Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Cānumı virdüm ḳabūl itmez bugün cānāneye
Kimsenüñ yoḳ cānı ey dil kim diye cānā neye
Mezra‘-ı dilde ḫayāl-i ḫālüñi gördi gözüm
Anuñ içün yaş döker bārān gerek dür-dāneye
Geh diler tīġ-i ḥased baġrumı geh ṭurmaz deler
Reşk idelden ḳara zülfüñde görüp dil şāneye
Dün ḫāl-i yāri göñlümde görüp didüm revān
Ġālibā genc isteyü gelmiş durur vīrāneye
Dil ne dirse rāh-ı ‘ışḳuñda sözin ṭutar Münīr
Hīc kimse ṭābi‘ olmaz gerçi bir dīvāneye

In English

1. I gave my soul to the beloved, and today she will not accept it; O heart, no one has the soul (the courage) to say to her, "O soul, why?" (The "cānā neye" at the end of the line means "O soul, why?", and in sound it is identical with the "cānāneye", "to the beloved", that ends the first line.)

2. My eye saw the image of the mole in the field of the heart (like a sown grain); so it sheds tears, for the pearl grain needs rain.

3. Ever since the heart saw the comb in your black locks and grew jealous, the sword of envy now slices my breast, now pierces it without pause.

4. Yesterday, seeing the beloved's mole in my heart, I said at once: it has surely come to this ruin in search of treasure.

5. On the path of your love Münîr keeps to whatever the heart says; and yet no one follows a madman.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and eighty-sixth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 286). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "-ye"; the rhyme rests on the sound "-āne": cānāne, cānā ne, dür-dāne, şāne, vīrāne and dīvāne. The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 166a); the edition records no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on a pun. The first line ends in "cānāneye" (to the beloved), while the second splits the same sounds into two words, "cānā neye" (O soul, why?). That these two expressions, one a single word and the other made of two, are read alike is an example of the pun formed with a compound (our observation). The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi notes that Münîrî applied every kind of pun with success. A couplet by Niyâzî-i Mısrî quoted in the Kubbealtı Lugatı entry "cânân", "Cânâne görünür bana cânâ neye baksam / Kâşâne görünür heme vîrâneye baksam", builds the same pun and takes as a rhyme word "vîrâne", which also occurs in this ghazal. We do not know whether this closeness between the two couplets comes from an influence or from a shared habit of expression.

In the second couplet the heart is likened to a field; the Kubbealtı explains "mezra" as land to be sown and planted. The image of the mole is a grain that has fallen into this field, and the tears the eye sheds are the rain that will make it sprout. The same dictionary gives "dürdâne" as a pearl grain; so "dâne" brings to mind both a seed grain and a pearl (our reading). In the entry "lü'lü" the dictionary quotes Fuzûlî's line "Ebr-i nîsandan dönen tek lü'lü-i şehvâra su"; in this line the water falling from the April cloud turns into a large pearl. Münîrî's saying that "the pearl grain needs rain" likewise rests on this link between rain and pearl.

The third couplet contains "şâne", which the Kubbealtı explains as comb; in this entry the dictionary quotes a couplet by Zâtî describing a comb drawn through the beloved's locks. Because the comb can touch the beloved's hair, the heart is jealous of it. The verbs "diler" and "deler" in the line make a play of sound: the Kubbealtı explains "dilmek" as to cut into slices and to split. The sword of envy now slices the breast, now pierces it.

In the fourth couplet the beloved's black mole is likened to someone searching for treasure in the ruined heart. The Kubbealtı explains "genc" as treasure and "vîrâne" as a ruined building, and in the entry "vîrâne" quotes Râşid's line "Zuhûru dâimâ gencînenin vîrânededir hep" (treasure always appears in the ruin). The idea that treasure is found among ruins turns the heart's ruin into something of worth: if the mole has come to the heart, there is treasure there. In the pen-name couplet the heart is likened to a madman; knowing well that no one follows a madman, the poet says that on the path of love he does not depart from what the heart tells him. The rhyme word "dîvâne" belongs to the same family of sounds as "cânâne" in the opening couplet and "vîrâne" in the fourth.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "cânân", "mezra", "dürdâne", "lü'lü", "şâne", "dilmek", "genc" and "vîrâne". https://lugatim.com/s/genc

Online sources