Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilün

Hāleden çizmiş du‘ā-yı nūr ile bir dā’ire
Çeşmi siḥrinden ḳaçup girür meh-i tābān aña

In English

1. With a prayer of light a circle has been drawn out of the halo; fleeing the magic of the beloved's eye, the shining moon enters it. ("Hâle" is the ring of light seen around the moon. To be protected from spells and evil, a circle used to be drawn around one while a prayer was recited, and whoever sought protection would step inside it.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This single couplet (beyit) is written in the metre "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün" of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre). The metre is not stated in the biographical anthologies; it has been deduced from the scansion of the couplet. Since its lines do not rhyme with each other, it must be an inner couplet of a ghazal; "aña" at the end of the second line is the redif (refrain word), and "tābān" the rhyme word. The rest of the ghazal is not known. The couplet is the first of the examples Âşık Çelebi gives in his entry on Sürûrî. Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî also quotes the same couplet in the Künhü'l-ahbâr, with the second line in the form "Çeşm-i siḥrinden ḳaçup girmiş meh-i tābān aña".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet finds a poetic cause for a common sight in the sky, the ring of light around the moon. Among the people, to be protected from spells, the evil eye and evil spirits, a circle used to be drawn on the ground while a prayer was recited, and whoever sought protection would step inside it. Sürûrî carries this belief up into the sky. The moon has taken fright at the beloved's bewitching eye and fled; the halo, a circle drawn with a prayer made of light, is the shelter in which it takes refuge. The moon's appearing within a halo is thus put down to its flight from the magic of the beloved's eye. This is a fine example of the device of hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology).

There are two series of congruent images (tenasüp) in the couplet that complete each other. On one side stand halo, moon, brightness and light; on the other, prayer, circle, magic and flight. That the beloved's eye works magic is a metaphor (istiare) much used in divan poetry: the eye is a sorcerer who enchants the lover with its glance. Sürûrî finds an unexpected victim for this familiar metaphor. Here the one fleeing the eye's magic is the moon in the sky. In divan poetry the moon is an emblem of beauty to which the beloved's face is compared and with which it competes; here it turns into a creature that takes fright before the beloved and seeks shelter. The couplet thus also says, indirectly, that the beloved surpasses the moon.

Historical Context

From which ghazal the couplet comes, and to whom and when it was written, are not known. Âşık Çelebi was Sürûrî's pupil and in his biographical anthology (tezkire) chose only a few couplets from his teacher's poems; placing this couplet at the head of the list suggests that he counted it among his teacher's best. Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî, too, though he did not on the whole admire Sürûrî's poetry, included this couplet among the few he quotes. Sürûrî's Turkish divan has been published by Niyazi Ünver; as that edition could not be accessed during this work, the couplet's place in the divan could not be compared.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources