Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

'Işka düşdüñ ey gönül ney gibi nâlân ol yüri
Zülf-i dilber gibi var hâl-i perîşân ol yüri
Pâdişehlık budur ey dil tâ ölince dilberün
İtleriyle her gice küyında mihmân ol yüri
Lutf kıl ey müdde'î tek dâmen-i dildârı ko
Büsbütün dünyâ saña var Mısra sultân ol yüri
Bahr-i 'ışka fülk-i ten gark olısardur 'akıbet
'Âlemi tûfân idüp ey eşk-i bârân ol yüri
Gerçi kim olmış durur mürşide izhâr-ı kemâl
Ey Harîmî sen bugün şi'rüñle Selmân ol yüri

In English

1. O heart, you have fallen in love; go, moan like the reed flute; go, let your state be dishevelled like the beloved's locks.

2. O heart, this is kingship: until you die, be a guest every night in the beloved's street, together with the beloved's dogs.

3. O rival, be so kind, only let go of the beloved's skirt; let the whole world be yours, go and be sultan of Egypt.

4. The ship of the body will sink at last in the sea of love; O tears, turn the world into a deluge, go and be rain.

5. Though it falls to the spiritual guide to display perfection, O Harîmî, go today and be a Selmân with your verse.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of five couplets. The metre is the remel pattern Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "ol yüri" (go and be ...), and the rhyme is the "-ân" of "nâlân, perîşân, mihmân, sultân, bârân, Selmân". The prayer in the heading is "En'amallâhü 'aleyhi". The word "var" in the third couplet stands in the digital text as "dar"; it has been corrected after Kılıç's transcription in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü. Kılıç placed this ghazal in that dictionary as one of the four examples she chose from the Dîvânçe; there the fourth couplet reads "ey eşk bârân" and the fifth "mürşîde". 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 redif "ol yüri" turns the ghazal into a string of commands: moan, be dishevelled, be a guest, be a sultan, be rain. The second couplet draws attention when one considers that it was written by a prince. Spending the night with the dogs in the beloved's street is a familiar motif of the lover's utter self-abasement in divan poetry; the poet calls this "kingship" and overturns accepted values. In the third couplet the rival is told that if he lets the beloved go, the whole world and the sultanate of Egypt may be his. The sultanate of Egypt is often mentioned in divan poetry because of the story of Joseph, who came out of the well and the prison to become the ruler of Egypt. In the fourth couplet the body is a ship that will sink in the sea of love, and the tears are asked to be a rain that turns the world into a deluge, a reference to Noah's flood. The Selmân of the last couplet is most probably the Persian poet Selmân-ı Sâvecî, though this is an inference. The couplet is a good example of Kılıç's observation that Harîmî now and then praises himself and his art.

Historical Context

The sultanate of Egypt in the third couplet calls to mind the fourteen months Korkut spent in Cairo in 1509-1510. Since it is not known when the ghazal was written, however, this link cannot be drawn; Egypt's place in divan poetry is enough to explain the couplet.

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 51, p. 218). teis.yesevi.edu.tr
  • Feridun Emecen, "Korkut, Şehzade", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 26, Ankara 2002, pp. 205–207. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/korkut-sehzade

Books

Online sources