Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Kâkülin itdükde dil-ber târ ü mâr
Gözlerüme görinür her târı mâr

In English

1. When the beloved scatters her forelock in disarray, every strand (of her forelock) appears to my eyes a snake.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This müfred is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. According to Kılıç's survey of metres, three Turkish müfreds are in this short pattern. Both lines of the couplet end with "mâr" and rhyme with each other; for this reason the couplet looks like the opening couplet of a ghazal. We do not know whether it is an opening couplet left over from a ghazal. In the edition the folio mark [63a] stands next to the number of the müfred, so the couplet stands at the head of a new leaf in the manuscript. According to Kılıç's account, in the manuscript the müfreds come after the Turkish ghazals and the Turkish nazm.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole subtlety of the couplet lies in the play on words at the end of the two lines. In the first line "târ ü mâr" is a doublet meaning scattered, in disarray; the beloved has scattered her forelock. In the second line the same sounds are separated and read anew: "târı" (its strand) and "mâr" (snake). Thus between "târ ü mâr" and "târı mâr" two expressions arise that are almost the same in sound and different in meaning. This is a play on sound (cinas), and the phrase "her târı mâr" (every strand of it a snake) in the second line unpicks the doublet of the first line and builds a new image from it.

The image itself is a well-known motif of divan poetry: the beloved's black, curling hair is likened to a snake. In the lover's eye every strand of the scattered forelock is a writhing snake; beauty and danger unite in the same picture. The same play on words is also used in Turkish Ghazal 29 of the divan. In the second couplet of that ghazal the tresses coil like a snake around the neck of the heart, and it is said "Sînem üzre yayılup mâr oldı her mû târ u mâr" (spreading over my breast every hair became a snake, scattered); in the third couplet the words "'Akl u sabrum târ-mâr oldı" (my reason and patience were scattered) and in the fourth "genc-i sînem mâr mâr" (the treasure of my breast full of snakes) occur. In divan poetry a snake is believed to keep watch over a treasure; in Ghazal 29 the filling of the treasure of the breast with snakes ties the snake image of this müfred to the same circle. These connections are our observation. There is no information on when the müfred was written or to whom it was spoken.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 147, müfred (single couplet) no. 2 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 63a); p. 26 (19 Turkish müfreds), p. 27 (the order of the manuscript), p. 29 (survey of metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources