovers; while the Messiah revives men, she kills them. The meeting in rhyme of "öldürür" and "oldurur", written alike in Arabic script, is a fine example of paronomasia. Latîfî, Âşık Çelebi and Âlî quote it (Latîfî, Tezkire, p. 148; Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'ir, p. 181).

Opening Couplet: Manṣıb-ı ḥüsnin dirīġ eyler bu ben üftādeden

Manṣıb-ı ḥüsnin dirīġ eyler bu ben üftādeden
Dilberüm bī-raḥmrek olmış Mü’eyyed-zādeden

The beloved withholds the office of her beauty from the lover; she has become more merciless than Müeyyedzâde. According to Âşık Çelebi, Basîrî asked the chief judge Müeyyedzâde for a post and, hearing him say "compassion is a disease, we do not have it", uttered this couplet. Müeyyedzâde was from Amasya and in his youth belonged to Prince Bayezid's circle there (Kartal 2000, p. 95; Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'ir, p. 180).

Ghazal: N’eyleyem kim viṣāle çārem yoḳ

Ma‘nā-yı ḫāṣdur Basīrī sözüm
Hiç dīvāndan isti‘ārem yoḳ

The poet says that his word is a meaning of his own and that he has borrowed from no divan; the word "isti‘âre" means both borrowing and the art of metaphor (Kartal 2000, p. 91).

Ghazal: Būm-ı meyüm k’ola bu vīrānile ülfetüm

Būm-ı meyüm k’ola bu vīrānile ülfetüm
Sidre üzre āşıyān itmiş hümā-yı himmetüm
Çūb-i rezden baña tābūt eyle ey pīr-i muġān
Bāde-i ‘ışḳ olıcaḳ āḫir nefesde şerbetüm

The poet likens himself to the owl of the tavern's ruin and his aspiration to a huma that has nested on the Sidra tree, and asks the tavern elder for a coffin of vine branches. Two couplets from the ghazal Kartal calls "written entirely in Sufi thought" (Kartal 2000, p. 92).

Ghazal: Bulġur aşını sevmezem Tañrum aña irgürmesün

Bulġur aşını sevmezem Tañrum aña irgürmesün
Dāne birincüñ ḳulıyam şūrbāyı gözüm görmesün

The poet says that he does not love bulgur porridge, that he is the slave of the grain of rice and does not even want to see soup. This ghazal, which carries the language of love poetry over to food, is an example in verse of Basîrî's jesting side (Kartal 2000, p. 94).

Kaside: Leşker-gehüñdürür felek encüm saña sipāh

İskender-i zamāne vü Keyḫüsrev-i zamān
Şāh-ı sipihr-mertebe Sulṭān Selīmşāh

The only kaside among Basîrî's Turkish poems is presented to "Sulṭān Selīmşāh". Since Basîrî died in 1534-35, the sultan praised must be Selim I; Kartal takes it as written to Selim II. The relation between this kaside and the "victory kaside" that Hüsameddin says Basîrî presented to Selim in Amasya in 1514 is not known (Kartal 2000, pp. 94-95).

Kıt‘a: Ey muḥīṭ-i ‘ulūm kim maḥżā

Ey muḥīṭ-i ‘ulūm kim maḥżā
Ḳaṭredür ‘ilmüñüz ḳatında deñiz
Didiñüz virelüm saña ṣadaḳa
Va‘deden ġayrı nesne virmedüñüz

The man praised as an ocean of learning promised the poet alms but gave nothing beyond the promise. According to Âşık Çelebi the kıt‘a was uttered when the chief judge Zeyrekoğlu, to whom he had presented a kaside, failed to give his reward (Kartal 2000, p. 95; Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'ir, p. 182).

Kıt‘a: Kim ki bīmār-ḫāneye girdi

Kim ki bīmār-ḫāneye girdi
Eceli geldi ḳabż-ı rūḥ itdi
Çünki içdi naṣūḥī şerbetini
Ṣıḥḥata tevbe-i naṣūḥ itdi

Everyone who enters the hospital dies, for whoever drinks Nasûhî's sherbet makes a "sincere repentance" of good health. Âşık Çelebi quotes the kıt‘a in the entry on Nasûhî, chief physician of the Edirne hospital (Kartal 2000, p. 95; Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'ir, p. 375).

Persian Opening Couplet: Tā ḫāk-i pāyet ez naẓar-ı ehl-i derd reft

Tā ḫāk-i pāyet ez naẓar-ı ehl-i derd reft
Çendān girīst dīde ki deryā be-gerd reft

In Filiz Kılıç's translation: "Since the dust of your feet left the sight of the people of pain, the eyes wept so much that the sea turned to dust." This Persian opening couplet, quoted by Latîfî, Âşık Çelebi and Âlî, is an example of Basîrî's Persian poetry (Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'ir, p. 182).

Chronology

871 (1466): The date of birth Kartal gives on the basis of Nâil Tuman.

892 (1487): He met Nevâî, Câmî, Hüseyin Baykara and Binâî in Herat (TDV).

901 (1495-96): He was sent as envoy to Bayezid II by the Akkoyunlu Göde Ahmed Bey and remained in Istanbul.

911 (1505-06): According to Hüsameddin he was among the poets known in Amasya at the time of Prince Ahmed's circumcision feast there.

920 (1514): According to Hüsameddin he presented a victory kaside to Sultan Selim in Amasya.

927 (1521): He composed a chronogram on the conquest of Belgrade (Âşık Çelebi).

929 (1522): He composed three chronograms in a single line on the conquest of Rhodes (Âşık Çelebi).

941 (1534-35): According to Âşık Çelebi he died in Istanbul; Hüsameddin gives the year 940. He was buried outside Edirnekapı.

2000: Ahmet Kartal published his Turkish poems.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Latîfî, Tezkiretü'ş-şu'arâ ve Tabsıratü'n-nuzamâ, ed. Rıdvan Canım, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), pp. 148-150, entry on Basîrî.
  • 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; pp. 374-375, entry on Nasûhî.
  • Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi, Tezkiretü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2017 (e-book), pp. 235-236, entry on Basîrî.
  • Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî, Künhü'l-ahbâr'ın Tezkire Kısmı, ed. Mustafa İsen, Ankara: Atatürk Kültür Merkezi, 1994, pp. 152-153, entry on Basîrî.
  • Abdizâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar, Amasya Tarihi 6-8. Cilt, ed. Songül Keçeci Kurt - Recep Orhan Özel - Metin Hakverdioğlu, Amasya: Amasya Belediyesi, 2022, pp. 418-419; Amasya Tarihi 1-4. Cilt, same editors, 2022, p. 486.

Academic studies

Books

Online sources