Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Ey dehânı hokka ey dendânı dür
Cânuma diş bilemek lâyık mıdur

In English

1. O you whose mouth is a (jewel) casket and whose teeth are pearls; is it fitting to whet your teeth against my soul (to bear me a grudge and prepare to harm me)?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The eleventh single couplet is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. In the edition the folio mark [64a] stands beside the number. The couplet is musarra' (both lines rhyme): the first line ends in "dür", the second in "mıdur". The rhyme rests on the sound shared by the word "dür" (pearl) and the syllable "-dur" of the question suffix. Since the difference between back and front vowels is not visible in the Arabic script, such rhymes are accepted in divan poetry. The first line is built on two addresses with "ey" (O), the second on a question. The addresses take the form "dehânı hokka", "dendânı dür", short nominal phrases built with the Turkish possessive suffix; this construction shows a Turkish turn of phrase preferred to Persian adjectival compounds and gives the line a flow close to spoken language.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet opens with two traditional comparisons for the beloved's mouth and teeth. The small, closed mouth is likened to a hokka, a small casket in which precious stones are kept, and the teeth, for their whiteness and their even rows, to pearls. There is a clear tenasüp (congruence of images) between casket and pearl, arising from the relation of a box to the jewel inside it. After these comparisons the poet uses the Turkish idiom "diş bilemek" (to whet one's teeth), which means to bear a grudge against someone and watch for a chance to harm him. But because it comes right after the mention of the beloved's teeth, the word "diş" (tooth) in the idiom also recalls its literal sense: a beloved whetting her pearl teeth against the lover's soul. This play between the figurative sense of the idiom and the literal sense of the word is a way of speaking close to tevriye (double entendre). That teeth as lovely as pearls should be sharpened like a predator's is the couplet's small surprise. How settled the casket image is can be seen from the Turkish phrase "hokka gibi ağız" (a mouth like a casket), still in use today. In the couplet the words "dehân" (mouth) and "dendân" (teeth) are also close in sound; the two Persian words side by side in the same line give it an inner harmony. The question form, with the words "lâyık mıdur" (is it fitting), softens the reproach; the lover does not accuse the beloved but says that such harshness does not become her beauty. The couplet gives no indication of whom it was written for.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 148, single couplet no. 11 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 64a), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources