of 0 -04 o

Ma

r”Lgsuj

s $514 JV“) ail}

‘God hath Treasuries aneath the Throne,the Keys

whereof are the Tongues of the Poe ts.

’

H ad i s- i - S h e r i f.

EX B IBLIOTHECAPRANC. BABINGER

A

H I S T O R Y

OF

OTTOMAN POE TR Y

THE LATE

E . J. W . G IB B,M. R . A . S .

VOL UME I I I

EDITED B Y

EDWARD G . BROWNE,M. A .

,M. B .

,

S I R THOMA S A DAMS , P R U F I'ZSSH R ” I" A R A IHC A N D “ I" P I'ZMHR U K E

CU IJ J CC IC IN T i l l". UN IV ICR S I' I' V “ If (‘

AMHIU I N I IQ F E L L O W

H I" TH IC IHH'

I'

IS I I A l'

A IHCMV .

EX 131. 3L '0THECA

PRANC . BABINGER

L O N DO N

L UZA C 8: CO G REAT RUSS E L L STRE ET

ED ITOR’

S PREFACE .

In offer i ng to the pub lic th is th ird volume of the late Mr .

E . J . W . G i bb ’

sH istory of Otioman P oezry ,I desire to speak

br iefly i n this Pre face of three separate mat ters connected

w i th my fr iend ’

s work and memory ; t o w it , th is book , the

outcome of hi s pat ient and scholar l y labours, and i n part i cular

the present i nstalmen t o f i t , and the part yet t o fol l ow ; h is

col lecti on o f manuscr i pts ; and the work taken i n hand , and

now in process of product i on , by the Trustees of the G i bb

Fund , so gene rously founded by Mrs. G i bb of 13 , Mont

g ome rie Crescent , K elvinside , G lasgow ,to pe rpetuate the

memory of he r son, and to carry on researches i n those

stud ies to wh ich his l i fe was d evoted . Ofthese th re e matte rs

I w i l l speak i n the o rde r i n whi ch they are he re m ent ioned .

The p rese nt volume c o ve rsa pe rio d ofnearly two ce nturies,

extend ing from the begi nn i ng of the Suleym zin ic A g e (A . l l .

926 A . l ) . 1520) d own to the d eath o f N :i l ) l (A . l l .

” 24 A . I ) . w i th whom , (15 the autho r po i nts out

(p . 3 37 infra) , the C lassi c l’e rim l may he c o nsid e re d to c lose ,

and the'

l'

r:msit io n l’e rim l to b e g in . It i nc lud es, the re fo re .

smne o f the must c e le hrute d Turkish po e ts, such us

l‘i

l I Z t’

Ill,

and Ilziq t, b esi d es w ho hus lN ‘t‘ll

al re ady me n t io n e d ; hut i n spi te o f this fac t it is. i n my

judgme nt,i n fe rio r i n i n te rest lllll\ C tn the e . t t liest pe ri o d

d iseusse d i n vo l. I , mul tn the lumt-e lussieul iue luuluu

(3v

18630313

V I

the mode rn , which w i l l form the subj e ct of the subsequent

volumes .

This volume , though i t had not,l ike vol . I I

,unde rgone

a final revisi on for pre ssat the author’shands,isneverthe less

e ntire l y hiswork , on ly here and there re touched by me (and

that alwaysassl ightly aspossi b le ) dur i ng the careful rev isi on

to whi ch I submi tted i t be fore plac i ng i t i n the pr i nter’

s

hands. A l l that I have added , besi des th is Preface , is the

Appendi ces; and even here I found the author’ s rough notes

ready to my hand for Append ix A,whi le , asfor Append ix

B ,the texts of eve ry si ngle poem translated i n thisvolume

were ful ly and fair ly cop ied out i n my fr iend ’

s c lear and

care ful hand for the volume of origi nal texts which w i l l con

c lude the H istory . Thus,w hi le the wr i t i ng out of Append ix

A . from the often blurred and i n d ist i n ctly wri t ten penc i l

notes, whi ch al one served as my gui de i n th is part of the

work , was labor i ousand d ifficul t , the construct i on ofAppend ix

B . wassi ngularly easy in comparison w i th the preparat i on of

the correspond ing Appendix i n vol . I I , where the poems

translated appeared not to have been copied out,and i n

many cases had to b e re covered w i th i nfin i te trouble from

the manuscr i pts i n my late fr ien d ’

s col lect i on .

I must now speak of the remain i ng port i on of the work ,

and offer some forecast as the number and scope of the

future volumes. The manuscr i p t material which remai ns to

b e examined , rev ised,arranged and ed i ted , is contai ned i n

si xteen packets(exclud i ng the texts) , of which six are labe l led“Transi t i on Pe r i od seven “Romant ic ist Per i od ,

”and three

“Modern Pe r i od . The two former per i ods run more o r less

contemporaneousl y , and w ould pe rhaps b e be tter descr ibed

as “ Schools,”and i n the arrangement of the th irteen chapte rs

devote d to them I an ti c i pate some consi derable d ifficul ty ,

si nce I have not ye t been able t o sat isfy myse l f prec ise ly

V I I

as t o the plan whi ch the author i n tended to adopt i n th is

part of his subj ect , and i n part icular w he ther he meant to

separate these two Schools, or to mai n tai n the str i c t ly eb ro

nolog ical order hitherto observed , wh ich woul d render im

poss ible any attempt to keep the two Schools al toge ther

apart . At present I i n cl ine t o the chronological arrangement ,

as be i ng both simpler and more i n accordance w i th the

preced ing port i on of the w ork ; i n deed I am d isposed to

be l ieve that the names of per i ods and schools marked on

these packe ts of manuscr i p t d o not i n all cases represen t the

author’

s final scheme of arrangemen t , out l i ned , so far as the

Fourth Per i od (wh ich w i l l form the subj ect of vol . IV) is

concerned , at pp . 130— 13 2 of vo l . I . F or the i l lustrat i on of

th i s Fourth or Transi t i on Per i od , at all events, the author

has le ft ample mater ial s i n a form which needsbut the same

sort of rev isi on that th i s volume hasrece i ved to fit i t for P ress.

A s regards the Modern Peri od , i n many ways the most

i nte rest i ng per i od of all, and rendered ye t more so by the

author’

s profound conv i ct i on o f i ts i n tri nsi c value and sym

pathy wi th its aims,1the case is

,un fortunate l y , othe rw ise .

He re the mate rials committed to w ri t i ng by my friend are

comparat i ve l y scanty , consist i ng on ly of th ree chapte rs; o ne

e vid ently i ntroducto ry , ent i t led “the Dawn o f a N ew l i ra ;

o ne d evoted to Shinast Efe nd i ; and o ne t o Ziya Pasha. About

Kemal B ey,the th i rd great p io ne e r of the N ew Scho ol , and

i n many ways the m ost impo rtant , n o th ing has b e e n w ri t te n

by Mr . ( i ihb , save he re and the re, amo ngst h is vo lumino us

ro ugh n o tes, tuosl’

ly j o lte d d o wn i n pe nc i l o n hund reds o f

lo ose hal f she e ts o fw ri t i n g -pape r, a frag men t o ft ranslat i o n ,

bio g raphy o r c ri t i c ism . I am mo re than d o ub t ful whe the r i t

wi l l b e w i thin my po w e r to make g o o d this d e tie ie ney,e ve n

wi th the he l p o fc

A bdu’

l-I lai lq I l.i |uid lle y o f the t lt to n tau

Se e pnl tlenlnrly V ol . t, pp . l j t '

.ll"

V II I

Embassy in L ondon , himse l f one of the greatest and most

bri l l iant representat i ves of the N ew School , and one ofMr .

G ibb ’

s oldest and most valued fri ends, and of my col league

and friend Hal i l Hal i d Efend i , Turkish L ecturer at Cambr i dge ,to whom also I was first i ntroduced by the author of th is

work, who valued him equal ly h ighly as a frien d and as a

col laborator . OfKemal B ey, and of other prominent w r i ters

of the N ew School,I may,

no doubt, shoul d t ime al l ow , b e

able to compi le some accoun t , however i nadequate , from the

r i ch mater ials contai ned i n Mr . G ibb ’s l ibrary of pr in ted and

l i thographed books, whi ch , not be i ng otherw ise assi gned by

his w i l l,was, w i th rare generosi ty , presented by his w i dow

to the Un i ve rsi ty L ibrary of Cambri dge . F or th is, and for

the many other ways i n whi ch she hasassisted the progress

of th is work , and str i ve n to further and fac i l i tate the stud ies

to w hich her husband’

s l i fe was devoted,I desi re to se i ze

th is occasi on to express my most profound grat i tude and

apprec iat i on .

From what has been sai d above as to the exten t of the

st i l l uned i ted manuscr i pt , i t w i l l b e c lear that , w i thout anyfurther addi t i ons, there is enough material to form at least

anothe r volume and a hal f ; or, w i th such an Index as I

contemplate , and whi ch my colleague and successor asPersian

L ecturer at Cambri dge,Mr . R . A . Nicholson , to w hose col la

horat i on I owe much i n the preparat i on of this volume,of

which he has corrected all the proofs, isat p resent engaged

i n prepar i ng , two stout volumes. F i nal ly there w i l l b e a

volume contai n i ng the origi nal texts of all the poems trans

lated in the (probably five) Engl ish volumes of the H z

’

slory ,

whi ch w i l l thus, so far as I can ant i c i pate , b e comple ted i n

six volumes. When these w i l l b e comple ted and publ ished

I can scarce l y venture to guess,but under the most favour

able cond it ions I can scarce ly h0p e that the work can b e

IX

accompl ished much before the year A . D . 19 10, whi le any

adverse c ircumstance may cause its appearance to b e st i l l

further de layed . H ow,i ndeed , can i t b e otherw ise , when a

great work , designed to occupy a l i fe-t ime, i s sudden ly de

p rived of its creator , and le ft dependan t on one who , besi des

b e i ng w e ighted w i th his own work , has but a general and

superfic ial kn ow ledge of the subj e c t which had const i tuted

the l i fe-study of the author?

