Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilün

Perdesiz dimek içün râzını dildâre kopuz
Elin ayağın öpüp yüz süre yalvara kopuz
Geydigi köhne nemed ṣohbet-i 'uşşâka gider
Yürür elden ele bi-çâre vü âvâre kopuz
Mutrib alup dizi üstine kulağını burar
Dimesün diye meger sırrını agyâre kopuz
Damağın çatladuben la'line karşu ezilür
Dostlar gör nice 'âşık dirilür yâre kopuz
Delinüp bagrı anuñ ney gibi iñledigi bu
Ey Harîmî bulamaz derdine bir çâre kopuz

In English

1. So that it may tell its secret to the beloved without a veil (perde), that is openly, the lute kopuz kisses the beloved's hands and feet, rubs its face and pleads.

2. In the old felt cover drawn over its back it goes to the gathering of lovers; helpless and vagrant, the kopuz wanders from hand to hand.

3. The musician takes it on his knee and twists its ear; perhaps so that the kopuz will not tell its secret to strangers.

4. With its palate cracked it is crushed before the beloved's lips; friends, see how the kopuz falls in love with the beloved. Since "dirilür" can be read as "comes to life" or as "is called", the line can be understood in two ways: the kopuz comes alive through the beloved, or it is called a lover of the beloved.

5. That is why its breast is pierced and it moans like the reed flute; O Harîmî, the kopuz finds no cure for its pain.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of five couplets and the only example among the poems ending in the letter ze of the Arabic alphabet. The metre is the remel pattern Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "kopuz", and the rhyme is the "-âre" of "dildâre, yalvara, âvâre, agyâre, yâre, çâre". The second line of the fourth couplet came out in the digital text as "Dostlar görince". Since Kılıç's transcription in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü writes "Dostlar gör nice", that form has been adopted. Kılıç also placed this ghazal in that dictionary as one of the four examples she chose from the Dîvânçe; the text there is given in a simpler spelling ("Perdesüz", "Geydügi", "inledügi"). The letters ṣ (sad) and s̱ (se), which came out as ş in the digital text, have been restored according to the original spelling of the words. The poet's life, works and the state of the Dîvânçe are discussed in Şehzade Korkut (Harîmî): Literary Persona, Works and Poems.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is built from beginning to end on an instrument, the kopuz, a long-necked lute, which is made to speak like a suffering lover. As Kılıç notes, the poet also tells in this way how the kopuz is made and how it is played. The wordplay rests on the parts of the instrument. "Perde" is both the fret of a stringed instrument and a veil; "to speak without a veil" means both to speak openly and to draw sound from an instrument without frets. "Kulak" (ear) is both the human ear and the tuning peg; the musician twisting the peg recalls a child whose ear is pulled so that he will not give away a secret. The felt cover is imagined as an old dervish cloak, and the kopuz becomes a vagrant dervish wandering from hand to hand. The "palate" and the "breast" are tied to the body of the instrument, and its sound hole to a breast pierced like the reed flute. The likeness drawn between the moaning of the kopuz and that of the reed flute turns both instruments into the voice of the lover.

Historical Context

The biographical anthologies say that Korkut was closely engaged with music. Sehî mentions his knowledge of music and the instrument he invented, called "Gıdâ-yı Rûh". Kınalızâde tells how the Iranian kemençe master Zeynelâbidîn played carelessly before the prince and how Korkut showed his superiority with an instrument of his own invention called "rûh-efzâ". This ghazal, which turns an instrument into a lover, can be read together with the poet's love of music. The sources, however, do not link the poem to any particular event; this connection is an inference.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Filiz Kılıç, "Osmanlı Hanedanında Bir Şair: Şehzade Korkut", Bilig (Ahmet Yesevi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi), 2, Summer 1996, pp. 203–219 (Dîvânçe text pp. 209–218; ghazal 10, p. 211). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

Official sources

Books

Online sources