Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḥażret-i ḫâḳân-ı a‘ẓam pâdişâh-ı bî-mis̱âl
Eyledi ḫalḳ-ı cihânda anı a‘lem Ẕü'l-celâl
Ẓâhir olaldan cihâna gün cemâli enveri
Nûra ġarḳ oldı bu ‘âlem itdi ẓulmet irtiḥâl
Ḫulḳ-ı luṭf ile müretteb bî-naẓîr ü bî-bedel
‘İlm ü ḥilm ile mükemmel aḥsen-i ṣâḥib-cemâl
Bir şeh-i devrân-ı ‘âdildür bugün ‘âlemde kim
Devleti devrinde hergiz kimse çekmez infi‘âl
Ya‘ni ol Sulṭân Aḥmed kim kerem kânı bugün
Salṭanat taḫtında bir şâh-ı cihândur müste‘âl
Nûr virmezdi cihân rûyına ḳandîl-i semâ
Gün cemâli enverinden olmasa ger ittiṣâl
Beñzeyem deyü kemân ebrûlarıyla ḥüsnine
Gâh bedr eyler ḳamer kendüzüni gâhî hilâl
Ṭal‘atı mihri gibi göstermedi şems-i münîr
Gerçi devr eyler felek leyl ü nehâr u mâh u sâl
Ḳaşına beñzedügi bugün budur anuñ hilâl
İrte bir gün ḥüsnine öyküne ya‘nî n'iḥtimâl
Bir şehen-şâh-ı zamândur kim cihân ḫusrevleri
Her cihetden lâ dimez emrine eyler imtis̱âl
‘Aḳl-ı kül şâkird-i ṭıfl-ı mektebi re’yindedür
Kimse itmez ol şehüñ keyfiyyetinden ḳîl ü ḳâl
Ruḫlarında zülfini depretdügince bâd-ı ṣubḥ
Cân u dil iḥrâḳına tâ irişür rîḥ-i şimâl
Bir cihân-gîr-i zamândur ol bugün ‘âlemde kim
Rüstem ü Zâl olsa rezmine gelüp itmez cidâl
Ṣubḥ-dem peyk-i ṣabâ irüp dil-i şûrîdeme
Didi ey ġam-gîn göñül ḫandân ol didüm ne ḥâl
Didi vaṣlı ‘îdidür şâhuñ gerekdür müjdegân
Ben didüm cân lâyıḳ ise ibtidâ benden meh al
Muṣḥaf-ı ḥüsninde fâla niyyet itdüm ol şehüñ
Evvel elifle ḥa geldi âḫirinde mîm ü dâl
Ġam yime şimden girü baḫt-ı siyâhuñ maḥv olup
Ṭâli‘uñ sa‘d oldı ey Mihrî mübârekdür bu fâl
Rif‘atuñ burc-ı şerefde ḳâ’im olsun tâ ebed
Ṭal‘atuñ mihrine şâhâ irmesün hergiz zevâl
Dostlaruñ fevḳa'l-‘ulâda her dem olsun şâd-mân
Düşmenüñ taḥte's̱-s̱erâda dâ’im olsun pây-mâl
‘Ömrüñi ḳılsun cihânda devlet ile müstedâm
‘Īdüñi itsün mübârek ol Kerîm-i Lâ-yezâl
Devletüñ devrinde bulsun her gedâ ‘izzet müdâm
Ni‘metüñ ḫânından alsunlar cihân ḫalḳı nevâl

In English

1. God Almighty made that majesty, the greatest khan and peerless sultan, the most learned among the people of the world.

2. Since his sun-bright face appeared to the world, this world has been drowned in light and the darkness has departed.

3. He is endowed with a nature full of grace, without equal or like; perfected in knowledge and gentleness, the fairest of the beautiful.

4. He is today such a just ruler of the age in the world that in the time of his sovereignty no one is hurt, no one suffers distress.

5. That is, he is Sultan Ahmed, today the mine of generosity, a lofty shah of the world on the throne of sovereignty.

6. The lamp of the sky (the sun) could not have given light to the face of the world had it no connection with his bright, sun-like face.

