Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Only the following couplet of this poem has been published in the source; the complete poem has not been published.

Yandı ‘anber-i micmer-i sîm içre dûd-ı mevkîbi
Ka‘be-i ḥüsni siyeh-pûş eyledi hem müşk-nâb (1121)

In English

1. The ambergris burned in the silver censer; the smoke (of the writing) dressed the Kaaba of beauty in black and scented it like pure musk. (The couplet is not wholly clear; the meaning of the word "mevkîbi" could not be determined.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The couplet is the last couplet of the first of the three chronogram poems in Âkif's divan. According to Öntürk and Tunçadam, this kıt‘a, headed "Tariḫ-i haṭ-âverden-i vezîr-i secencel-żamîr Ḳa’îm-maḳâm Pâşâ", has 25 couplets and was written about a commentary composed by the Kaymakam Paşa. The article did not publish the whole poem but gave only the chronogram couplet, in Arabic script and in transliteration. The note "(1121)" at the end of the line belongs to the edition and gives the year obtained by the abjad count.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

A chronogram (tarih düşürmek) gives the year of an event through a line or phrase whose letters, counted by their numerical values (abjad), add up to that year. We added up the letters of the second line in the Arabic-script spelling given in the article; the total is 1121, confirming the date given in the edition. In the same spelling the first line gives 1111. Öntürk and Tunçadam say that the date was composed by the "dü-tâ" method; how this method is applied in this couplet is not explained in the article. In meaning the couplet is woven of fragrant and dark images: ambergris burned in a silver censer, its smoke, and musk. The phrase "Ka‘be-i ḥüsn" (the Kaaba of beauty) recalls the Kaaba dressed in its black covering; the pages of a book written in black ink may be likened to this covering. This interpretation is ours, and since the meaning of the word "mevkîbi" could not be determined the rendering is approximate.

Historical Context

Öntürk and Tunçadam say that one of the proofs of the poet's close relationship with Dâmâd Ali Paşa is the poem dated 1710 written about Ali Paşa's work of commentary; this kıt‘a is that poem. The hijri year 1121 corresponds to the period between March 1709 and March 1710. For the poet's life, see the article Îdîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi.

Bibliography

  • Tolga Öntürk and Özcan Tunçadam, "Amasyalı 'Îdî-zâde Âkif Mustafa ve Divanı", Hikmet-Akademik Edebiyat Dergisi, 6(12), 2020, pp. 259-281 (text: pp. 265). https://doi.org/10.28981/hikmet.683811

Online sources