Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün

Gül ne cân ile kılur bu hüsn-i cânân ile bahs̱
Gonçe ne yüzden ider ol verd-i hândân ile bahs̱
Bahs̱-i yâr ider benümle dem-be-dem bî-din hasûd
Hey ne kâfirdür görüñ eyler müselmân ile bahs̱
Kanımı içmek dilerse suhte hûnî gözlerüñ
Kim ider ol sâhir ü mekkâr u fettan ile bahs̱
Pehlevânlık kârzârında bu gün Rüstem-ṣıfat
Eylerüm meydân-ı 'ışk içre Nerimân ile bahs̱
Ey Harîmî şi'riñüñ vasfını şerh itmez hezâr
Defter ü dîvân iderse ger bu destân ile bahs̱

In English

1. With what daring does the rose compete with the beauty of the beloved; with what face does the bud enter a contest with that laughing rose (the beloved's face)?

2. The faithless envier argues with me about the beloved all the time; look, what an infidel he is, arguing with a Muslim.

3. If your languid (sûhte) and bloodthirsty eyes wish to drink my blood, who can contend with that sorcerer, that trickster and troublemaker?

4. Today, like Rüstem in the battle of champions, I contend with Nerîman on the field of love.

5. O Harîmî, even if a thousand ledgers and divans competed with this epic, they could not explain the worth of your poetry.

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 se (ث) of the Arabic alphabet. The redif (refrain word) is "ile bahs̱"; "bahs̱" means argument or contest. The rhyme is the "-ân" of "cânân, hândân, müselmân, fettan, Nerimân, destân". The metre is the remel pattern Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün. In the digital text the redif came out as "bahş"; since Kılıç's quotation in the study section writes "bahs" and the letter heading points to se, the word is given as "bahs̱". Kılıç quotes the fourth and fifth couplets as examples of couplets in which Harîmî praises himself and his poetry. 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

Every couplet of the ghazal is a scene of contest or dispute. The rose and the bud cannot compete with the beloved's face; "verd-i handân" (laughing rose) describes the opened rose and the smiling face at once. In the second couplet the envious rival is called "faithless" and the lover "Muslim"; this contrast of infidel and Muslim is a familiar way of belittling the rival in divan poetry. The word "sûhte" in the third couplet means both "burnt" and "medrese student"; here it refers to the burning, languid look of the eye. The fourth couplet names heroes of Firdawsi's Shahnama. Rüstem is the greatest champion of the Iranian epic, and Nerîman is a champion counted among the ancestors of his line. The lover sees the field of love as a battlefield and measures himself against the heroes of the epic. The word "hezâr" in the last couplet means "a thousand", but since it is also one of the names of the nightingale in divan poetry it forms a fitting tevriye (double entendre) with a poem that began with the rose and the bud. The phrase "defter ü dîvân" likewise evokes both a poet's divan and the councils and registers of the state.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Harîmî (Şehzade Korkut), Dîvânçe, Millet Library, Ali Emîrî, Manzum Eserler nr. 104.

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 4, p. 210). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

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