Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Lebüñden ögrenem dirmiş Mesīḥā nuṭḳ-ı i‘cāzı
Ḳılursa ṭāli‘i yārī iderse baḫtı dem-sāzī
Göñül zülfeynüñe n’ola iki al ile yapışsa
Mes̱eldür çıḳmaz ey dil-ber yaluñuz elüñ āvāzı
Ṣanasın murġ-ı baḥrīdür gör ol çāh-ı zeneḫ ḫālin
Ki şāhīn-i ser-i züfüñ anuñçün oldı pervāzı
Egerçi zülfüñüñ göñlüm yolında baş u cān oynar
Dili ser-mest olan bī-ḫod nice ider resen-bāzī
Ġazel-ḫᵛān olmaġın şöyle Münīrī devr-i ḥüsnüñde
Yetişse rub‘-ı meskūna ‘aceb mi şi‘rüm āvāzı

In English

1. Messiah (Jesus) is said to have said, "Let me learn from your lip the speech that works miracles", if his fortune would aid him and his luck keep him company.

2. What if the heart should cling to your two tresses with both hands? O beloved, it is a proverb: a single hand makes no sound.

3. Look at the mole in that dimple of the chin; you would think it a sea bird, for whose sake the falcon at the tip of your tress has spread its wings and taken flight.

4. True, my heart stakes and plays its head and soul on the path of your tress; but how can one whose tongue is drunk and beside himself perform as a rope-dancer?

5. Since Münîrî recites ghazals so in the age of your beauty, is it any wonder if the voice of my poetry reaches the inhabited quarter of the earth (the whole inhabited world)?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the three hundred and thirtieth and last of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 330). The metre is "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "-İ"; the rhyme rests on the sound "-āz": i‘cāz, dem-sāz, āvāz, pervāz, resen-bāz and āvāz. The word "āvāzı" enters the rhyme twice, in the second couplet and in the pen-name couplet. The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 176b). The word "züfüñ" in the third couplet is printed in this form in the edition; from the context we think it should be "zülfüñ" (your tress) (our observation). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins with an allusion to the miracle of Jesus. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "Mesîhâ" as the epithet of Jesus and "nutuk – nutk" as word, speech; it defines "mûcize" as the extraordinary deed the prophets performed by God's leave to prove their prophethood. The speech of the beloved's lip is such a miracle that even the Messiah, if fortune allows, wishes to learn miraculous speech from this lip. The use of "dirmiş" (is said to have said) shows that this is reported as a kind of tradition.

The second couplet rests on a proverb, and the poet himself announces it as such with "meseldür" (it is a proverb): a single hand makes no sound. The heart's clinging to the beloved's two tresses with both hands is justified by this saying; one hand is not enough, two are needed. Setting a proverb into the couplet in this way is the figure called irsal-i mesel. The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi article on Münîrî notes that the poet was successful in the tradition of setting proverbs and idioms in poetry.

The third and fourth couplets are each like a picture. The Kubbealtı explains "çâh-ı zenehdan" as the dimple of the chin, "şâhin" as a predatory hunting bird resembling the falcon, and "pervâz" as flying, flight. The mole in the dimple of the chin is likened to a sea bird, and the tip of the tress to a falcon taking wing to hunt it. In the fourth couplet occurs the word "resenbaz", which the Kubbealtı explains as rope-dancer. The tress is a rope; the heart plays on this rope, staking its head and soul, but one who is drunk and beside himself cannot dance on a rope. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between "baş u cān oynamak" (staking head and soul) and "resen-bāzī" (rope-dancing).

The pen-name couplet is the one Ersoy cites in his introduction as an example of Münîrî's saying, by way of hyperbole, that his poems had spread over the whole earth, that is, that he was famous. The Kubbealtı explains "rub'-ı meskûn" as, according to the old geographers, the part of the earth on which there is life and which is fit to be inhabited. The poet recites ghazals so well in the age of the beloved's beauty that it is no wonder if the voice of his poetry reaches the whole inhabited world. The phrase "gazel-hân" also occurs in Münîrî's line "bizi daḫı ġazel-ḫᵛān eyledi" in tg 319. The judgements of the biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire) that Ersoy cites in the same place contradict this claim, however: Latîfî says that people were unaware of Münîrî's maturity and learning, and Kınalızâde writes that in his own time not the slightest glimmer of Münîrî's fame remained.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "Mesîhâ", "nutuk – nutk", "mûcize", "çâh-ı zenehdan", "şâhin", "pervaz", "resenbaz" and "rub'-ı meskûn". https://lugatim.com/s/resenbaz

Online sources