Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilâtün Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilün

‘Ömür vefâ ider iken cihânı ḫoş görelüm
Bahâr faṣlı irince ḫazânı ḫoş görelüm
Getürdi cevr ü cefâsın dile ḫayâl-i ḥabîb
Bize hemîşe budur armaġanı ḫoş görelüm
Nice sevelüm anı kim seve o ġayrıları
Maḥabbeti bizüm ile olanı ḫoş görelüm
Raḳîbi kendüye maḥrem idindi ‘âşıḳı yâd
Ol anuñ ile ḫoş olsun biz anı ḫoş görelüm
Ne gül ḳalur ne ḫo bülbül ne nev-bahâr u ḫazân
Cihân ile gel i Mihrî bu cânı ḫoş görelüm

In English

1. While life remains faithful, let us take the world as pleasant (hoş görmek); until the season of spring arrives, let us take autumn as pleasant too. ("İrince" in Old Anatolian Turkish can mean both "when it reaches" and "until it reaches"; the line can also be read "when spring comes, let us take the autumn that follows as pleasant too".)

2. The beloved's image has brought her cruelty and torment to the heart; this is always the gift she brings us, so let us take that as pleasant too.

3. How can we love one who loves others; let us take as pleasant the one whose love is with us.

4. The beloved has made the rival her confidant and treats the lover as a stranger; let her be happy (hoş) with the rival, and let us take that as pleasant.

5. Neither rose will remain, nor nightingale, nor early spring nor autumn; come, O Mihrî, let us take this soul as pleasant along with the world (let us keep it content, and pass it with a pleasant heart).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The one hundred and eleventh ghazal (gazel) of the divan has five couplets (beyit) and is written in the müctes metre of the aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilâtün Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the phrase "ḫoş görelüm"; the rhyme is built on the sounds "-ânı / -anı" before the refrain (cihânı, ḫazânı, armaġanı, olanı, anı, cânı). The ghazal shares the same metre and the same redif with the one hundred and twelfth ghazal, which follows it directly in the divan; the two poems differ only in rhyme (in the other the rhyme is "-ârı"). The ghazal appears in all four manuscripts; the differences among them are small ones such as "faṣlı / faṣl" and "‘âşıḳı yâd / ‘âşıḳ yâr". The word "ḫo" in the last couplet appears in manuscript F as "ḫod" (indeed, even). Nothing is known about whom the poem was written for or on what occasion.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The main idea of the ghazal is hidden in the refrain. "Hoş görmek" means both to find something pleasant and good and to take pleasure in it, and to forgive a fault, to accept something as it is. The poet uses these two meanings in turn from couplet to couplet. In the first and last couplets the refrain comes nearer to "let us enjoy the world"; in the second, third and fourth couplets the meaning that comes forward is "hoş görmek" as meeting the beloved's cruelty, indifference and turn toward the rival with tolerance. Pointing to two meanings of one word at once is a usage close to tevriye (double entendre). Sıtkı Nazik notes that in the two ghazals with the redif "hoş görelüm" the poet urges one to look kindly and see the good in everything, favourable and unfavourable, whether it concerns the beloved or what happens around one.

The first couplet ties the transience of life to the turning of the seasons. There is a contrast (tezat) between bahar and hazan, that is, spring and autumn; the poet suggests taking autumn as pleasant too while waiting for spring. In the last couplet the same words about the seasons return: neither rose remains, nor nightingale, nor spring, nor autumn. Thus the ghazal returns to the thought with which it began, the transience of the world, with a sharper verdict. The tenasüp (congruence of images) among "gül, bülbül, nev-bahâr, ḫazân" joins with "bu cân" (this soul) at the end of the couplet: since the soul too does not last, like the rose and the nightingale, it must be kept content.

In the second couplet the notion of the gift is turned around. The beloved's image brings the heart a gift, but this gift is cruelty and torment (cevr ü cefâ). Gülşen Kaya, examining the notion of the gift in the divan, notes that the beloved's gift to the lover is the hope of union, cruelty and torment, and the arrows of her lashes, while the lover's gift is her soul, and she gives this couplet as an example.

The third and fourth couplets describe the triangle of beloved, lover and rival so often treated in divan poetry. The beloved has made the rival her "maḥrem", that is, close confidant, and has taken the lover as "yâd", a stranger. The lover's response to this is a surprising calm: "let her be happy with that rival, and let us take that as pleasant." The contrast between "maḥrem" and "yâd" carries the first line of the couplet. In the third couplet the senselessness of loving one who loves others is expressed; this is a more realistic and everyday attitude than the notion of unconditional devotion in divan poetry. The general mood of the ghazal is directed less at exalting the pain of love than at easing and accepting it.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 109-110, Ghazal 111. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Sıtkı Nazik, "Benzer Redifli Şiirleri Bağlamında Mihrî Hatun ve Tâcî-zâde Cafer Çelebi'nin Karşılaştırılması", Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı II, Amasya 2017.
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat University Institute of Social Sciences, Elazığ 2010. openaccess.firat.edu.tr

Other sources

  • Didem Havlioğlu (ed.), "Ğazeliyyāt-ı Mihri-i Hāqīre", türkoloji-iran, 2007 (a different transliteration of the ghazal).

Online sources