I turn now to the second top i c on whi ch I w ish to say

a few words, name l y the fine col lect i on of Turkish manu

scr i pts made duri ng a pe r i od of some twenty years, at great

cost and labour, by Mr . G i bb w i t h a spec ial v iew to the

preparat i on of th i s work , and left by h im i n a w i l l made

some years ag o (I th i nk about the t ime of his marr iage ) to

the Br i t ish Museum . In my Pre face to vol. I I , the first whi ch

i t was my sad duty to ed i t , I explai ned , at pp . XV —XV I ,that the unw i l l i ngnessor i nabi l i ty o f that i nst i tut i on to depart

on any terms i n the sl ightest degree from what I must st i l l,

I fear, characte ri ze as its d eplorable non -lend ing pol i cy (the

more deplo rable because of the ev i l i nfluence i t con t inues to

exerc ise on other l i braries i n England , notably the Bodle ian

at Oxfo rd and the J ohn Rylands at Mancheste r) made i t

impossi bl e fo r me to unde rtake the cont i nuance of the w ork

unless the transfe rence o f the manusc ri pts to the Museum

we re d e fe rred unt i l its comple t i on . T i l l last mo nth (F ebruary ,

1904) they remai ne d i n the custo dy of Mrs. li . W . G i bb ,

but at that t ime, fo r reaso ns i n to which I n ee d no t he re

ente r, she d esi re d to t ransfe r t hem to my ke e p i ng , and ac

c o rd ing ly se nt them to C amb rid g e , whe re the y no w are ,and

whe re i t is i nt e nd e d that they shall remai n unt i l the last

Vo lume o f th is wo rk has b e e n publ ish e d , whe n the y w i l l

tinnlly b e t ransfe rre d to the llr it ish Muse um . Ile l'

o re the y

g o the re I ho pe to b e ab l e to e o rup ile and pub l ish a ful le r

X

account of th is uni que col lect ion than was possi b le i n the

Pre face to vol . I I (pp . XV—XXXI ) .

I t now remai ns only for m e to add a few wordson another

matter whereof I spoke briefly on pp . XXX I—XXX I I of the

Preface above ment ioned , I mean the G i bb Memor ial Fund ,created and en dowed by the noble generosi ty ofMr . G ibb ’

s

mother . When I spoke of i t i n the Preface to the last volume ,

i t was asa th ing i n contemplat ion , but for the last year and

a hal f or so i t has been an accompl i shed fact . The i n come

which i t yie l ds exceeds 200 a year , and isadmin istered ,

subj ect to Mrs. G i bb ’

s approval , by a body of Trustees,which i nc ludes, besi desmyse l f, Messrs. A medro z , A . G . El l is

(of the Or iental Manuscr i p t D epartmen t i n the Bri t ish Museum ) , Guy L e Strange , R . A . Ni cholson , and D r . E . Den ison

Ross, Pr i n c ipal of the Cal cutta Madrasa, advised byMr . Jul ius

Bertram , Cle rk of the Trust . Though the Trusteesare , under

the Trust- deed , gi ven w i de powers as to the purposes for

which the money can b e employed , i t hasbeen de c i ded for

the present to devote the i n come chiefly to the pub l i cat i on

of texts, translat ions, epi tomes, and the l ike , of Turkish .

Pe rsian and Arabi c works of importance . The fi rst work

undertaken was the publ i cat i on i n fac -simi le of a manuscri pt

o f the Chaghatay or igi nal of the Emperor Baber’

sMemoirs.

This manuscr i p t , which be longs to an Ind ian scholar, was

sent to England on loan,and appears to contai n a text not

on ly d i ffe r i ng from , but ful ler than , that publ ished by I lm insky.

The importance of thisautob i ography of the Turkish founder

of the so-cal led “Moghul” Dynasty of Ind ia rendered the

preservat i on and d i ffusi on of th is new text (manuscr i pts of

the Turk i or i ginal of which are exceed ingly rare ) ve ry desir

able , and asMrs. Bever i dge of Shottermill , who has long

made the l i fe of Baber and hissuccessorsan obj ect ofsp ec ial

study , was w i l l i ng to unde rtake the ed i t i ng and annotat i on

X I

of the text , the Trustees grate ful ly accepted her offer of

col laborat i on , and confided the product i on of the fac-s imi le

to Messrs. Nops of L udgate H i l l . The plates are now all

prepared , but , as is i n my exper ience usual ly the case, the

correct i on of numerous de fects caused by ambiguous dots

and the l ike , which , i n spi te of every pre cauti on , w i l l invari

ably creep in , has re tarded the product i on of the volume ,

which , compr isi ng as i t does some s ix or seven hundred

pages , necessar i l y i nvolves a large expend i ture of t ime and

trouble .

This, though the first and most advanced , is not the only

work undertaken by the Trustees . There exists i n the Br i t ish

Museum a copy of a ve ry rare and i mportan t Persian work

on Prosody , Me tre , Rhyme, and the kin d red arts of Poe try ,

enti t led d l-Mucajj czmfz’ maca’yz'm'

as/zc

a’

e -C

Aj am (“the Pe rsian

ised [Treat ise ] on the standards of Pe rsian wr i tten

by a certai n Shams- i-Qays fo r one of the A tabeks of Fars

earl y i n the th irteenth century . The publ icat i on of th is,

because of itsant iqui ty , its extreme rar i ty , the l ight i t throws

on the pri nc i ples accepted by Persian poe ts i n the earl y

c lassi cal per i od e re ye t Sac

d r’

had attai ned ce leb ri t y , and the

numerous i l lustrat i ve poemsc i ted i n the c ourse of the t reat ise ,

amongst whic h are i nc luded a good many F alz/aw zyyrz'

l , o r

ve rses i n Pe rsian d ialec ts, se eme d to us, and espec ial l y to

myse l f, ve ry desi rable ; and ,havi ng asce rtai ned that the Im

p rime rie (latho lique o flleyrout could se t up the text i n type

from the e xce l l e n t pho to g raphs take n by Do nal d Macbe th ,

also o f L udgate H i l l , W e d e c i d e d to p ri n t th is i mpo rtant

W o rk , whic h I have und e rtake n to e d it and anno tate , i n t his

way, and the pho to g raphs are no w be i ng take n .

A th i rd wo rk co n tem p lated by the T ruste es is the pub l ie

at io n o f an un publ ishe d p o rt i o n o f the g reat histo rv o f

Rashtdu'

d - I ltn e n t i t le d the f7ci lm'

nl o ne

XI I

of the pri n c ipal sources of i nformat i on about the Mongols.

The Trustees learned that M . B loche t , of the Or iental Manu

scri p t Department o f the Bibl i otheque Nat ionale at Par is,

had l ong been busied in prepar i ng a text of a part of th is

vast work whi ch deals with the history of the Mongols, and

proposed to h im to i nc lude i t i n the ser ies of volumesfor the

pub li cat ion of whi ch they were making arrangements. The ir

p rOp osal was accepted by M . B lochet , and i t is hoped that

the manuscri p t wi l l soon b e ready fo r press. I t w i l l b e pr i n ted

by Messrs Bri l l of L eyden,the publ ishers of thiswork , who

w i l l b e the cont i nental agents of the Trustees, whi le Mr.

Bernard Quaritch has consented to ac t asthe ir Engl ish agent .

L astly , i t is proposed to publ ish an anal ysis o r epi tome of

Ibn Isfand iyar’

sH istory of Tabar z’

sm'

n which I have prepared

from the In d ia office manuscri p t of th isimportant unpubl ished

work , and whi ch I have col lated i n the more d ifficul t and

doubtful passages w i th two manuscri pts be l ongi ng to the

Bri t ish Museum . This work I hope to send to press almost

immed iate ly . I t w i l l thus b e seen that , though the Trustees

have not yet been able actual l y to publ ish anythi ng , arrange

ments for the publ i cat i on of seve ral i mportant volumeshave

been made , and i n the course of a year o r so i t isconfidently

hoped that we shal l have given ample proof of the benefi ts

to Or iental stud ies which may b e sure l y anti c i pated i n the

future from Mrs. G i bb ’

s noble gi ft . ~

March 2 8 , 1904. EDWARD G . BROWNE .

CONTENTS OF THE TH IRD VOL UME .

Edi to r’s Preface t o Volume I I I

BOOK I II : TH E SE CON D PE R IOD (CONTINUE D

C h ap t e r I : The Suleyman ic A g e .

C h ap t e r I I : Poets of the Earl ier Suleymanrc A g e

C h ap t e r I I I : Zat i and Khayali

C h ap t e r I V : The Later Suleyman ic A g e : Fuz ri li .

C h ap t e r V : Fazl i,E l) u

°s-Su

ct’

1d and YahyaB ey .

C h ap t e r V I : Baq i and the Minor Poe tsC h ap t e r V I I : The Mid-Classi c A g eC h ap t e r V I I I : The same con tinued

BOOK IV : TH E Tr-i rim PE R IOD

C h ap t e r I X : The L ate Classi c A g eC h ap t e r X : The same con tinued .

A P P ENDIX A : Anal yses of e i gh t Romances,to wit

1 . Selaman and Absal,by Lamict

2 . varn iq and A zra

3 . V isa and a nfn

4. Tape r and Mothn n

5, Con ten t ion of Sp ri ng and W i n te r(1. The Seven l‘itlig iesKing and B eggar

,by Vnhyr

‘r lley

Khay rabad by Nahl .se

q

A l'

l'l'iN l l lX ll : Vi ral li nes of the Turkish t e x ts o f the l

'o e nnl t ranslat e d

i n Vo l . I I I

B OOK III

T H E S E C O N D P E R I O D .

(CONT INUED FROM VOLUME

A . D . I450— A . D . 1600.

(A . D . 1520

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2

which lie be tween the accessi on of Ahmed I and the deposi

t i on of Ahmed I ll , and which form what we might cal l the

second br ight peri od of the Classi c A g e ,do i ndeed present

a higher average and a more even exce l lence ; but the

i l lustri ous names which d ist i nguish this later epoch be i ng

further apart , the e ffe ct produce d is less splend id and less

v iv i d than that Obtai ned from the concentrated lustre of the

comparat ive ly short peri od embrac ed by the re ign of Suleyman . The gen ius of F uz ri li, one of the truest poets that the

East has eve r borne,woul d al one suffice to make th is re ign

i l lustri ous for eve r . And F uz rfilr’

does not stand alone ; i n

e legance Of expressi on and graceful harmony of language

not one of the Pe rsian isi ng poe ts OfTurkey can v ie w i th

Baq i’

,whom his contemporaries cal led the King of Poe ts;

whi le i n the ve rsati l i ty Ofhis talent L amicr’

of Brusasurpasses

eve ry poe t Of the first three Peri ods, and i n the fe rti l i ty of

his gen ius eve ry poe t who has ye t appeared in Turkey .

The poe try of th is bri l l iant era ismarked by no essent ial

change from that which goes be fore ; i t proce eds al ong the

old famil iar Pe rsian l i nes, keeping i n V iew the same old goal ,

and c i rcumscri bed by the same Old l imitat i ons; its progress

is that of deve lopment rathe r than of transformat i on . I t arises

from the nature Ofthe case that th isdeve lopment runsalmost

entire ly upon techni cal l i nes, the pri nc i pal Obj ect of this

School of Poe try be i ng, as we w e l l know , not so much the

expressi on of true fee l i ng as grace of d i ct i on and faul tless

man ipulat ion of language . I t the re fore fol lows that such

deve l opment as it

i

is capable of w i l l natural ly proceed i n

that d ire ction . And so we find i n the Suleymanic ag e a

great improvement i n the style of poe try viewed simply as

an ar t , w i thout any corresponding advance i n itssubstance .

This rende rs i t impossible to give by means Of a series of

t ranslat i ons any adequate i dea of the improvement which

now occurs; i n Orde r ful l y to apprec iate thisa certai n famil i

arity w i th the rules of Pe rsian prosody and rhe tor i c is

requisi te , as w e l l as a cr i t i cal know ledge of the Turkish

language .

The Suleyman ic era ow es its p re-eminence over earl ier

t imes to this deve lopmen t of poe try as an art , wh ich had

been in progress si n ce the beginn ing,now find ing its high

water mark ; whi le i t owes itsp re-eminence ove r the remai n

i ng years of the Classi c Pe r i od to the c i rcumstance that at

no othe r t ime we re there l i v ing at once so many poets the

average me r i t Of whose work was so high . In after years

poe ts d id i ndeed appear from time t o t ime who coul d v ie

w i th the greatest o f the Suleymanic w r i ters; but n ever agai n

d i d so bri l l ian t a conste l lat i on c rossthe sky of Turkish poe try .

The re ign o f Sul tan Suleyman is the gold en ag e of the

Romant ic Mesnevr’ . There has i ndeed been a steady flow of

wo rks of this c lass eve r si nce the days of Sheykhi’

sK husrev

and Shirr’

n , but w i th the except io n o f that poem and of

Hamd i’

sYusuf and Z e lr’kha’

, none of the worksye t p roduced

have had any high poet i c me ri t . Now we find not only a

great i n c rease i n the numbe r of romant ic mesnev r’

s wr i tten ,

but a great advance i n the i r ave rage exce l lence . The wo rks

of Fazl i’ and of Yahya licy are just ly famous; L ami‘r’

issai d

to b e the only Easte rn autho r who w ro te a se ries of se ve n

romant ic po ems; ' whi le the g racefrrl l . eyl :'

i and Mejm'

m o f

lf'

uz r'

rll is o ne o f the most hearrt iful wo rks i n all Turkish

hte ralure .

The o n ly new catego ry o f po e t ry wh ic h the Sule vmauie

ag e has t o sho w is the Ix’

inring (flu‘

o n ie le . llards had n o t

b e e n want i ng in the earl i e r t imes to si n g the great d e e ds

Jami,the g reat l

‘e rnirur poe t

,le l t

,rur in we l l kun un , n eo lle r t io u o t

'

am e nnre nne v ln ; but only fo ur o I these are ro nnrnr es, the othe r thre e be i n g d irlrn tlro r re l igi o n» lrrrr' um,

4

of the (

Osman l i Kingsand warri ors; but the ir w orks, besi des

deal i ng mere ly w i th si ngle battles o r campaigns, were w i thout

any poe t i c value ,and we re i n great part wr i t ten in Pe rsian .

Sul tan Suleyman inst i tuted the O ffice of Sheh-Namaji, a term

which practi cal l y means Imper ial Rim ing -Chron i c ler,but is

l i te ral ly “ Sheh-Nama (o r King-Book ) w ri te r . The duty of the

poe t who he l d this honourable and we l l-pai d posi t ion was

to ve rsi fy current events i n the manner of F irdawsi ’s famous

h istory of the anc i ent Kings of Pe rsia. A s a rule the Sheh

Namajis were not content w i th mere ly record ing the events

of the day,but prefixed to the ir prope r w ork a long ve rsified

history of the Empi re from the days of E r-Tog hrul and

C

Osman . The office appears to have been frequently left

vacant for some t ime after the death of the occup ier , and

after a few re igns i t fe l l alt ogether i n to desue tude . Besi des

the Offic ial Sheh-Namaj is, there were a number of pr i vate

wr i ters who ve rsified some t imes the ent i re history Of the

Empire , some t imes the explo i ts Of a part i cular Sul tan or

commander . When the whole of Ottoman history was his

subj ect the author usual l y cal led his book l ikew ise a Sheh

Nama ; but when his theme was more spe cial , his book

re ce i ved a spec ial t i t le,i n which the name of the hero

general ly figures. Works of this c lass are , almost w i thout

excepti on,devoi d al ike of l i terary me r i t and histor i cal value ;

i n style they are i nflated and ted ious, whi le the ir matter is

for the most part a mere paraphrase of the prose annals.

N O poe t Ofeminence ever unde rtook the drudge ry of wr i t i ng’

a Sheh -Nama ; when such a one desired to si ng the praises

of a great man,he d i d so i n a qasr

’

da.

I f the histor i cal versifiers of this ag e fai led to produce

any poetry w orthy of the name , the cause of the i r unsuccess

must b e sought e lsewhere than in the source of the i r inSp i

rat i on . In the re ign ofSul tan Suleyman Turkey attai ned the

p innac le of he r greatne ss as a conquer i ng powe r ; never

before or si nce di d the fame of the Turkish arms on land

and sea stand so high . The work ofrec onstruct ing the Turkish

nat i on which in previous re ignshad absorbed so much of the

strength and attent ion both of the government and the people

was now final ly accompl ished , and all the energies and

resources of the West-Turkish race were set free to pursue

the path Of fore ign conquest . And so we find the Turkish

flee ts i n In d ian and Moor ish waters, and the Turkish armies

at Baghdad and V ienna. And al though the Turkshave made

many a conquest and won many a splen d i d vi ctory si n ce

Suleyman the Magnificent passed to his rest , they have n ever

agai n gone forth conque r i ng and to conquer on the grand

scale of those Old days. Indeed , broadly speaking , the history

of the Empire si nce that t ime hasbeen l it t le mo re than the

story of the gradual l oss of those fore i gn lands wh i ch were

won by Suleyman and his ancestors.

‘

A t no time, even i n Turkey , was greate r encouragemen t

given to poe try than duri ng the re ign OfthisSul tan . Suleyman

himse l f wrote ve ry fai r ve rsesand we l l knew how to mai n tai n

the honourable trad it i ons Of his house w i th regard to li te ra

ture , art , and sc ience . F i ve of his sons are placed by the

bi ographe rs among the Iyr ists; and o ne of these , Se l im , who

succeed e d him o n the th ro ne ,is pe rhaps the best w ri te r of

Turkish ve rse amo ng the ro yal po e ts. liach o fthese l’rinc es

was,afte r the o ld Turkish fashio n , the c e n t re ofa g roup o f

poe ts and l i te rary m e n .

Suleyman’

s effo rts to foste r l i te rature and art we re ab l y

and e ne rg e t i cal ly se c o nd e d by his( irand Ve z i r I b rah im l ’asha.

This remarkabl e rrran , the so n o fa ( ire e k sai lo r o f J 'arg a.

had fi rst at trac te d the no t ie e o fSuleynran by hi s ski l l as a

playe r o n the v io l . lle ing po ssesse d o f ruarry hig h qual i t i es,

he so o n g ai n ed the warm affe c t i o n o fhis maste r. who . o n

6

his accessi on , made him Grand Ve z i r and marr ied him to

his siste r . F o r th irteen years 929—42 (152 3— 3 6) Suleymanand Ibrah im l ived together on te rms of i nt imacy unheard

of i n the re lat i ons of Sul tan and Ve z i r e i the r be fore o r si n ce .

When apart , they woul d wr i te to one another every day,

and when toge ther, they woul d Often share the same meal .

A t last Ibrah im w ent one even ing to the Seragl i o , as he

often d id ,and i n the morn ing he was foun d strangled in

one Of the impe rial apartments. I t may have been that the

ever-i ncreasi ng arrogance of the Grand Ve zir had somethi ng

to do w i t h his tragic end , but the true reason was probably

of a very d i fferent nature , and one which the pr ivate honour

of the Sul tan forbade to b e made publ i c

Anothe r dist i nguished patron of le tters duri ng the earl ier

part Of Suleyman’

s re ign was Iskender Che leb i the De fte rdar ,

a man of enormous weal th , who thought w i th the he l p of

his great r i ches to en ter the l ists as r i val to Ibrahim Pasha,

a vai n d ream for wh ich he pai d w i th his l i fe,as he was

ignomin iously hanged at Baghdad on the representat i ons of

the Ve z i r, almost i mmed iate l y after the capture of the c ity

by the Turks. A l though they took awarm interest i n l i te rature

and d id much to encourage i t , ne i ther Ibrah im nor Iskender

w rote poe try themse lves.

Ibrahim ’

ssuccessor i n the Grand V e z irate wasAyaz Pasha,who was chiefly remarkable fo r his great admi rat i on for the

fai r se x . H e was fol lowed by L utfi’

Pasha, whose tasteswere

othe rw ise , and who,though a learned man , cared noth ing

fo r poe t ry . In 951 (1544) the Grand V e z irate fe l l to R ustem

Pasha, i n consequence of the mach inat ions of the Sul tan’

s

favour i te , the Russian Khurrem 1who seemsto have possessed

a goodly share Of he r nat i on s genius for int rig ue .. A lmost

al one among Ottoman Grand Ve z irs R ustem Pasha was the

I This is the lady who rn so many European wri ters cal l R o x elana.

avowed enemy of poe try and poe ts. H e he l d Office t i l l his

death i n 968 save for two years duri ng whi ch he

had to re t ire i n consequence of the popular fee l i ng provoked

by the exe cut i on of Pri n ce Mustafa . R ustem isthe last Grand

Ve zi r who concernsusat present ; Soq o llu Muhammed , who

succeeded only two yearsbe fore the death Of Suleyman ,

had no i nfluence on the l i terary history Of th is re ign .

The four ear l iest bi ographers of the poe tsflour ished dur i ng

the re ign of Suleyman the Great . The first of these is Sehi

B ey who d ied in 955 hi s book , whi ch he Cal led the

E i ght Parad ise s , 1 gives the l i ves Of the Turk ish'

poets from

the foundat i on Of the Empire to his own t ime . Seh i B eyhad been a friend of the poe t N ejat r

’

, along w i th whom he

had been in the servi ce of Pri n ce Mahm ri d , the son of

Bayez id I I , as Se cre tary Of the Divan .

The second is L at r’

fi 2 of Qastamuni,to whose Te z k ira

(or“Memoirs Of the Poe ts” ) al lusi on has so Often been made

i n these pages. This important work was finished in 953al though the author d i d n ot d ie t i l l some forty years

late r . L ike Sch i ’s Eight Parad ises, i t c ompr ises the poe ts

who had flourished from the earl iest t imes down to the date

of composi t i on .

C

A shiq Che lebi , whose personal name wasP ir Muhammed ,

and whom L at r’

fr’

and Q inzili- z zida d esc ri be as a nat ive o f

llrusa (but R iyriz r’

,a late r bio graphe r , as o fRume l ia) co ve rs

much the same ground as l .at tfl, but carries the l ist o fpo e ts

a l i ttle frrrt lre r o n . H iswo rk is o f'

co nsid e rahle value , espe c i

ally whe n d eal ing wi th co ntem po rary po e ts, rrrany o fwhom

l leslrt Itihiuht . Me vhlnr’t Id rls,who d i ed i n o j o “ ro te i n Pe rsian

the fi rst n llir' ltt l g e ne ral lrirt lo ry o l'

the l'ilup ir‘

e fo r Iluye l trl und e r the sutur‘

tlt le . |Seht'

u Wo rk is e x t reme ly rare,but the re is in good co py uluo ug nl the

Author's MSS . Se e. V o l. n, p . l l'l. rm ] .

2 Se e Vo l. t, p . ly ) , n . J .

i' l b id .,n . 4.

8

the author knew pe rsonal l y ; but i t is wr i t ten in a very

laboure d and highly art ific ial style .

c

A shiq , who d ied , accord

ing to Qinali-zada, i n 976 (1568 wrote some fai r orig inal

poems,the most notable of which isone on the R i ve r Danube .

C

A hd i of Baghdad , who was of Pe rsian extract i on,is the

fourth biographer ; his book , which is cal led the R oseb ed of

Poe ts, 1 d iffers from the three preced ing i n that i t deals only

w i th those poe ts who we re contemporar i es of the wr i ter . I t

was fin ished in 97 1 and isdedi cated to Pr i nce Se l im ,

afterwards Sul tan Se l im II . The author , whose ful l name

wasAhmed b in Shemsi, wasa nat i ve OfBaghdad who repai red

to Constant i nople,where he mastered the Turkish language

and became acquai n ted w i th many poe tsand men Ofd ist inc

t i on . After resi d ing i n the capi tal for several yearshe returned

to his nat i ve c i ty,and there w rote the work which , notw ith

'

stand ing the p rophecy of his successor R iyaz i that i t woul d

b e forgotten e re many years w ere past , has p reserved his

memory to this day.

C

A hd i d ied at Baghdad towards the

end of the re ign o f Murad I I I .

Sul tan Suleyman t he F irst , who issurnamed by Europeans

the Great or the Magn ificent,but by his own countrymen

Qanr’

mi or the L awgiver , on account of the Qanr’

m or Code

of L aws whi ch was drawn up under his auspi ces,assumed

i n his poems the makhlas of Muhib b r’ . This name , whichmeans the F r iendly

, we l l expresses his att i tude towards

lette rs, and was probably se lected on that account . Suleyman

le ft behin d him a D ivan Ofghaze ls,many of which are highly

characte rist i c and bear e l oquent w i tness to the ir author’

s

greatness of soul . Th is Sul tan,though one Ofthe most pow er

ful and successful sovere igns who ever l i ved , was ye t um

dazz led by the splendour of his posi t i on , and never forgot

to reckon at its true value that worl d ly glory of which he

I G ulshen-ush-ShuLara.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

I O

W hosoe ’er hath scarred his breast and burned thereon the brands afreshWan te th no t to sigh t the garden

,nor to V iew the bower is fai n , |

H e who t o Love ’s folk pertaine th b ideth i n the clear one ’s ward ;F or he wante th no t to wander w i ld and wode o

’

er hi ll an d plai n .

2

O Muhib b r’,whoso drinke th from the loved one ’s hand a cup ,

Wan te th no t L i fe ’s sparkling Water e’

en from Khiz r’

s hand to drai n .

Ghazel. [ 165]

Naugh t among the folk is holden l ike t o fortune fair t o see ;B ut no worldly for tune equal t o one breath of heal th can b e .

That which men cal l empire is but world-w i de strife and cease less war ;There is nought of b l iss i n all the world to equal pr ivacy .

L ay asi de this mir th and frol ic,for the end thereof is death ;

I f thou seekest l ove abiding,there is naught l ike p ie ty .

Though thy l ife-days w ere i n number even as the desert sand,

In the sphere ’s hour-glass they ’d show no t asa si ngle hour,ah me !

O Muhib b i,i f thou cravest rest

,w i thdraw from cares of ear th ;

There is ne ’er a p eaceful co rner l ike the hermi t ’s nook,perdie .

As w e have already sai d , five of Suleyman’

s sons wrote

poe try ; these five are the Pr i nces Muhammed , Mustafa ,

Baye z id , Jihang i’

r, and Se l im . The last-named , the youngest

of all and the successor of his father on the throne , was

undoubtedly the most d ist i nguished as a poe t ; but we shal l

defe r consi de r i ng his work ti l l we come to speak of the

poe ts of his re ign . None of the otherswrote much , a ghaze l

or two by each be i ng all that has come dow n to us. A l l

1 As wounds are poe t i cal ly compared to flowers,h e whose breast is t orn

through the anguish of love has but to look thereon so t o find a garden .

2 A lluding to the stories of F erhad and Mejn t’in who,the poe ts tel l us

,

th inking thereby to magni fy the ir passi on,wen t mad for l ove and wandered

among the mountains and deser ts; but Muhibb i here says that the true l overis fain to ab i de near his be loved

,and does no t seek to fly from her v i ci ni ty .

I I

four predeceased the i r fathe r . Muhammed and j ihang ir die d

natural deaths. Mustafa fe l l a v ict im to the i ntr igues of the

Russian Khurrem ,who stopped short of noth ing to secure

the successi on for her son Se l im . ThisMustafa wasa promisi ng

and gal lant young pr i nce , and much be l oved by all c lasses

of the people . H e was a ki nd friend to l i terature , and i n

hi s sui te was the famous savan t Sur t’

i ri’

, who dedi cated to

him his i n terest i ng and valuable work on prosody and the

poe t i c art i n gene ral , which is known as The Ocean of the

Sciences.

‘ H is execut i on i n 960 (1552 ) created so strong a

fee l i ng of an imosi ty agai nst R ustem Pasha, who wasregarded

as the tool of K hurrem ,that that statesman had to re t ire

fo r two years from the G rand V e z irate . Pr i nce Mustafa took

the makhlas of Mukhlisr’ i n hispoems. Pr i n ce Baye z i d de ter

mined not to resign his r ight to the th rone i n favour of hi s

younger b rothe r, and got togethe r an army wherew i th to

make good his clai m . But be i ng d efeated near Qonya, he

fled to Persia, where after a t ime the author i t ies gave him

up to the Ottoman emissari es, by whom he was put to death

(969= H e w rote unde r the name ofShahI . The fol low i ng

sad l i tt le ghaze l is the wo rk of this luckless Pr i nce .

Ghaze l . [ 166 ]

W i th l on g -pro t rac ted hope why make my weary soul t o mourn ?

Naught of the wo rld ’s d esi re ab ides no w i n my heart fo rl o rn .

l lave do ne wi th thoug h t. and care the re o f,"I b i rd

,my soul

,fo r In

,

This cage,the bod y

,falls t o w rack

,wi t h years and dolour Wo rn .

jaug ling of the b e lls o f yonde r caravan add rest' l 'o l te ntlr'a d iur land

,H heart , e

’e u no w down o n mine ear is bo rn e .

llahr-ul

2’ l ’l llll ltt

,t rl

’ l l ll: ln rdy.

3 Whe n about to Mat t, the r o udur to r . o l a e aravau wound ho rn-t , g n aw,o r

12

B e heedful , ope thi ne eyes and gaze w i th truth-beholding sigh t,

N or l ook on any brake or brere or an t or fly w i th scorn .1

What woe may t ide to Shahr, si ck of heart and stained of sin,

If thou,0 Grace of God

,reach hand to aid him sad and lorn ?

A good deal has been already sai d (vol . I I , chapter XII I ,pp . 347— 363 ) about Shems-ud -Din Ahmed Ibn Kemal , better

known as Kemal -Pasha-zade ,2 who be longs, i ndeed , more to

the prev ious t ime than to that which we are now consi deri ng,

si n ce his l i terary act iv i ty fal ls chiefly in the re ignsof Bayez id

I I and Se l im . H is most beaut i ful poem , how ever, was not

composed unt i l after the death of the last-named Sul tan ;

and to its ment ion,which fal ls natural ly i n thisplace , some

further remarks w i l l b e adde d on his most important , or at

any rate his longest poe t i cal work,the Yusuf and Z elikha.

This mesnev i on the story of J oseph and Potiphar’

s w i fe

is sai d to consist of 7777 couple ts. That i t is one of the

author ’s earl y composi t i ons is shown by its ded icat i on to

Sul tan Baye z id , and i t may perhaps have been wri tten in

emulat i on of Hamd i ’s poem on the same sub jec t , _

concerning

which Ibn Kemal issai d to have expressed h imse l f i n d ispa

raging terms.

3 A l l the same he was not above taking a hin t

bel ls,to warn the travel lers that the t ime of marching is come . [ Cf. vol . 1

,

p . 3 13 , n . I,and the w el l-known couple t o f Hafiz of Shiraz :

rt. )19

03> U3 “ :

LE L?’ a? D

BL? )o l

,»

Lab -fl» a d ep t.) 3- 9 rig-f e

bb. )

0. x : ona

'

E D . ]

1 This couple t,the mean ing of which is

,Regard nothing as common or

unclean,appears somewhat out of place here

,and breaks the con tinui ty or

though t whi ch runs through this ghazel . Perhaps i t is an in terpolati on .

‘

2 In this,as i n many o ther cases

,the P ersian word zade (“ bo rn of, i . e .

