Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün

‘Âleme ṭoldı meserret lîk ben şâd olmadum
Âh kim ben bende bir dem ġamdan âzâd olmadum
Ben nice alam ‘arûs-ı baḫt-ı devletden murâd
İki ḳâżî-‘askerüñ birine dâmâd olmadum
‘Ömrümi kesb-i feżâ’ilde ‘abes ḫarc eyledüm
Cehl ile ‘unvân bulup ‘âlemde dil-şâd olmadum

In English

1. Joy has filled the world, yet I have not rejoiced; alas, I, a mere servant, have not been free of grief for a single moment. ("Bende" means servant; "ben bende" is the poet's humble way of naming himself.)

2. How am I to have my wish of the bride of fortune and high office? I did not become son-in-law to either of the two chief judges. (Fortune and office are imagined as a bride, which joins with the son-in-law of the second line: the road to advancement is marriage to the daughter of a great dignitary.)

3. I spent my life in vain acquiring virtues; I did not find a title through ignorance and live in the world with a cheerful heart. (A satire aimed at those who rise not by their learning but by their connections.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The attribution of these couplets is disputed. Âşık Çelebi gives them in his entry on Tâcîzâde Sa'dî Çelebi under the heading "Ve lehu" (and this is his). Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi, however, after quoting the first two couplets, objects plainly: "‘Âşık Çelebi bu iki beyti galat idüp mezbûra isnâd itmişdür. Müftî olan Sa‘dî Çelebinündür." That is, Âşık Çelebi wrongly ascribed these two couplets to Tâcîzâde; they belong to the Kastamonu-born mufti Sa'dî Çelebi (Sa'dullah Efendi, d. 945/1539). Kınalızâde's text is the same as Âşık Çelebi's, only with simplified spelling. Which anthologist is right cannot be known for certain. In the edition of Âşık Çelebi there is also a note reporting that in manuscript A some of the couplets of Tâcîzâde's entry are placed in the entry on the mufti Sa'dî. The couplets are included in this article because Âşık Çelebi gives them in Tâcîzâde's entry; Kınalızâde's record, however, must be taken seriously.

The fragment we have consists of three couplets; since the two lines of the first couplet rhyme, it must be the opening couplet (matla) and two further couplets of a ghazal. The biographical anthologies (tezkire) give no metre; the couplets scan in the remel metre of aruz (quantitative metre) as "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The refrain word (redif) is "olmadum" (I did not become), and the rhyme falls on "-âd": şâd, âzâd, dâmâd, dil-şâd. According to the variant readings in the edition, "bir dem" in the second line reads "bend-i" in manuscript P; the third couplet is found only in manuscript F and is absent from the other four. Kınalızâde likewise gives only the first two couplets.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplets are a complaint, even a satire, written in the language of love poetry. The opening couplet says that at a time when everyone rejoices the poet cannot; the rhyme of "şâd" (glad) and "âzâd" (free) brings joy and freedom together on the same line of sound. The real subject emerges in the second couplet: the poet has not had his wish of "the bride of fortune and high office", because he did not become son-in-law to either of the two chief judges (kazasker). The two highest offices of the Ottoman learned hierarchy were the chief judgeships of Rumelia and Anatolia; the couplet implies that closeness to these offices, that is, becoming a chief judge's son-in-law, was the shortest road to promotion. A congruence of images (tenasüp) from the field of the wedding is built among the words bride (‘arûs), having one's wish (murâd almak) and son-in-law; "murâd almak" is doubly meaningful, as both attaining one's desire and an idiom connected with marriage.

The third couplet turns the criticism into an open verdict: the poet has spent his life in vain acquiring virtue; he has not been one of those who found a title through ignorance and are content. The antithesis between "kesb-i feżâ’il" (acquiring virtues) and "cehl ile ‘unvân bulmak" (finding a title through ignorance) carries the couplet's bitter irony. The repetition of the refrain "olmadum" in every couplet works like a list of failures and steadily deepens the tone of the complaint.

Historical Context

The subject of the couplets takes on a different meaning depending on who wrote them. Tâcîzâde Sa'dî Çelebi remained a professor at the Sahn colleges during a period when his elder brother Câfer Çelebi became first chancellor and then chief judge. The mufti Sa'dî Çelebi, according to the anthologies, was a scholar who rose from the judgeship of Istanbul to the office of mufti, that is, to the post of şeyhülislam. The couplets carry a reproach that could fit either life story, and the sources do not say to which event the reproach is tied. Kınalızâde's objection is also of interest for showing that the anthologists read and corrected one another's records with care.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Filiz Kılıç, Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018 (e-book), pp. 424-425, entry on Sa‘dî Çelebi and variant readings (notes 4580-4583).
  • Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi, Tezkiretü'ş-Şu'arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2017 (e-book), pp. 430-431, entry on Sa‘dî.
  • Beyânî, Tezkiretü'ş-Şu'arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2017 (e-book), p. 91, entry on Sa‘dî Efendi.

Books

  • İsmail E. Erünsal, "Tâcîzâde Sâdî Çelebi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 39, Istanbul 2010, p. 356. islamansiklopedisi.org.tr

Online sources