7. To resemble his beauty with its bow-like eyebrows, the moon makes itself now a full moon, now a crescent. (The phases of the moon are explained by its effort to resemble the beloved.)

8. Though the heavens revolve through night and day, month and year, the bright sun has not shown a sun like his face. (Mihr means "sun" and also recalls the poet's pen name.)

9. That is all that the crescent resembles of his eyebrow today; as for its one day emulating the whole of his beauty, how could that be possible? (The couplet says that the moon may resemble the eyebrow but can never reach the whole beauty of the face.)

10. He is the king of kings of the age; the rulers of the world do not say "no" to his command from any side, but obey his order.

11. Even Universal Intellect (Akl-ı Kül), held to be the source of all minds, remains a small pupil of the school of his judgement; no one can gossip about the quality of that shah.

12. Whenever the morning wind stirs his curl on his cheeks, the north wind reaches the point of burning soul and heart. (The couplet can be read in two ways: the stirring of the curl turns into a wind that fans the fire of love within the lover; or the wind that caresses the curl arouses such jealousy that it burns the lover's soul.)

13. He is today the world-conqueror of the age; even if Rüstem and Zâl came to fight him, they would not dare to clash.

14. At dawn the messenger, the morning wind, reached my distracted heart and said "O sorrowful heart, rejoice"; and I asked, "What is the matter?"

15. "It is the festival of union with the shah, a gift for good news is needed," it said. And I said, "If my soul is worthy of the good-news gift, O moon-faced one, take it first from me."

16. I resolved to take an omen from the Qur'an of that shah's beauty (his face); first came alif and ha, and at the end mim and dal. (When these four letters are placed side by side, the name "Ahmed" can be read.)

17. O Mihrî, grieve no more from now on; your black fortune has been wiped away, your star has become auspicious; this omen is blessed.

18. O sovereign, may your eminence stand on the tower of honour for ever; may no setting or ruin ever come to the sun of your face.

19. May your friends be joyful at every moment in the highest of the heavens; may your enemy always be trodden underfoot in the depths of the earth.

20. May God, generous and eternal, lengthen your life in the world with fortune and make your festival blessed.

21. In the age of your state may every poor man always find honour; may the people of the world take their share from the table of your bounty.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a kaside of twenty-one couplets. Its metre is the aruz pattern "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün" of the ramal bahr; this is one of the most frequently used measures of divan poetry, and with its long lines it suits the heavy, ceremonial manner of the kaside. The rhyme is the sound "-âl": misâl, celâl, irtihâl, cemâl, infi‘âl, müste‘âl, ittisâl, hilâl, sâl, ihtimâl, imtisâl, kâl, şimâl, cidâl, hâl, dâl, fâl, zevâl, pâymâl, lâyezâl, nevâl. There is no redif. In the fifteenth couplet the rhyme is caught with the words "meh al" (O moon-faced one, take); that the rhyme is split into two words and drawn out of an address and a command shows that the poet uses rhyme playfully.

The kaside opens directly with praise, without an introductory section. The first thirteen couplets are given to praise, and the name of the person praised is explained in the fifth couplet as "Ya‘ni ol Sultân Ahmed". Between the fourteenth and seventeenth couplets there is a small scene: the morning wind brings good news to the poet's heart, a conversation takes place between them, the poet takes an omen and mentions her own pen name. After the eighteenth couplet the prayer section begins. The prayer "‘Îdüñi itsün mübârek" in the twentieth couplet shows that the kaside was presented as a festival greeting; but which festival is not said.

The headings in the manuscripts also confirm for whom the poem was written. In the edition the heading "Kasîde-i Sultân Ahmed" is used. In the M copy there is the heading "Kasîde-i Tâsi‘" (ninth kaside), and in the Ü copy "Velehu Fî Medhihi Tâbe Mesvâhu" (Again in praise of him).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The section of praise rests on the tradition in divan poetry of likening the ruler to the sun. In the second couplet Ahmed's face is the sun, and at its appearance the darkness departs. In the sixth couplet the lamp of the sky, the sun, can give its light only because it has a connection with this face; here the comparison is reversed, and the person praised is shown to be superior to the sun. This kind of reversed comparison is called teşbîh-i maklûb. In the seventh couplet the phases of the moon are tied to a poetic cause: the moon becomes a crescent to resemble Ahmed's bow-like eyebrow and a full moon to resemble his face. This is the art of hüsn-i ta‘lîl, which abandons the real cause and invents a pleasing one. The ninth couplet takes the same thought a step further: the crescent may resemble the eyebrow, but it is impossible for the full moon to reach the whole beauty of the face.

The word "mihr" appears in the eighth and eighteenth couplets. Mihr means "sun" in Persian and also "affection", and the poet's pen name Mihrî comes from this word. In the line "Tal‘atuñ mihrine şâhâ irmesün hergiz zevâl" the wish that the sun never set also suggests the meaning "may Mihrî's love never diminish". Uses of this kind that play on the pen name are frequent in Mihrî's poetry and come close to the art of tevriye.

The most striking part of the kaside is the small scene that begins with the fourteenth couplet. The morning wind is, in divan poetry, the messenger who carries news between lover and beloved; here it comes as "peyk-i sabâ", the messenger wind, and gives the sorrowful heart the good news of the festival. Giving a tip (müjdegânî) to the bearer of good news is an old custom; the poet offers her soul as the tip. In the sixteenth couplet there is an allusion to the tradition of taking an omen from the Qur'an. In earlier times, before beginning an undertaking, the Qur'an would be opened at random and an interpretation made from the verse or letter that appeared. Mihrî likens Ahmed's face to a copy of the Qur'an; in divan poetry the face of a beauty, with its writing and ornament, is often likened to a page of the Qur'an. The letters that come from this copy are alif, ha, mim and dal; written side by side in old script these letters read "Ahmed". The poet thus mentions the name of the person she praises a second time within a game of omen, and in the seventeenth couplet says that the omen is auspicious and her black fortune has turned white. This scene gives a personal and playful voice to the ceremonial language of the kaside.

In the thirteenth couplet Ahmed's power is measured against the Shahnameh heroes Rüstem and Zâl. Mahmut Başaran also treats this couplet in his article on the influence of the Shahnameh on the Divan of Mihrî Hatun, and notes that the poet mentions Rüstem and Zâl in their warrior aspect in order to show Ahmed superior to them. In the nineteenth couplet "fevka'l-‘ulâ" (the highest of the heavens) and "tahte's-serâ" (the depths of the earth) are set against each other to make tezat. The words "gedâ" (poor man), "ni‘met hânı" (table of bounty) and "nevâl" (share, gift) in the last couplets complete the theme of generosity; the kaside ends by wishing that everyone take a share from the table of the one praised in the fifth couplet as the "mine of generosity".

Historical Context

The poem was presented to Prince Ahmed, whose name is stated plainly in the fifth couplet. According to the introduction to Mehmet Arslan's edition, when Bayezid II took the throne in 1481 and left Amasya, his son Ahmed became governor in his place and remained in the city until 1512. Mihrî Hatun was in the circle of the prince, who was fond of poetry, music and conversation, and presented her poems to him. Arslan notes that of the seventeen kasides in the divan ten were presented to Ahmed, and that nearly all of them were written as festival greetings; the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi also includes Abdülkadir Karahan's view in the same direction. With the festival prayer in the twentieth couplet this kaside falls into that group. That Ahmed is called "Sultân", "şehen-şâh" and "hâkân" arises from the habit of kaside language of praising a prince with the attributes of a ruler; Ahmed never took the throne. There is no record of the festival of which year the kaside was presented on.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, Kaside 11, pp. 37-39; introduction pp. 5-6 (Prince Ahmed's literary circle and the presentation of the kasides); manuscript differences, footnotes to pp. 37-39. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Mahmut Başaran, "Şehnâme'nin Mihrî Hatun Dîvânı'na Etkileri", Avrasya Beşeri Bilim Araştırmaları Dergisi 3/1 (2023), pp. 116-132 (on K11/13).

Books

Online sources