Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün

Keşf it nikâbunı yiri göği münevver it
Bu âlem-i anâsırı firdevs-i enver it
İki cihânda kılmamışam nesneye nazar
Yâ Rab habîbünün bana vaslın müyesser it
Depret lebüni cûşa getür havz-ı Kevseri
Anber saçunı çöz bu cihânı mu’attar it
Yârâ yolunda aşk ile derdünden öleni
Kim dir sana ki hecr ile cânın mükedder it
Hattun berât yazdı sabâya didi ki tîz
Var milket-i Hıtâ ile Çîn’i musahhar it
Âb-ı hayât olmayıcak kısmet ey gönül
Bin yıl gerekse Hızr ile seyr-i Sikender it
Zeyneb ko meyli zînet-i dünyâya zen gibi
Merdâne vâr sâde-dil ol terk-i zîver it

In English

1. Lift the veil from your face and fill earth and sky with light; turn this world built of the four elements (earth, water, air and fire) into a radiant paradise.

2. In neither world have I set my eyes on anything; O Lord, grant me union with Your beloved. (Habîb means both "beloved" and the Prophet, who is called the beloved of God; the couplet is open to both readings.)

3. Move your lip and set the pool of Kevser surging; loosen your ambergris-scented hair and drench this world in fragrance. (For its sweetness the beloved's lip is likened to Kevser, the pool of paradise.)

4. O beloved, who would ask you to grieve with separation the soul of one who dies of your pain, for love, on your path? (No one would wish it; a lover who dies for love does not deserve the pain of separation as well.)

5. The down on your cheek (hat) has written a berat, a royal decree, and told the morning breeze: "Go at once and conquer the lands of Khitai and China." (Hat means both the down on the face and writing; Khitai and China, famed for their musk, are to bow before the beloved's scent.)

6. O heart, if the water of life (the water of immortality) is not your lot, you may travel Alexander's road with Khidr for a thousand years; you will still not find it. (According to the legend, Khidr and Alexander sought this water in the Land of Darkness; Khidr found it and Alexander did not.)

7. Zeyneb, give up the craving for worldly finery, as women do; be manly, pure and simple of heart, and leave all ornament behind.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is the poem most closely tied to Zeyneb Hatun's name. Almost every biographical anthology of poets (tezkire) that gives her an entry chooses it as her specimen, and the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam draws attention to this agreement. The ghazal (gazel) is written in the "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün" pattern of the muzâri metre. The redif (refrain word) is the imperative "it" (et, "make, do"); the rhyme is the sound "-er": münevver, enver, müyesser, Kevser, muattar, mükedder, musahhar, Sikender, zîver. The ghazal, a short lyric made of couplets (beyit) whose first couplet rhymes in both lines and whose last couplet carries the poet's pen name (mahlas), advances here through a chain of commands. In almost every couplet someone is called upon to act: the beloved to lift the veil, move the lip and loosen the hair; God to grant union; the heart to set out on a journey; and the poet to give up ornament.

Because the poet's divan is lost, the full text of the ghazal does not come from a single hand. The seven-couplet form given here is the text in Mehmet Arslan's entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (TEİS). Latîfî, Âşık Çelebi, Kınalızâde, Beyânî and Gelibolulu Âlî, however, give only five couplets of the same ghazal; the couplets standing second and fourth in this text, "İki cihânda kılmamışam…" and "Yârâ yolunda…", are found in none of the anthologies. The TEİS entry bases the text on Latîfî, yet these two couplets are not in Latîfî; the only other source the entry cites for the ghazal, Eğridirli Hâcı Kemâl's Câmi‘ü'n-nezâ'ir, is given solely for a different form of the last couplet. Which miscellany (mecmua) these two couplets come from is therefore unclear.

The variant readings among the anthologies are small, but in a few places they affect the meaning. In the sixth couplet TEİS, Âşık Çelebi, Kınalızâde and Beyânî read "Hızr ile seyr-i Sikender" (Alexander's journey with Khidr), while Latîfî reads "zulmete seyr-i Sikender" and Âlî "zulmet-i seyr-i Sikender"; in the first reading the heart sets out with Khidr, in the second it repeats Alexander's journey into the Land of Darkness. In the last line Âlî reads "terk-i zînet" instead of "terk-i zîver". In the third couplet Beyânî reads "dü-cihânı" (both worlds) instead of "bu cihânı", and Kınalızâde "Debret" instead of "Depret". In some manuscripts of Âşık Çelebi the fifth couplet is missing altogether.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is a scene of divine manifestation. When the veil covering the beloved's face is lifted, earth and sky will be lit up, and this world made of four elements will become paradise. Münevver and enver are words of the same root, and they place the idea of light at both ends of the couplet. The second couplet ties this light to a prayer addressed to God. In the words of TEİS, the ghazal is crowned with a couplet of supplication (münâcât): the lover says that in both worlds she has looked at nothing else and asks God for union with His beloved. Since habîb can stand for both an earthly beloved and the Prophet, the couplet reads in two directions at once.

