Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Âsumân-ı hüsnde ey ebru hilâlî sen misin
Yoksa gözler görmedik bir tâk-ı âlî sen misin
Tîğden niçün geçürdiler bugün ey hat seni
Rûmda başkaldıran yoksa Celâlî sen misin

In English

1. O eyebrow, are you the crescent moon in the sky of beauty, or a lofty arch such as the eyes have never seen?

2. O down (hat), the first hair appearing on the beloved's face, why did they put you to the blade, that is, to the razor today? Are you then the Celâlî who has risen in revolt in the land of Rûm?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Hüsameddin gives these two couplets one after the other, introducing them with "Bu da onundur" (this too is his). The same two couplets appear together in the Edâyî Beg entries of the biographical anthologies (tezkire) of Kınalızâde and Beyânî; TEİS, relying on Kınalızâde, cites them under the heading "Kıt'a" (short poem). The redif (refrain word) is "sen misin" (is it you), and the rhyme is the sound "-âlî" in the words "hilâlî, âlî, Celâlî". Since both lines of the first couplet rhyme, this couplet has the form of an opening couplet (matla); in a kıt'a the first line is usually unrhymed. It is therefore also possible that the piece is the first two couplets of a ghazal; this assessment is our own. The sources do not indicate the metre.

The text appears in the sources with small differences. In Kınalızâde the first line reads "Âsmân-ı hüsnün ey ebr ü hilâli sen misin"; in this reading the eyebrow becomes "the cloud and the crescent" of the sky of beauty. Beyânî reads "ey ebrû hilâli". Kınalızâde and Beyânî read "görmedün" in the second line, Hüsameddin "görmedik". Hüsameddin's text has been followed here.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first couplet expresses, in the form of a question, one of the commonest similes of divan poetry: the beloved's arched eyebrow resembles the new moon, the crescent, and with its high, vaulted shape the tâk, that is, the arch of a palace gateway. The poet seems to ask though he knows the answer; this feigned ignorance is the figure called tecâhül-i ârif in divan poetry. The phrase "âsumân-ı hüsn" (sky of beauty) presents the face as a sky and sets the crescent image in its place.

The second couplet turns to an unexpected witticism. "Hat" is the first down appearing on the faces of young men; in divan poetry it announces that the end of beauty is near. The shaving of the down is expressed with the phrase "tîğden geçirmek": "tîğ" means both sword and razor, and "kılıçtan geçirmek" (to put to the sword) is an idiom for collective punishment, for killing by the sword. Exploiting this double meaning, the poet likens the shave to the punishment of a rebel: the down that has appeared and spread over the land of the face without leave is like a Celâlî who has risen in revolt in the land of Rûm. "Rûm" is used for Anatolia and for the Ottoman lands in general. This interpretation is our own.

Historical Context

The name "Celâlî" derives from Bozoklu Şeyh Celâl, who rose in revolt in the region of Tokat in 1519 claiming to be the Mahdi. The revolts that followed, whatever their aim and nature, came to be called Celâlî among the people after his name, and the people began to regard every rebel who harmed them as a Celâlî. The use of the word in Edâyî's couplet in the sense of "rebel, brigand" rather than as a personal name shows that by the middle of the sixteenth century the word had become established in Anatolia in this general sense. The fact that Tokat neighbours Amasya makes the choice of this word by a poet of Amasya all the more meaningful; this last observation is our own.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources