Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ey şeh-i devrân cihâna şehriyâr ol lâ-cerem
Devlet ile salṭanat taḫtında var ol lâ-cerem
Burc-ı iḳbâl-i sa‘âdetde ṭulû‘ it ḥaşre dek
Gün gibi ḫalḳ ile ḫalḳa âşikâr ol lâ-cerem
Geldügince ‘îd-i nev-rûz olduġınca nev-bahâr
Sâye-i rif‘atde şâhâ pây-dâr ol lâ-cerem
Ḫusrevâ rûy-ı zemîn olduḳça hengâm-ı çemen
Gülşeninde ‘âlemüñ servi çenâr ol lâ-cerem
Ṣaḥn-ı gülşenlerde ḳurduḳça şükûfe ḫaymeler
‘Ayş u ‘işret eyleyüp ḫoş rûzgâr ol lâ-cerem
Bâġ-ı ḥüsnüñ gülşeni hergiz ḫazânı görmesün
Ey yüzi gül tâze vü ter nev-bahâr ol lâ-cerem
Gülsitânı devletüñ virdi revâyiḥ ‘âleme
Bûy-ı luṭfuñla cihânda müşg-bâr ol lâ-cerem
Gün cemâlüñle żiyâ bulsun cihân tâ ḥaşre dek
Āfitâb-ı ‘âlem-ârâ tâb-dâr ol lâ-cerem
Bendeñ olsun âsitânuñda cihân ḫusrevleri
Sen serîr-i salṭanatda tâc-dâr ol lâ-cerem
Āl-i ‘Os̱mân içre çün olduñ Süleymân-ı zamân
İns ü cin fermânuñ olsun baḫtiyâr ol lâ-cerem
Ayru olmasun rikâbuñdan sa‘âdet bir nefes
Devlet atıyla cihân içre süvâr ol lâ-cerem
Ḳâyim olsun devletüñ devrânı tâ yevmü'l-ḳıyâm
‘Ömr bünyâdıyla şâhâ üstüvâr ol lâ-cerem
Bî-ḳarâr olduḳça eflâk u zemîn ṭurduḳça sen
Tâ ebed mülk-i cihânda ber-ḳarâr ol lâ-cerem
‘Īd-i aḍḥâñı mübârek ḳılsun ol Ḥayy-ı Ḳadîm
Devlet-i ‘izzetde dâ’im sâz-kâr ol lâ-cerem
Şi‘rüñi Ḥassân işitse dirdi ey şîrîn-kelâm
Gülşen-i cânda bu ṭab‘ ile hezâr ol lâ-cerem
‘İzzet isterseñ cihân yüzinde ey Mihrî hemân
Şeh Süleymân ḫâk-i pâyında ġubâr ol lâ-cerem
Eksük olma salṭanat taḫtında ey şâh-ı cihân
‘Ālem içre sâye-i Perverdigâr ol lâ-cerem

In English

1. O sovereign of the age, be of course the king of the world; on the throne of state and sovereignty be of course ever present, remain there always.

2. Rise from the sign of good fortune and felicity until the Day of Judgement; appear plainly to everyone among the people, like the sun.

3. O king, as long as the festival of Nevruz comes, as long as there is spring, remain lasting in the shade of exaltation. (The line states a duration: as long as the world stands and the seasons turn.)

4. O sovereign, as long as the season of grass lasts on the earth, be the cypress and the plane tree in the rose garden of the world. (Cypress and plane tree, as tall trees, express exaltation and standing upright.)

5. As long as the flowers pitch tents in the middle of the rose gardens (as long as the flowers bloom), may your days pass pleasantly in delight and merriment.

6. May the rose garden of the vineyard of beauty never see autumn; O you whose face is a rose, be a fresh and lively spring. (Autumn stands for fading and old age; the wish is that youth and beauty never end.)

7. The rose garden of your state has spread sweet scents through the world; with the fragrance of your favour be one who scatters musk in the world.

8. May the world find light through your face until the Day of Judgement; be bright like the sun that adorns the world. The couplet can be read in two ways: if the word "gün" is taken as the subject in the sense of "sun", the first hemistich is understood as "may the sun find light through your beauty, and the world too, until the Day of Judgement".

9. May the rulers of the world be your servants at your threshold; be crowned on the throne of sovereignty.

10. Since among the House of Osman you are the Solomon of the age, may men and jinn obey your command; be fortunate. (The Prophet Solomon is believed to have ruled over men and jinn; the patron's name is also Süleyman.)

11. May felicity not part from your stirrup for a single moment; mount the horse of state and be a horseman in the world. (To be close to the stirrup means to walk beside the sovereign and accompany him.)

12. May the era of your state stand until the Day of Resurrection; O king, be built firm like a structure on the foundation of life.

13. As long as the heavens turn and are unsettled, as long as the earth stands in place, may you too remain in your place in the realm of the world for ever. (In the old understanding of the cosmos the heavens turn ceaselessly while the earth is fixed.)

14. May God, the Ancient and Ever-Living (Hayy-ı Kadîm), make the Kurban bayram blessed for you; in state and honour be always content, with your affairs in good order.

15. If Hassân heard your poetry he would say: "O sweet-spoken one, with this nature be a nightingale in the rose garden of the soul." (Hassân b. Sâbit is the poet known for his poems in praise of the Prophet. Hezâr means both "nightingale" and "thousand".)

16. O Mihrî, if you want honour in the world, at once become dust in the earth of Shah Süleyman's foot.

17. O king of the world, may you never be missing from the throne of sovereignty; be the shadow of the Creator in the world.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The sixteenth kaside of Mihrî Hatun's divan has seventeen couplets and is written in the remel metre of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün". The rhyme is the sound "-âr" (şehriyâr, pây-dâr, çenâr, nev-bahâr, tâc-dâr, süvâr, ber-ḳarâr), and the redif (refrain word) is "ol lâ-cerem", repeated at the end of each couplet. "Ol" is the verb "to be" in the imperative, and "lâ-cerem" is a word of Arabic origin meaning "of course, without doubt". This redif turns the whole poem into a chain of prayers and wishes: each couplet wishes something for the person praised and seals the wish with "of course". The kaside omits the descriptive prelude (nesib) seen in many examples and addresses the person praised directly from the first couplet.

The heading in the edition is "Ḳaṣîde-i Sulṭân Süleymân". The poem is found in the manuscripts of the Ankara National Library (M, 42b) and of Istanbul University (Ü, 20a). The couplets of praise and prayer proceed intertwined; the Kurban bayram is mentioned in the fourteenth couplet, the poet praises her own poem in the fifteenth, the pen name (mahlas) appears in the sixteenth, and the last couplet closes with the prayer for the continuation of the sovereignty.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Throughout the kaside two series of images run side by side. The first concerns sky and light: the person praised is a sun rising from the sign of good fortune (2), the world is lit by his face (8), and while the heavens turn he remains fixed in his place (13). The second concerns spring and the garden: Nevruz and spring (3), the cypress and plane tree in the world's rose garden (4), the tents pitched by the flowers (5), the rose garden of state whose scent spreads through the world (7). Gülşen Kaya cites the sixth couplet in two separate places as an example of the contrast between spring and autumn in the divan: spring represents youth and strength, autumn old age and death; in the couplet spring is also an element of comparison for the beloved's beauty. The address "O you whose face is a rose" shows here, too, an attitude often seen in the poems Mihrî wrote to princes, the habit of addressing the person praised like a beloved.

The thirteenth couplet is a clear example of the figure of antithesis (tezat). The heavens are "bî-ḳarâr", that is, turning without cease and unsettled; for the person praised it is wished that he be "ber-ḳarâr", that is, fixed in place. The use of two adjectives from the same root in opposition gathers into a single couplet the difference between the changeability of the world and the permanence wished for. The "rikâb" (stirrup) and "horse of state" in the eleventh couplet are taken from the world of the ruler's retinue: felicity is imagined as a servant walking beside the sovereign's horse.

The tenth couplet is built on an allusion (telmih). As Kaya notes, the phrase "Süleymân-ı zamân" points both to the Prophet Solomon and to the prince praised; the prophet-king's rule over men and jinn is fitted onto the prince. This play between name and meaning is seen also in the other poems Mihrî wrote in the name of Süleyman.

The fifteenth couplet is the most interesting place in the kaside. According to Kaya, here the poet, after praising Süleyman, praises herself and mentions Hassân b. Sâbit, the poet of the Prophet, as a master: if Hassân heard this poem, he would tell the "sweet-spoken" poet to be a nightingale in the garden of the soul. That at the end of the praise section of a kaside the poet praises her own art (fahriye) is a section known in the tradition. The word "hezâr" is a double entendre (tevriye); it means both "nightingale" and "thousand". In the pen-name couplet that follows at once the tone changes, and Mihrî advises herself that, if she wants honour, she should become dust in the earth of Süleyman's foot. The self-praising voice and the lowered voice come one after the other; this is a known transition in the kaside tradition, used by the poet both to recall her worth and to seek patronage.

The phrase "sâye-i Perverdigâr" (shadow of the Creator) in the last couplet rests on the old understanding that regarded the ruler as God's shadow on earth. "Ḥayy-ı Ḳadîm" (the Ancient and Ever-Living) in the fourteenth couplet is also one of the attributes of God and adds a religious weight to the prayer section.

Historical Context

The heading of the kaside and the tenth and sixteenth couplets give the name of the person praised as Süleyman; Arslan's e-book edition does not explain who this Süleyman is. Gülşen Kaya, relying on the study section of Arslan's edition printed in 2007, writes that in her last years Mihrî attended the gatherings of Şehzade Süleyman, the son of Şehzade Ahmed, and presented to him three kasides (the 14th, 15th and 16th kasides). In examining the tenth couplet Kaya also says that the phrase "Süleymân-ı zamân" points to Şehzade Süleyman. Sabiha Gemici's 1990 thesis likewise states that one of the kasides in the divan was written to Şehzade Süleyman, but does not give which one by number. That the couplet says "Āl-i 'Os̱mân içre" (among the House of Osman) clearly shows that the person praised was a member of the dynasty. Words such as "throne of sovereignty" and "king of the world" are, in the kaside, formulas of praise that can also be used for a prince.

According to some sources, Şehzade Ahmed's son Süleyman served as sanjak governor (sanjak-bey) between 1509 and 1513, crossed to Egypt after the struggle for the throne in 1513 and died there. If the kaside is accepted as presented to Süleyman, it is a poem from the last years of Mihrî's life. The prayer in the fourteenth couplet shows that the poem was presented on the occasion of a Kurban bayram; Kaya, too, records that the Kurban bayram is mentioned especially in kasides written to princes. Which year's festival it was is not known.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 46-48, Kaside 16 (M 42b, Ü 20a). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, p. 20, 59-61, 69, 108, 265-266. openaccess.firat.edu.tr
  • Sabiha Gemici, Mihrî Hatun Divanı: Karşılaştırmalı Metin, Cümle Yapısı ve Cümle Türleri, doctoral thesis, Uludağ Üniversitesi, Balıkesir 1990, p. 346-349.

Books

Other sources

  • "Şehzade Ahmed (son of Bayezid II)", Wikipedia (based on Nevin Zeynep Yelçe, The Making of Sultan Süleyman, 2009). en.wikipedia.org

Online sources