“son”

or“ child of the person deno ted by the immediately preceding proper

or common noun ) is used (l ike i tsTurkish and Arab i c equi valents -oghlu andIbn) i n the w i der sense of “ descendan t of.” Thus these wordsare employedto form patronymics i n exac tly the same way as the Sco t t ish “Mac” and the

We lsh “ A p .

” This Ahmed was i n real i ty the grandson of K emal Pasha.

3 See vol . 11,pp . 148 and 356 -

357 .

I 3

now . and then from his forerunner, c e rtai n of whose i deas

and phrases (i deas'

and phrases not to b e found in Jam i ,

the common source of both Turkish w orks) reappear i n the

poem of the late r wr i ter . B ut b e thisas i t may, one th ing

is certain , that Ibn K emal’

s render i ng of the o ld Hebrew

story never attai ned anythi ng l ike the popular i ty of Hamd i ’s.

Ne i the r L at i fi nor Qinali-zade doesmuch more than mention

this work,quoti ng a few couple ts by way of examples of

its style . To me Ibn K emal’

s treatme nt ismore p icturesque

than Hamd i ’s; his pagesglow w i th br i l l iant descr i pt i onsand

are br ight w i th a gl it ter and v ivac i ty w hich we seek in vai n

i n the more formal and academic w ork of his predecessor .

B ut his pe cul iar characte rist i c , one whic h was doubtless

regarded by his contemporar ies, and ,fo r many a l ong year

,

by his-successors also , as a gr ievous de fect , and w hich mayi n some measure have been the cause of the unpopulari ty

of his poem,l ies i n his endeavour to make his work both

i n language and phraseology asTurkish aspossi b le . H e neve r

uses an A rabic o r Pe rsian word whe re a nat ive one w i l l d o

as we l l ; he neve r employs an I ran ian const ruct io n whe re

the exigenc ies of the case w i l l pe rmit a Tartar i d i om . To

wri te i n this fashion was to fly i n the face o fall that was

then d eemed cul ture and to run counte r to the genius o f

the whole C lassi c A g e . lh rt th is bo l d at temp t to graft pure ly

Turkish po e try upo n the l’e rsian me t ri cal syste nr was no t

i n all respe cts happy ,and lb n K emal

'

s po e rrr canno t b e

p ro n ounce d succ essful as a wo rk o fart . The m e t re i n whic h

he w ro te was, l ike all tho se em p lo ye d i n his day, l’e rsiau ;

i t had no t be e n co nst ruc te d to sui t the pe culiarit ieso f'

l’

urk ish

Spe e ch ; and to adapt who le l i ne s o fTurkish V o calrles to it .

o r to any o the r o f the I'e rsiau rne t res, isa hard task . d emand ingfo r itssuc c essful armo ur] d islrure n t a hig he r art ist ie tale n t t han

l b ir K e nnil p ossesse d . Owin g to the abse ne e o f l o ng Vo we ls

14

i n Turkish , this work of fi tt ing the nat ive words into the ir

prope r places i n the Persian me tres has always been one“of

the greatest te chn i cal d i fficul t ies i n Ottoman poetry,‘and

i t has given r ise to w hat is pe rhaps the commonest of all

ve rbal faul tsw i th the old wr i te rs. Th is is what is cal led in

Turkish the imala, and consists i n making l ong and throw i ng

the stressupon a syl lable w hich is natural l y short and ought

not to b e dwe l t upon in corre ct pronunc iat i on .

3 I t is true

that i n old t imes the i mala appears to have been looked

upon rathe r as a poe t i c l i cence than as an absolute faul t ;

but al though i nstances of itsuse are to b e found i n probably

eve ry poe t dow n to the Modern Per i od ,3 few wr i te rs of

1 I t w i l l b e remembered that nat ive Turkish poe try,such as the nat i onal

bal lads and folk-songs,is purely syllabic

2 Such as w r i t i ng£59 b

i r forJ

“? b‘

i'

r one ; yi r for 5" yer place ; Jud

yi l for (lg yel w in d ; and so on . The converse of the imala is the z ihaf,

whi ch consists i n treat in g a l ong syllable as i f i t were shor t ; this isreckoneda much w orse faul t than the imala

,and isstudiousl y avoided by careful w ri ters.

The follow i ng examples are from E krem Bey ’s Course of L i te rature (Taclim- i

E deb iyyat) .

M MA) 3 (

Usm SL—é L €m A ll

i>

as;i

"6 ta La: 6 (5, l M

‘Bew i ldermen t seiz e th my understanding,i f I look on her eye , on her eyebrow

A hundred thousand plaudi ts to the Ar t ist of that form ! ’I n the first lin e we have three imalas

,al ir

, g uz ina, qashina, for al ir, g uz ina,qashina.

‘Who then is this friend or foe ?

O Lord,is th is Khizr or a brigand

Here we g et a z ihaf as we have to read dost in p lace of dost ; and yet thiscouple t isby Nabi . There issome th ing l ike a z ihafi n Moore ’swe l l-known line

"Tis the last rose of summer left bl ooming alone ;’

where the word ‘rose ’ is slurred over i n an unnatural way.

3 Imalas (but never, or very rarel y,z ihafs) are t o b e found i n the works

of even the greatest poe ts,Fuzul i

,Net‘i N ed im

,Ghal ib ; but when such wri ters

use them i t is no t the resul t of feebleness or carelessness; i t is del iberate lydone for the sake of emphasis or fo r some o ther special purpose .

I S

repute have carr ie d i t so far as Ibn Kemal , i n whose mesnev i

i t is by no means unusual to come across l i nes contai n i ng

as many as three syl lables thus treated . A l though the p ro

nunc iat ion of Turkish was no doubt d ifferent i n those days

from what i t is just now , and i t is qui te probable that the

imala may have been less offensi ve to med ieval than to

modern ears, st i l l asi t isopposed to the gen iusof the language ,

i t can at no t ime have been other than a flaw i n a poe t ’s

work . This author’

s attempt to reve rt t o a more pure ly

Turkish,and there fore more natural , d ic t ion was courageous,

and deserves cred it as an effort i n the d i rect i on of truth ;

but the resul t proves that. i t was a r ight i nst i n c t whi ch

impe l led the Ottoman poe ts, so long asthey se rvi le l y adhered

to every detai l of I ran ian l iterary cul ture ,to compose the ir

wo rks i n that hybri d Pe rso-Turkish d ialect which , al though

always artific ial and generally i n comprehensible to the mul

t itud e,was after all the only meanswhereby the i r language

could b e forced into the Pe rsian moul d and ye t re tai n some

thing of grace and l ightness.

The fol lowing passage from Ibn K emal’

sJ ose ph and Z elikha

te l ls how the Grandee ofEgypt (Qitfir= Poti phar) went out

i n state to we l c ome the Pri ncess on he r approach to the

Egyptian capi tal , when coming from he r home i n the Sunse t

I .and .

li rom Yr’

rsufu Z elikha. [ 16 7

I"rnur stage to stage and post to post the y frrredi i i i til what t ime the l i t te r " I‘Ig yp t neared .

The he rald ic to lh'

l‘ig yp lian t irrrnd e c spe d ;

In'

l'

ab rut’a g reat t '

hro n ie le. (He r. t, p . 3 79 ) l

’

o tlphar'

u name is g iv e n an

ltflr and his wi fe 's arr Ra' t l . I°'o r an e plto n re o f the romance , ne e V rtl. tr, p p .

rsr—l 7a.

The t aure l-l i t t e r in whic h Z e llhha t rave lled .

16

‘The Sugar-Bale ‘ t o Egyp t ’s2 come,

’ they sai d .And mickle gladness from this news he found

,

As the si ck hear t from julep fresh and sound .

H e handselled them who brought the news of grace ‘

And throbbed hissoul and beat his hear t apace .

And straigh t he mounted and rode for th to gree t,

W i th banners wav ing and w i th tabors beat .H e fil led w i th criers the Egyp tian coast ;Behin d his horse march ’

d the Egyp t ian host .A l l they of Egyp t-c i ty

,smal l and great

,

Came for th to follow i n this march of state .

Whatever b e of reverence high and fair,

They do i t all,no smal lest whi t they spare .

On e lephant beat India’s King the drum,

The Russian band w i th trump and cymbals come .

The thunder of the tymbals ren t the air,

G leamed the flag -fol iage w i th levin-glare .

W i th shimme r o f pomegranate-cheeks that t ideThe heaven ’s raimen t rosy-red was dyed .

3

And as the flags to heaven reared the headThey sewed gold spangles on that raimen t red .

4

Sweeper and waterer w ere w ind and sky,5

Which swep t and watered rock and moun tain high .

The sea of men surged upon every hand,

On rolled the mighty army,band on band .

Each wore upon his head a dome of l ight,6

Camphor ’s own self thou woul dest deem for thr ight . 7

The morn upon the throng of men di d gaze,

1 The Sugar-Bale is of course the swee t Z elikha.

2 Egyp t here meansrather the Egyp t ian capi tal,the word M isr be i ng always

used in the romance fo r coun try and cap i tal indiscrimi nately,just as i n modern

parlan ce i t isused equal ly for Egyp t and for Cairo .3 The lustre of the cheeks red as pomegranate-b lossom of the fair youths

and girls i n the processi on be ing reflec ted on the sky, impar ted to i t a ruddy ti nge .

4Referrin g to the gi l t bal ls or o ther ornaments surmounting th e flagstaifs.

5 A Ferrash is a servant one of whose dut ies i t is to sweep the path forh ismaster ; while i t is the duty of the saqqa, or water-carrier, to lay the dust .Here the breeze and the rai n are sai d to perform these tasks.

6 A burnished helme t .7 Camphor be ing the type of any th ing whi te or br igh t .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

18

made up for by inc reased euphuism ; i n deed the poem isso

characterised by the ve rbal adornments of Pe rsian rhe tor i c

that S ir James Redhouse is just ifie d in descri b ing i t as a

mode l of those paral le ls of sense and assonance , so b igly

esteemed by the early Easte rn w r i ters, where every phrase is

n ice ly balanced and every word hasits counterpart . Possib ly

the author may have adopted the Persian style i n compl iment

to the monarch he was lamenti ng,whose predi lecti on for

Iran ian cul ture is we l l -known . Ibn K emal’

s talent d isplays

itse l f i n the v igour and directness whi ch dist inguish this

poem ; these are qual i t ies hard to combi ne w i th a highly

art ific ial style , and very rare i ndeed in the Persian ised poe try

of Turkey . I f the Yusuf u Z elikha fai le d to e l i c i t any great

en thusiasm , the same cannot b e sai d of this noble Elegy .

