Özgün Metin

Vezin: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlü Mefâ‘îlü Fa‘ûlün

Ḳaddüñ gibi yoḳ serv-i ḫırâmânlar içinde
Ḫaddüñ gibi yoḳ berg-i gülistânlar içinde
Getürmeye sen mâh gibi rûy-ı cihânda
Biñ yıl ki felek devr ide devrânlar içinde
Gördi çü gözüm ḳâmet-i dil-cûyuñı cânâ
El-minnetü lillâh yine bustânlar içinde
Çün ḥoḳḳa dehânuñ ṣanemâ ḳılsa tebessüm
Rûşen görinür lü’lü ü mercânlar içinde
La‘lüñ n'ola ger teşnelere virse ḥayâtı
Biñ dürlü nihân çeşme-i ḥayvânlar içinde
Ḫaddüñ gibi gül bitmedi bir bâġ-ı cihânda
La‘lüñ gibi yoḳ la‘l-i Bedaḫşânlar içinde
‘Uşşâḳlaruñ cem‘ idicek defter-i ‘aşḳa
Evvel yazalar Mihr'ola dîvânlar içinde

In English

1. Among the swaying cypresses there is none like your stature; among the petals of the rose garden there is none like your cheek. (Serv-i ḫırâmân is the swaying cypress; a tall, straight stature is likened to the cypress, a red cheek to a rose petal.)

2. Even if heaven turns for a thousand years through the ages, it cannot bring to the face of the world one moon-faced like you. (Manuscripts F and M read "cihâna" in place of "cihânda.")

3. My soul, when my eye saw your heart-soothing stature, thanks be to God, I was once again as if among gardens. ("El-minnetü lillâh" means "the favour is God's," that is, thanks to God. Seeing the beloved's stature gives the lover as much refreshment as looking at a garden.)

4. O beauty like an idol, when your mouth, small as an inkwell, smiles, it shines clearly among pearls and corals. (Ṣanem means idol; it is used for a beloved so beautiful as to be worshipped. The small mouth is likened to an inkwell, the teeth to pearls and the lips to coral. Manuscript Ü reads "lü’lü-i.")

5. It is no wonder if your lip gives life to the thirsty; for in it are a thousand kinds of hidden springs of the water of life. (La‘l is a precious red stone and is used for the lip. Çeşme-i ḥayvân is the spring of the water of life, believed to give immortality to whoever drinks it.)

6. In the garden of the world no rose has grown like your cheek; among the rubies of Badakhshan there is no ruby like your lip. (Badakhshan is a region famed for its precious red stones.)

7. When they gather the lovers into the book of love, let them write Mihrî first among the divans. ("Mihr'ola" means "Mihrî be." Since dîvân means a register, a council and also a poet's divan, the couplet may suggest Mihrî's wish to be named first as a poet too.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The one hundred and sixty-second ghazal of the divan has seven couplets (beyit) and is written in the hezec metre of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlü Mefâ‘îlü Fa‘ûlün". The redif (refrain word) is "içinde" (among), and the rhyme is the sound "-ânlar" in the words "ḫırâmânlar, gülistânlar, devrânlar, bustânlar, mercânlar, ḥayvânlar, Bedaḫşânlar, dîvânlar". The pen name (mahlas) is in the last couplet. The ghazal is found in all four manuscripts (F, M, S, Ü). There is no record of whom it was written for.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a poem of praise describing the beloved's beauty from beginning to end. It dwells less on the lover's pain than on the beloved's stature, cheek, mouth, teeth and lip. The two lines of the first couplet are built on the same pattern: the sound similarity between "Ḳaddüñ gibi yoḳ" and "Ḫaddüñ gibi yoḳ" (qadd and khadd) forms a pun (cinas), and the parallel structure of the two lines gives the couplet harmony. The sixth couplet repeats the same pattern: "Ḫaddüñ gibi gül bitmedi" and "La‘lüñ gibi yoḳ la‘l". This repetition lets the ghazal proceed like a list of praises.

