Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün

Āteş-i ‘aşḳa ol ‘âşıḳlar ki cânın yaḳdılar
Buldılar vuṣlat ebed çünkim cihânın yaḳdılar
Yanmasun mı ‘âşıḳ-ı bî-çâreler pervâne-veş
Mâh-rûlar çünki ḥüsni şem‘-dânın yaḳdılar
Hecr ile ṣanma seni yaḳdı vücûdum ḫûblar
Ey nice dil mülketinüñ ḫânumânın yaḳdılar
La‘line öykündügiçün lâle ruḫsârına şem‘
Lâleye dâġ urdılar şem‘üñ zebânın yaḳdılar
Dil ile cân virdi Mihrî tercemân dilberlere
Aldılar göñlin ‘aceb bu tercemânın yaḳdılar

In English

1. Those lovers who burned their souls in the fire of love attained eternal union, since they burned up the world as well. (With the reading "cihânuñ" in manuscript F: they burned the soul of the world.)

2. Since the moon-faced have lit the candlestick of their beauty, should the helpless lovers not burn like moths? (The pervâne is the moth that flies toward the light and burns in the flame.)

3. O my body, do not think the beauties burned only you with separation; they burned the house and home of many a kingdom of the heart. ("Ḫânumân" means house and home, homeland.)

4. Because the tulip emulated her ruby lip and the candle her cheek, they branded the tulip and burned the tongue of the candle. (The black spot in the centre of the tulip is counted as a "dâġ", a scar burned with hot iron; the flame of the candle is its tongue. The poet presents the dark stain of the tulip and the burning of the candle as the punishment for presuming to resemble the beloved.)

5. With heart and tongue Mihrî gave her soul as interpreter to the beauties; they took her heart and, strange to say, burned this interpreter too. (The couplet can be read in two ways: "dil" means heart in Persian and tongue in Turkish. The interpreter may be the tongue that tells the lover's pain, or the soul sent to the beauties as a go-between.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The eighteenth ghazal (gazel) has five couplets (beyit) and is written in the metre "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "yaḳdılar" (they burned) and the rhyme is the sounds "-ânın" (cânın, cihânın, şem‘-dânın, ḫânumânın, zebânın, tercemânın). Because the last letter of the redif is râ, the poem stands at the beginning of the section "Ḥarfü'r-Râ" in the edition. It is found in all four manuscripts (F 39a, M 55a, S 41b, Ü 31b). The manuscript variants are mostly differences of spelling: Ü reads "Āteşi" in place of "Āteş-i", M "pervâne-vâr" in place of "pervâne-veş", and F and S "şem‘a-dân" in place of "şem‘-dân". In the fourth couplet Ü has "Lâlenüñ" in place of "Lâleye", and S has "şem‘inüñ" in place of "şem‘üñ". It is not known to whom it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Each couplet of the ghazal shows a different face of the verb "to burn". In the first couplet lovers burn their own souls; in the second the moon-faced light the candle of beauty; in the third the beauties burn the house of the kingdoms of the heart; in the fourth the tulip is branded and the candle's tongue is burned; in the fifth the interpreter is burned. The verb means in one couplet to set on fire, in another to light a lamp, in another to cast aside or to punish. The use of the same redif with different meanings gives the ghazal a richness of wordplay.

The opening couplet (matla) rests on the basic conception of divan poetry that shows love as a burning fire. Gülşen Kaya cites this couplet among the conceptions about love, under the heading of fire: love is likened to fire for its burning; the only thing that can put out this fire is union, and the way to union is to burn. In the couplet there is a climb from "cânın yaḳmak" (burning the soul) to "cihânın yaḳmak" (burning the world): lovers first burned their souls, then burned up and cast aside the whole world, and so attained eternal union. The word ebed (eternity) suggests that this union is a lasting joining reached by passing through the world.

The second couplet uses the candle and the moth, one of the best-known conceits of divan poetry. The beloved is the candle, and the lover the moth that runs to its light and burns. Kaya notes that in the divan beauty is mentioned together with the gathering (meclis) and that the candle is used with beauty both for its lighting and for its burning of the lover who is the moth, and she cites this couplet. A congruence of images (tenasüp) through light is set up among "mâh-rû" (moon-faced), "şem‘-dân" (candlestick) and "pervâne"; the question "yanmasun mı" (should they not burn?) presents the lovers' burning as an inevitable result.

The fourth couplet is an example of fantastic aetiology (hüsn-i talil); a poetic reason is given in place of the real one. In the first line the tulip is paired with the beloved's lip (la‘l) and the candle with her cheek (ruḫsâr); in the second line, in the same order, it is said that the tulip was branded and the candle's tongue was burned. Listing two things and then giving the two corresponding things in the same order is the figure of leff ü neşr. The tulip, which resembles the lip in its red colour, and the candle, which resembles the cheek in its brightness, are punished as if this likeness were an act of emulation. The flame of the candle is its "zebân", its tongue; since to "stick out the tongue" means to overstep one's bounds, the burning of the candle's tongue also fits the idiom. Kaya mentions this couplet among the similes about face and cheek.

In the pen-name couplet (makta) the word "dil" is a double entendre (tevriye): in Persian it means heart, in Turkish the organ of speech. Mihrî gives her soul to the beauties as an interpreter with her heart and tongue; the beauties take her heart and burn this interpreter too. The idea of the interpreter as tongue ties the couplet to the burning tongue of the candle in the fourth: every tongue that dares to speak to the beloved has been set on fire. This relation between "tercemân" and "zebân" is a subtle congruence of images that links the last two couplets of the ghazal.

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 60, Gazel 18 (F 39a, M 55a, S 41b, Ü 31b) and the footnotes on manuscript variants. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010 (entries on love and fire, beauty and candle, cheek). openaccess.firat.edu.tr