One verse espec ial ly has cal le d forth the admirat i on of we l l

n igh every w ri ter on Turkish poe try si n ce the days of L at ifi,

that , name ly i n which,re fe rr i ng to the great achievements

accompl ished by Se l im in hisbr ie f re ign , the poe t compares

him to the se tt ing sun,w hi ch makes the shadow s , symbol i c

i n the East of prote ct ing powe r , stretch l ong and far, but

passes away so swi ft ly from our sight .

The fol low i ng is the concluding strophe of the Elegy ,which

alone isusual ly quoted and which al one hasattai ned ce lebri ty .

Eleg y on Sultan Selim I . [ 168]

An elder in cautel,a stri pl i ng in sp righ t ;

Of glaive aye triumphan t , of rede ever r i gh t .An Asaph I i n w isdom

,th

’

adorn o f the host,

H im l isted nor vezir nor mushir i n figh t . 2H is hand was a fal chion ; his tongue was a dirk ;H is finger an arrow , his arm a spear bright .

1 Asaph , to whom many of the Psalms are dedicated,issai d to have been

Solomon ’s Grand Ve zir,and is quo ted as the t ype of minister ial w isdom .

‘2‘ Vez ir minister , mushir marshal : Selim needed ne i ther councill or no r

gene ral .

I 9

In shor test of t ime many gests hath he wrough t,

Encompassed was ear th of the shade of his might .The Sun of hisDay, but the sun at day ’s close

,

Far-cast in g hisshadows,soon si nking from sigh t . 1

Of throne and of diadem soverans vaun t,

B ut vaun ted of h im throne and diadem br igh t .H is hear t found de l igh t i n that festal carouseWhereunto the sabre and trumpe t i nv i te .

2

The sphere 3 never gazed on his equal or peerIn the mir th of the feast or the mirk of the fight .F lashed he t o the banquet a Sun shedding l ight !Dashed he to the bat t le a L i on of migh t !What t ime that the ‘Se i ze ! Hold ! ’ 4resounds shal l the swordRemember th is L i on and weep blood for thri ght . 5A las! Sul tan Sel im ! alas! woe isme !

L e t reed and le t fal chion al ike mourn for thee ! 6

L ike some other legistswho wrote poe try , Ibn Kemal d i d

not adopt any makhlas; the reason b e i ng,accord ing to L at ifi,

that he se t but l i ttle store by his verse . Accord ing to C

A hd i

he left a D iwa’

n of ghaze ls; he was also the author of

numerous fragments of ve rse , but none of these are of much

importance . The fol lowing is we l l -known

Qitc

a. [ 1

To what th ing may I compare thee , Radiance i ncorporate ?The y oung sapli ng of the meadow y ields no fi t t i ng ty pe of thee

,

See i ng i t do th gai n in glo ry,c lad i n leafy robe o f g reen

,

Whi le that thou,di vest of eve ry garmen t

,lo ve l iest dost b e .

“

1 This is the famous ve rse .2 That is

,the bat t lefie ld .

3 The pe rson ified Sphe re .

4The Pe rsian ph rase dflr fl g rr‘hold and some . ) is used to indicate

the tumul t o f b at tle .

5The swo rd we e ps blood,i . e . re call i ng his loss i t is bi t t e rl y g rieved ; also ,

i nspi red by his memo ry , i t st rikesdown the fo enrun and d ri ps w i th h is blood .

The re ed,i . e . the re ed-pe n , b e eause the Sul tan was a great poe t ; and

the lale lrio n b e cause he was a g reat warri o r.

7 The ‘lt rulirrne e o r em bod i ed l i g ht , is the poe t 's be loved .

This fragmen t is p robabl y rrrr r eho o l the A rab le l ines

d ance (a t ! rub as the . Lag , w ar k

(“7X4 LA W ‘ ai

r», M ! is.“

(wa d!0m :

CHAPTER I I .

POETS OF TH E EARL IER SUL E YMAlN I C A G E .

926—964(1520

L am i 1. F i g han 1’

. G h a z zi l ifI sh a’

r q C h e l e b i . Usarr.

Ment ion has already been made of L ami r as one of the

most prol ific of Turkish w ri ters. The biographers give but

few part i culars concern ing his l i fe,whi ch appears to have

been enti re ly devote d to stud ious and l i te rary pursui ts, and

to have been passed in his nat i ve c i ty of Brusa i n uneventful

tranqui l l i ty . H is personal name was Mahmud , and he was

the son of one‘Osman , who had be en a de fterdar under

Sul tan Baye z id . But offic ial l i fe had no charmsfo r the youth

ful poet , who i n her i ted rather the art ist i c temperament of his

grandfather c

A li, a man whose talents had gai ned for him

the surname of Naqqash, the Pai n te r o r Bro i derer , two design

at ions al ike appl i cable i n his case .

1 L am ici at first turned

h isattention to secular stud ies, but soon passed from these to

j o in the d isc iples of the great myst i c teacher Sheykh Bukhari

the N aqshb end i . H e must have been about sixty yearsof ag e

when he d ied ; for i n the preface of hisSheref-ul- Insan he te l ls

us that i n 9 3 3 (1526—7 ) hisyearsnumbered fifty-five,and we

know that he died in e i ther 9 37 (1530— 1) or 93 8 (153 1

1 This ‘‘A li issai d to have brought the first emb roidered saddle in to Turkey

from Samarcand , he was also ce lebrated as a pai n ter,probab ly ofmi n iatures

i n manuscrip ts.

2 The Taj-ut-Tewarikh gi ves the first of these dates,Hajj i Khal ifa the second .

2 I

Many of L amici ’s numerous works are i n prose ; i n deed ,

i f we may judge by the comparat i ve frequency w i th which

the manuscr i p ts occur, the most popular of all his wr i t ings

was the e thi cal prose romance en ti t led Sheref-ul- Insan , o r

The Noblesse of Human i ty . This work, which L at i fi regards

as his masterpie ce , i s a free translat i on of the we l l-known

Arab ic apologue,the Contest of Man w i th the An imals,

which forms the twenty-first of the Tracts of the Bre thren

of Sincer i ty (Resa’ i l I khwan -us The

C

I b ret -numa , or

Exemplar, i s a col lect i on of w i l d and fantast i c al legor ies.

H e translated F e t tahi’

s Husn u Di l,but his versi on is sai d

to b e i n feri or to that of his predece ssor A hi . 2 These , along

with a translat ion of J am i ’s famous b iograph ical work on the

myst i c sai n ts,known as N afaha

’

t-ul-Uns, o r the W i nd -wafts

of Int imacy,form the most important of L amici

’

s prose

wri t i ngs.

In mi ngled prose and verse we have the Munaz ara-i Behar

u Shi ta, o r Content ion of Spri ng and W i n ter, 3 a beaut i ful

allegory in which the successi on o f the seasons is figured

as the warri ng of ri val k ings. A s I have al ready obse rved

when'

desc ri b ing the d i ffe re nt varie t ies of poe try i n olde n

times,the Munzi zara is as a rule a poem of ve ry mod e rate

length ; but I . zim ic

r'

hashe re expanded the Conte nt ion be twe e n

Spri ng,r and W i nte r i n to a fin ishe d romance .

The poe t i cal wo rk of L aurici co nsists fo r the mo st part

of romanti c rn esue v ts, no fe we r than se ve n such po ems be i ng

due to his pe n . l ie is pe rhaps the o nly l‘iaste rn po e t who

has wri tten so rnauy me t ri cal romances; fo r altho ugh Jzirn t'

s

l ldda: rn lg hml A rabm te x t lum b emu rub hnl lw lfieun h d ( L VHV bb l SS l h

w lur rdso |ad rhshe d rr t ie rnuo r trannhn io n (Hoa ,

7 A fa” absnne t r d Huz nh ny, ror rd ve n b r 1\hfs *wn shauw t“ he hunul ln

V ol . i r, pp . 29 2 3 11.

Imrhaps Ni san/ano l He hnr rr Klm/aa,t

'

o n tr nfio n o t Sp rbn; ruul .\utuuuu

luny be Hu‘t rnuu l HHe ; mane auHuuiHeu rdve Hu'

rang mane Hu' ruheu

2 2

Haft Awrang does i ndeed compr ise seven poems, only three

of these , the Joseph and Z elikha, the L eyla and Mejada,

and the Selaman and Absal , are real ly romances, L amic

i had

the good sense to pass by the hackneyed tales of Joseph

and Mejnun and seek the subj ects of hi s poems among the

less famil iar legends of anc ient Persia, so that most of his

storiesare new to Turkish l i terature . F rom Jami he borrowed

the history of Selaman and Absal , which F i t zgeral d’

s trans

lati on has made famil iar to Engl ish readers; from Fakh r-i

Jurj an i he got the tale of V isa and Ram in ; whi le i t is

probably to the old poe t c

Unsuri that he is i n debted for

the story of Vamiq andc

A z ra. The r i ch mine of ol d Persian

lore suppl ied him with the subj ects of two other poems, the

F erhad -Nama, or P erhad Book,and the Heft P eyke r, or

Seven E ffig ies. The last-named is a translat i on of Ha’

t ifi’

s

He ft Manzar, or Seven Be lvederes, wh ich is i tse l f but a

modificat ion of N izam i ’swe l l-known poem ,also ent i t led , l ike

that of L am ici , He ft P eyker .

Besi des these fiv e legendary poems, th is author left two

al legori cal romances, the Guy u Chevgan ,or Bal l and Bat ,

and the Shemc

u Pervane,o r Taper and Moth . These two

works be l ong to a c lass of al legori cal poems at one t ime

very popular i n the East , i n which certai n i nanimate o r

irrat ional obj ects whi ch poe t i c usage representsas love r and

1 [ Fakhr of Jurjan or Gurgan (the ancien t Hyrcan ia,si tuated near the south

east corner of the Casp ian sea) wro te h is V isu Ramin (vari ously ascribedby Dawlatshah

, pp . 60 and 13 0 of Browne ’s edi t i on,t o N iza’tmi of Ganja or

Nizami of Samarcand) about 440 This poem was publ ished at Cal cut tai n 1865i n the Biblio theca I ndi ca. As regards the story of Vamiq and

cA z ra

,

Dawlatshah (p . 3 0) men t ions a Pahlevi versi on composed for N rish irvan (si x thcen tury of our era) , of which a copy ex tan t i n the ni nth cen tury wasdestroyedby order of c

A b du’llah b . Tahir

,the Governor of Khurasan , and D r. Ethe

men tions (Grundri‘ss d . Iran . Phi lolog .