The third and fifth couplets describe the beloved's beauty through scent and taste. The lip sets Kevser surging, and the loosened ambergris hair drowns the world in fragrance. The fifth couplet contains a double entendre (tevriye): "hat" means both the down on the cheek and writing. Taken as writing, it issues a berat, that is, a royal decree; the morning breeze becomes the courier of this decree and is sent to conquer Khitai and China, the two lands that divan poetry associates with musk. Hat, berat, writing and decree form a congruence of images (tenasüp), and the words for conquest, land and musahhar (subdued) turn the beloved's beauty into a sovereignty.

The fourth couplet reproaches the beloved with a rhetorical question: who would want one who has died on love's path to be wounded by separation as well. The sixth couplet carries the ghazal towards the idea of fate. The water of life, Khidr and Alexander allude to a well-known story of divan poetry: while seeking the water of immortality, Alexander entered the Land of Darkness with Khidr; Khidr found the water and Alexander did not. What follows from the couplet is that what is not one's lot will not be gained even by a journey of a thousand years.

The closing couplet (makta) is the most discussed in the ghazal. The poet addresses herself and counsels giving up the craving for worldly finery "zen gibi", as women do, and being "merdâne-vâr", manly and simple of heart. There is an antithesis between zen and merdâne, and a closeness of meaning between zînet and zîver. The call to give up ornament can also be read as Sufi advice to withdraw from the world; at the same time it is a woman poet asserting her own voice within a poetic tradition built by men.

Historical Context

According to TEİS, the ghazal is a nazire (response poem) to Şeyhî's ghazal with the opening couplet "Aç alnunı yüzini cihânun münevver it / Çöz zülfüni dimâğını cânun mu‘attar it"; the metre, redif and rhyme are the same, and Zeyneb's first and third couplets clearly recall Şeyhî's opening. The ghazal in turn drew response poems. In his entry on the poet, Latîfî relates that in his youth he wrote a nazire to this "şi‘r-i ter" (fresh poem) and adds his response to the anthology. Latîfî's closing couplet runs "Gel ey Latîfî defterimi dürmedin felek / Dîvâne olma şi‘rüñi dîvân u defter it".

This last line connects to a second closing couplet of the ghazal. In Hâcı Kemâl's Câmi‘ü'n-nezâ'ir, completed in 1512, the ghazal ends with the couplet "Zeyneb çü dost zülfi bigi târmârsın / Dîvâne olma şi‘rüni dîvân u defter it": you are scattered like the beloved's lock; do not go mad, gather your poems into a divan and a book. One manuscript of Sehî's anthology (Ü1) gives the same couplet, beginning it "Zeyneb çü yâr zülfi gibi târe olmagıl", and notes that it is the poet's famous closing couplet. TEİS writes that this couplet indicates the poet had composed enough poetry to form a divan. We thus have two different closing couplets attached to the same ghazal; the sources do not allow us to decide which is the original, or whether the poet composed the ghazal in two different forms.

The anthologists' judgements on the ghazal also turn on the closing couplet. Beyânî, after saying that Zeyneb was a contemporary and companion of Mihrî and that many debates and poetic exchanges passed between them, writes "Eş‘ârı ârifânedür. Kız nakşı degüldür merdânedür" (her poems are full of mystic insight; they are not a girl's handiwork, they are manly) and gives this ghazal as an example. Kınalızâde likewise presents the poem as "bu gazel-i merdânesi" (this manly ghazal of hers). Âşık Çelebi writes that in the reign of Sultan Bayezid the poet was in the service of Prince Ahmed together with Mihrî, and that after her marriage she obeyed her husband and withdrew from poetry and from the company of men; he quotes the ghazal after this information. The TDV entry notes that if Zeyneb Hatun's death in 1474 is accepted, Âşık Çelebi's account must be treated with caution.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Latîfî, Tezkiretü'ş-şu‘arâ ve Tabsıratü'n-nuzamâ, ed. Rıdvan Canım, Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism (e-book), 2018, pp. 256-257 (Zeyneb entry and Latîfî's response poem).
  • Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ‘irü'ş-şu‘arâ, ed. Filiz Kılıç, Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism (e-book), 2018, p. 257 (Zeyneb Hâtûn entry, notes 2886 and 2890).
  • Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi, Tezkiretü'ş-şu‘arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism (e-book), 2017, p. 408.
  • Beyânî Mustafa, Tezkiretü'ş-şu‘arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism (e-book), 2017, p. 84.
  • Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî, Künhü'l-ahbâr'ın Tezkire Kısmı, ed. Mustafa İsen, Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism (e-book), 2017, Zeyneb Hatun entry.

Official sources

  • Sehî Beg, Heşt-Bihişt, ed. Halûk İpekten, Günay Kut, Mustafa İsen, Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism (e-book), 2017, p. 159, note 12 (the closing couplet in manuscript Ü1).

Books

  • Mehmet Arslan, "ZEYNEB, Zeyneb Hatun, Zeynünnisâ", Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (TEİS), Ahmet Yesevi University, 2014 (updated 2020), "Eserlerinden Örnekler": the ghazal and the form of its last couplet in Câmi‘ü'n-nezâ'ir (Bayezid Library 5782, fol. 27b). teis.yesevi.edu.tr
  • Hasan Aksoy, "Zeyneb Hatun", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 44, Istanbul 2013, pp. 360-361. islamansiklopedisi.org.tr

Online sources