Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Müşterî oldı göñül bir ṣanem-i meh-çihre
Ki benâgûşına bir dâne s̱üreyyâ ṣalınur

In English

1. My heart has become the buyer of a moon-faced idol, from whose earlobe a single pearl like the Pleiades dangles. (The Pleiades, Süreyya, is a star cluster; the pearl of the earring is likened to it.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The couplet appears at the end of the entry on Melîhî in Âşık Çelebi's Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ. Since its two lines do not rhyme, it must be an inner couplet of a ghazal (gazel) or a couplet composed on its own at the moment. The edition of the biographical anthology (tezkire) does not indicate the metre. According to the edition's note on manuscript variants, the last word of the second line reads "aṣılu" (hanging) instead of "ṣalınur" (dangles) in the copy of the tezkire designated F. No other biographer quotes this couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet paints a picture made of heavenly bodies. The word "Müşterî" means both buyer and the planet Jupiter; while the heart becomes the buyer of a moon-faced beauty, Jupiter in the sky is set beside "meh", the moon. In the second line the single pearl in the beauty's ear is likened to Süreyya, the Pleiades. Moon, Jupiter and the Pleiades thus meet in one couplet and form a congruence of images (tenasüp). The use of both senses of "Müşterî" at once is the figure of tevriye (double entendre). The word "ṣanem" literally means idol and is used in divan poetry for a beautiful beloved. "Benâgûş" is the area below the ear and the earlobe, where the earring hangs. The subtle contrast between the Pleiades being a cluster of many stars and the pearl of the earring being "bir dâne", a single one, also adds to the wit of the couplet; this last observation is our own interpretation.

Historical Context

Âşık Çelebi relates the occasion of the couplet. One day Melîhî came across a beauty with a single pearl earring in his ear, composed this couplet and recited it to him. According to the biographer's account the couplet is a compliment spoken as soon as he saw the beauty. The story does not end there. The beauty, angered by the words, slapped the poet, and blood came from his mouth and nose. Melîhî at once composed a second couplet; that couplet appears separately in this category under the title "Lebinsüz her ne mey ki içdüm ise". The two couplets are the last words of Âşık Çelebi's entry on Melîhî and are given as an example of his witty, quick-tongued character. For the poet's life, see the article Melîhî of Tokat.

Bibliography

Online sources