,vol . 11

,p . 240) si x P ersian versi ons

besi des that of C

Unsuri who died in 441 E D . ]2 Hatifi

,a we ll-known P ersian poe t and nephew of the illustr i ous Jami ,

died in 92 7 (1520

2 3

be l oved are person ified and made to pass through a series

of adventures, the i nc i den ts of whi ch are deri ved from the ir

assoc iat i ons, and whi ch are i ntended to figure forth the

exper iences of the myst i c l over . Thus thei

B all is he l d by

the poe ts to typi fy the all-endur i ng l over who so often as

the be loved B at dr i ves him away , st i l l ever re turns,though

but to b e beaten offagai n . Ofthe fabled love of the Moth

for the Tape r w e have heard be fore . L am ic

i probably de ri ved

the i dea of his Bal l and B at from e i ther C

A rife or Tal ib - i

Jajarm i, two Pe rsian poe ts of the preced ing century,each

of whom left a Guy u Chevgan , i n which the Bal l and the

B at are person ified as types of myst i c l ove,whi lst all the

i mages are borrowed from the favour i te game of polo . The

source of the Taper and Moth is most l i ke ly the poem of

the same name composed by Ahl i of Sh iraz i n 894(1488

L am ici has further a sacred mesnev i the Maq tel-i Hazret -iHuseyn , or Martyrdom of Sai n t Huseyn , i n which he te l ls

the sad story so dear to the Musl i m and above all to the

Shici heart , of the woe ful end of the Prophet’

s grandson .

Conce rni ng this wo rk we are to l d that Mon let C

A rab , a

p reache r evidentl y of some importance i n the B rusa of those

days, having heard of L am i‘i’

s p roduct i on ,d ec lared from the

pul p i t that i t was blasphemy to rec ite poems on so sac red

a subj e c t at publ i c gathe ri ngs and me e t ings, whe reupon the

poe t i n vi te d all the n o tabl es o f the c i ty,i nc lud ing the sai d

preache r, to assemb le i n the g reat mosq ue ,and le t him read

to them some passag es fro m his wo rk , whe reat all we re

mo ve d to tears am t d o ubtl ess e o nv iue e rl that the Mo uld

had b e e n a l i t t le to o p re c i p i tate i n his judgm e n t .

( lve r and abo ve these e ig h t mesne v ts L am i‘

t ro t e a

c omp le te lltwan o fg haz e ls and r |astdas as we l l as a She h r

A ir in polo, tennis, and similar game-r.

24

engi z of Brusa, whi ch Von Hammer declares to b e the best

poem of its class i n the language .

I t w i l l have been observed that al though L am i i composed

so much poe try, his works, apart from his lyri cs,we re all

translat i ons from the Pe rsian .

‘ H e d isplayed no ori gi nal i ty

except i n his cho ice of subj ect ; but , so far as I know, not

one of his seven romances, except Vamiq andC

A z raand

the Heft P eyke r, had ever before b een treated by a West

Turkish poe t . 2 A l l the same , L amic

i’

s poetry woul d seem

neve r to have been popular , si nce manuscr i pts of hispoems

very rare ly occur the Bri t ish Museum possesses only one ,

a copy of the V IS u Ramin , 3 and this , al ong w i th a few

extracts from the Spr i ng and W i nter publ ished in W i cker

hauser’

s Chrestomathy , and a ghaze l or two quoted by

Qinali- zade , are the on ly spec imens of his poe t i cal work

that I have been able to see .

4 My account of his poems

must therefore b e i n great measure taken from Von Hammer

who gives e laborate and detai led descri pt i ons of several of

his works. Indeed the Austrian scholar appears t o me to

have overest imated both the importance and the meri t o f

this author, who was l i tt le more than an i n dustri ous trans

lator , of no very remarkable poe ti c pow e r, but to whom

neverthe less he accords the longest n oti ce i n his book , a

l The Maq tel-i Hazre t-i H useyn is almost certai nl y no excep tion,but so

many P ersian w ri ters have handled the subj ec t that i t would b e hazardoust o guess which among them L am i

c

i followed .

2 cUlvi of B rusa

,an obscure wri ter o f the middle of the fifteen th cen tury

,

is sai d to have w ri t ten a He ft P eyk er , whi le Vamiq andCA z ra is men t ioned

as be ing one of the five poems i ncluded in B ihish ti ’sKhamsa, but ne i ther ofthese w orks seems to have at trac ted any at ten ti on .

3 Add .

4 [ Though I have left this passage as I found i t,I fee l sure that the Author

w ould have al tered i t,had he l i ved to revise this volume , for, asmay b e

seen by referring to p . X X I of vol . 11,h is l ibrary con tained manuscr i p ts of

the Kulliyyat , Husn u Dil , Sheref-ul-lnsan ,G

Ib ret-numa,and Behar u Shi tao f

L am ici . E D . ]

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

26

given by Jam i and as adopted from him by L am ] 1,is re

markable from the i ntroducti on of a numbe r of short d i dact i c

anecdotes i l lustrat i ve of some poin t raised in the poem , but

having no connecti on w i t h the progress of the history i tse l f.

A s here treated , this history , whi le outwardly a romance,

is con fessedly a pure al legory designed to show how the

soul can b e freed from the lusts of the flesh . F rom a com

par ison of the extracts from L amici ’s poem translated by

Von Hammer w i th the correspond ing passages i n J ami ’s

work , the Turkish poe t w oul d appear to have made con

sid erable add i t ions, i n the way of de tai l and e laborat ion ,

when translat i ng the Pe rsian original . A she wasa somewhat

d i ffuse wr i te r , i t isnot improbable that such washisgeneral

rule when engaged on works of this c lass.

Vamiq andC

A z ra’

is, accordi ng to Von Hammer , the oldest

of all the Persian romances. A Pehlev i versi on of i t had been

made i n Sasan ian t imes, but w e l ln igh all recol lect i on of

this had passed away in the troublous years of the Arab

conquest ; and when C

Unsuri’ de te rmined to revive the anc ien t

story in the fi fth century of the H ij ra,nothi ng remai ned

beyond the names of the hero and heroine and the vague

trad it ion of the i r l ove .

1 The romance asw e have i t now is

therefore i n all its de tai ls the work of the Mussulman poe tc

Unsur i . In one part i cular the story of Vamiq andC

A z ra

d iffe rs w i de ly from the general run of Easte rn poe t i cal

romances, for i t stops short at the culminat i ng point of the

history , when hero and he ro ine are at length after many

v ic issi tudesun ited in happy wedlock ; i t does not , after the

usual fashion of such poems,fol low the pr i nc ipal actors to

the grave . In this the work approaches more nearly to the

European i dea of an epi c . L am ic

i’

s poem consists of about

three thousand couple ts.

See I) . I on p . 2 2 sup ra.

2 7

The Turkish versi on of V isa 'and Ramin is one of its

author ’s late w orks, wri t ten immed iate l y after the Sheref

ul- Insan , for i n the pre face to that book he te l lsus that his

preceding works are , l i ke the hours of the day and n ight,

four and twenty in number, whi le i n the prologue to this

poem he says that the number of his previ ous w r i t ings

amounts to twenty-five . L am ici had long medi tated a Turkish

translat i on of this story,but had been unable to accompl ish

i t earl ie r,as no copy of the Persian origi nal had been forth

coming . Manuscr i pts of jurjani’

s poem have at all t imes

been rare , and possib ly Von Hammer’

s surmise may b e

correc t that the one used by L ami‘i formed part of the spoi l

resul t i ng from Suleyman’

s first campaign agai nst I ran .

The F erhad -Nama o r F erhad Book be l ongs to the same

cycle as Khusrev and Sh iri’

n ; but al though the characters

i n the two romances are the same , the i n c i dents are so

d i fferent that the two histories must b e l ooked upon as

d ist i n ct . L am ic

i’

s poem shows us the legend from a poi n t

of view d i ffe rent from that of Sheykh i s; i n the former the

he ro is not the King K husrev ,but the gal lant and accom

p lished Forbad , he re t ransformed in to a kind of Knight

e rrant whose ad ventures fo rm the theme of the poem, whi le

his unhappy love fo r Sh irin is the mot i ve o f the who le . The

i dea o f taking as subj e c t the care e r o fthe art ist li e rhzid d id

no t , as we may we l l imag i ne ,o rig i nate w i th L am ict ; he

d e ri ve d i t from some earl i e r po e t , possi bly l\l ir Sh i r.

The subj e ct o f the romance kn o wn as the l i e ft l'eyke r

o r Sew n l'it'

lig ies is the histo ry o f the S:is:in ian King , lle hr. im

V , g e ne ral l y spo ke n o fas lle hrzim-i t iur o r lle hram o f the

W i ld /\ss, and the Seve n l' rine esseswho e ve ntual l y be c o me

his i es.

'

l'

he sto ry ge ts its name fro m the se ve n p ie tm e q,

o ne o f e ach I’rinc ess. whie h lle hlain se e s i n the palae e o f

'

l°

hi t “ to ne in “ fi lm t ly wri tte n \' t «u o r \'

t t,n o t V e g -m n . \

'

o n l lmume i hnn It .

2 8

Khave rnaq and wh ich make him resolve to w in the originals

for his bri des. L i ke so many Eastern tales, the Heft P eyker

contai ns several subsi d iary stories, each of the Pr i ncesses

entertai n i ng the King w i th a romance on the occasi on of

his first visi t ing her .

Von Hamme r gives i n h i s H istory an analysis of the fol

low i ng poems of L amici : Selaman and Absal , V émiq and

C

A z ra, V isa and Ramin , Tapert

and Moth ,

‘ Contenti on of

Spri ng and W i n ter , Martyrdom of Sai n t Huseyn , thei

D i’

wan ,

and the Shehr-eng iz .

2 An epi tome of the first four , taken

from the German work, w i l l b e found in Append ix A . Of

the Spr i ng and W i n ter and of the Sai n t Huseyn i t is nu

necessary to speak further ; i n the first there isscarce l y.

any

i nc ident, whi le the secon d is mere ly a versified renderi ng

of the general ly accepted stor ies that have gathered round

the event i t descr ibes. The Shehr-engiz is a w ork of con

sid erab le length , and is d iv i ded into two sect i ons, the first

of which descr ibes the var i ous places of note i n and near

Brusa, whi le the second is devoted to the praises of the

p re tty boys of the c i ty . The fi rst of these sect i ons is i n te

rest i ng and possesses consi derable value fo r the topography

of med ieval Brusa.