In the second couplet it is said that even if heaven turns for a thousand years it cannot bring the like of the beloved. Gülşen Kaya cites this couplet when explaining that the belief in nested, ever-turning heavens is frequently treated in the divan. Sabiha Gemici, listing the places where Mihrî repeats herself, sets this line beside the last couplet of the one hundred and fifty-eighth ghazal. There, even if heaven turns for a thousand years it cannot bring a lover "like Mihrî"; here, what it cannot bring is the beloved's moon-like face.

In the fourth couplet the mouth is likened to an inkwell, the teeth to pearls and the lips to coral; with the smile the lid of the inkwell opens and the jewels inside become visible. Kaya notes that lips are called "hokka-i yâkut" (ruby inkwell) in the divan and that teeth are likened to the jewels inside the inkwell. In the fifth couplet the lip is the spring of the water of life that gives life to thirsty lovers; Kaya counts this couplet among the examples that express the lover's thirst for the beloved's lip, which is the water of life. In the sixth couplet the word "la‘l" is used both for the lip and for the red stone of Badakhshan; Kaya uses this couplet to illustrate that the lip is such a red and precious ruby that even the Badakhshan ruby could not reach this beauty.

The last couplet turns the ghazal's praise of the beloved to the poet herself. Kaya shows it as one of the couplets in which she says that Mihrî's place among lovers is special and voices that she should be named first in the book of love. The words "defter" (register) and "dîvân" complement each other; the register in which the lovers' names are gathered also recalls the divan in which a poet gathers her poems.

Poems on the Same Ground

Comparing poems in which Mihrî Hatun and her contemporary from Amasya, Tâcî-zâde Ca‘fer Çelebi, use the same refrain and rhyme, Sıtkı Nazik sets this ghazal beside Ca‘fer Çelebi's ghazal beginning with the opening couplet "Bir serv ki yoḳ mis̱li gülistânlar içinde / Yir itdi elif gibi girüb cânlar içinde." According to Nazik, Mihrî mentions the beloved's stature, cheek, mouth and teeth together with the related elements; Ca‘fer Çelebi touches on the beloved, a cypress, resembling an alif and on her silver body, pointing only indirectly to the lip, mouth and teeth. Ca‘fer Çelebi's phrase "sugar sherbet in coral bowls" and Mihrî's phrase "lü’lü ü mercânlar içinde" (among pearls and corals) come from the same field of comparison.

Nazik notes that Necâtî's influence is present in both ghazals. Necâtî's ghazal beginning with the opening couplet "Yerin var eyâ ḳaddi elif cânlar içinde / Ḥayf ola ki ömrüñ geçe dükkânlar içinde" is written in the same metre, rhyme and refrain as these two poems and is also similar to them in content. Thus the ground "-ânlar içinde," beginning with Necâtî, is worked anew in the hands of two poets from the Amasya circle, Mihrî and Ca‘fer Çelebi.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 135-136, Gazel 162. https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/58679,mihri-hatun-divanipdf.pdf
  • Ali Nihat Tarlan (ed.), Necatî Beg Divanı, Ankara: Akçağ, 1992, p. 397, G.553 (as cited by Nazik; not seen).

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, p. 133-148 (comparison: Mihrî G.162 / Ca‘fer Çelebi G.170, note on Necâtî G.553, p. 144-145). https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00226/2017/2017_NAZIKS.pdf
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, p. 178 (la‘l, yâkut, hokka), p. 192 and 243 (book of love), p. 201 (water of life), p. 253 (heaven). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11508/16520/253984.pdf?sequence=1
  • Sabiha Gemici, Mihrî Hatun Divanı: Karşılaştırmalı Metin, Cümle Yapısı ve Cümle Türleri, doctoral thesis, Uludağ Üniversitesi, Balıkesir 1990, p. 31 (ghazal 165 in Gemici; the poet's self-repetition). https://archive.org/details/MihriHatunDivann

Online sources