The Seven E ffig ies, the F e rhad -Book, and the Bal l and

B at are left undescribed by Von Hammer ; an epitome of

the first which I have been able to supply from Ni zam i is

i nserted in the Append ix , but I am unable to gi ve any

farthe r account of the other two .

I translate here two passages from the Content ion of Spri ng

and W i nte r ; the first descri bes the merry-makingswhen the

armies of King Spri ng capture Mount Olympus.

1 The date o f this w ork is fixed as 92 9 (152 3 ) by the author ’smen tioningthe recen t cap ture of Rhodes

,which fel l on ChristmasDay 152 2 .

2 A poem of L amici’s en ti tled Jabir-name isalso men tioned by Hajji Khali fa(W 3 854)

2

fl

4

6

0

29

From the Munazara- i B ehar u Shita. [ 170]

Come,heart

,and p lai n the n ight ingales besi de '

Bloom w i th the roses,for

’t is pleasure ’s t ide .

Swel l the concen t,bidding thy songs ar ise

,

And me l t those hear ts of iron w i th thy sighs.Bi de no t

,l ike to the tul i p

,seared of soul ;

B ut while thou mayest,take i n hand the bow l .

Take wreak of ear th or e’er these days b e dead

,

E re from the hear t ’s c i t ole the musi c fled .

Look to the H ie ! and Ho ! for l oud the cry ;

The b ird is flown e’en while thou sayest H ie !

Rose-l ike turn ear,‘ for the n ight-watching bird 2

By dawn hath ’

scaped his ever-plai n tful word .

The noiseful b irds form many a dai n ty c rowd,

The bulbul flutes,the streamle t si ngs aloud .

The jasmines turn the ir blooms to tambour i nes;The brookle ts foam

,bemaddened by those scenes.

Th rough ranks of juni pe rs and cy press treenL ightly the b reeze tri ps dancing down the green .

The streams play hide-and -seek among the bowers,

Among the ve rdan t leafage,w i th the flowers.

3

The c hyr plucks the jasmine ’s cap awayAnd sheds the sto len hai rs i n pearly spray . ‘The t rees nudge o ne the o ther w i th the i r boug hs, lsThe flowers and nigh tingales each o the r louse .

The wi nd is maste r of the reve ls g ay ;The i n fant blooms

,chasi ng each o the r

,play . “

Be fore the bre e ze,l ike to a pige on fai r

,

The rose turns summe rsaul ts i n the mid air.1

What t ime the llo re ts and the sward j oi n hands

The pe tal o f the rose is from its shape some t imes C ompare d to the ear .

The night-wat ching b i rd (murgh-i ti llC lt-lt ll il ) is the n ig ht in g nle .

A pre t t y allusi on to the glimpses eung lrl o fn wi nd ing st ream in n landscape .

The l tai ra m e the pe tals.

When the b re e ze plays nnro ng t hem .

Ano the r p re tt y figure ; the llo wm'

n in the g rass appear to chase o n e anothe ras the wi nd pronto» o Ve r them .

1 The rose wav in g in the broom l» compared to n tumb le r pig e on .

30

The w i nd sweepso ’er them through the garden-lands.l

The pearl ing cloud steale th the me teor ’s blaze,

The dawn-ar ising zephyr scat terssprays.

And whirl ing round,w i th hoops the streamle ts play

,

W i th daggers fashioned of the green leaves g ay.2

Breath-bounden there abide the Judas-trees, 3

The rushing ri ver raceth w i th the breeze .

A t t ig the herbs play w i th the w ind-wafts bland,The jun ipers dance 4and the planes reach hand .

5

Gai ly the breeze hath decked the bran chle t sheen ,The master of the frol i cs on the green .

The narcisse casts on th’almond-tre e i ts eyne

,

The cloves reproach the bower w i th th’eg lan tine .

The brooks are mirror-faced like to the Sphere ,The flore ts are the stars that there appear .

The mead ’s a sky, its stars the dew-drops gleam ,I tsmoon the jasmine hal ved by the stream .

In br ief,all round ’s the Resurrec t i on-plai n , 6

Who see th is name no t Eden-bowers agai n .

Were’t strange an they in w onder onward hie

Who look hereon w i th medi tat i on ’s eye?

Up , breeze-w ise , L am ici, fl i ng fasts asi de,

The rose ’s season is no len ten ti de .

The next extract is descr ip t i ve of autumn .

From the Same . [ 17 1 ]0 come

,sad hear t

,

’

tis medi tat ion ’s day ;The airs b reathe cool

,afie ld ’ tw ere swee t to stray .

The sun hath,Joseph—l ike

,passed to the Scales

,

1 The w ind , passi ng over the flowers,bends them ti ll they touch

,or j o i n

hands w i th,the sward .

2 The streamle tsare here l ikened to jugglers playing w i th hoopsand kn iv es,the hoops be i ng the eddies

,the kn i ves or daggers the poin ted leaveshanging

in to the water .

3 The erg havan o r Judas-tree (cercissi l iquastrum) figures largely in Easternpoe try , but general ly in connec t ion w i th its red b lossoms.

4The graceful waving of the juni p’er is a commonplace w i th the poe ts.

5The palmated o r hand-shaped leaves of the plane- tree are often al luded to .0 Al l thingsspringing to l i fe after the w i n ter-death .

3 1

The year’s Z elikha oped her golden bales. 1

The qui nce ’s face,by w i nds bronzed

,sun-l ike glows

,

The vine her P leiadean c lustersshows.

W i th safl' ron are the meadow-lands bedyed,

Ablaze w i th gold the treen on every si de .

Ear thward the gilded leaves i n showersstream ,And all the r i vule tsw i th gold fish teem .

2

Aflame each tree,a gleaming lowe i t soars

,

And so the fiery rai n from heaven pours.

Amid the ye llow leaves black crows gal ore,

A tul i p safl'ron-hued w i th seared core .

E’

en as a tawny bird is every tree,

I t shakes i tself and sheds i ts p lumery .Each v ine-leaf pai n ts i ts face w i th golden ink

,3

The brook do th argen t sil ver ankle ts l ink .4

W i th henna- t in ted hands the plane do th b ideThe meadow-region ’s hear t-al lur i ng br ide .

5

The greeny tree doth,like the starry sky, 6

Hurl at the ear th-fiend me teors from on high .7

s a s s / a s s a s s s s s s s

The fol low i ng passage from V isa and Ra'

min re counts the

mee ti ng of the King of jurj an and Sheh r Ban t’

r afte r the

N ew Year feast , whe n the latte r descr ibes the charms of

her daughte r Visa to the King .

l In the romance Z elikha purchases j oseph fo r his we igh t i n gold andj ewe ls (see A ppendix A ) . l le t e the radian t sun e nte ri ng L ibra is comparedto the beauti ful j ose ph goi ng t o the balance to b e we i ghed

,while the autumn

scat te ri ng its ye l low leaves is l ikened to Z e ltkha lavishing he r gold .

2 l . c . wi th ye llow leaves; i n the n ex t couple t these tig ure as lie ry rai n,

and a l i t tle farthe r on as ye llow feathe rs.

1‘ The faces o f brid es use d to b e o rnamented wi th gi l t spangles.

4 C i rcles of wi the red leaves float i ng o n the wat e r.

0 The ‘palmat e d ’ o r hand-shape rl leaves o f the p lane -t re e are oft e n re fe rred

to by the poets. l lc re the al lusi on is to the prue t iee o f East e rn ladies ofd ye i ng the i r hands t tzll wi th he nna.

The eo lo urs b lue and g re e n are c onfused in this l i ne . So l l llll l speaks ofthe “

g reen tie ld o t I lenve n"

(GAB r“

t fiaj .

The me te o rs arc o f course the ye llow leav es. The (I llusion in to the le g e ndthat the sh oot i ng stars are tirn b ran rls hurled try the ang e ls at t hose d emo ns

who ven ture to o near to lleaVc n .

3 2

From V isa u Ramin . [ 17 2 ]

When that the shin ing day was past and o’

er,

And darknessflooded all the w i de w orld ’s core,

The n igh t grew b lack,the Sphere kn i t c lose his brows,

The Monarch of the Sunse t- land arose,‘

W i th ambergr is the camphor face was ve i led,2

The plain of heaven w i th flamb eau-l igh ts was fi l led,

The sphere was censer for the rue of eve,3

Nigh t ’s zephyr musk and ambergr is d id breathe,

A l one some ladies tarried w i th the King ,A -merry-making mid the darken ing

,

N ow one w oul d k iss the Monarch ’s hand full swee t ,One lay her roseate face before his fee t .Each one of them some wonder- tale did weave ;The King’s companions were they clear and l ieve .

By reason of the ir stories passin g fair,

The i r ebrious l i ps,the ir heart-alluring air

,

The Emperor found him in r igh t goodly case,

H is heart was filled w i th j oyance and w i th grace .

And now hisw i ts w ould foray after spoi l,

And now l ike t o the sea would surge and moil .H e sp ies a Sugar-li p among the rest

,

Rose-bodied,apple-chinned

,w i th jasmine breast ,

In place of w ords her t ongue would sugar strew,

The sun would b lush before her roses’ hue,

Ashamed besi de her breath the vernal air,

D istraught Comorin aloes by her hair ; 4The moon turned moth for her cheek ’s taper bri ght

,

Of the Sunse t-land we have heard before (vol . I , p . 2 78, n . the presentl in e means no thing more than that the darkness began to prevai l .

‘

2 The night succeeded the day, ambergr is being the t ype of darkness(espec ially of any thing at o nce swee t-scen ted and dark) and camphor that of br ightwhi teness.

3 The seeds of the w i ld rue used to b e burned asa fumigat ion agai nst thee vi l eye .

4The best varie ty of al o es-w ood (which they burned asan i ncense) wascalled Quman’

, from Qumar , some place i n or near India,possibly the Comor in

country .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

34

Ghazel. [ 17 3 ]

From my bi t ter moans the ange ls crave for respi te i n the skies.

In the flames I burn ; O mercy from those all-consuming sighs!

May no speck of dust from my poor frame the dear one ’s threshold mar l

Grace,for A llah ’ssake

,from thisw i ld tearful torrent

,0 mine eyes!

H ow mine eyen eye the pathway ; full of gloom my heart , 0 bree ze ,A id from yon collyrium-dust aneath my Champion ’s fee t that l ies!

Hear t physic ian,ere the bane of woe hath p oisoned all my soul

,

A i dance from the theriac-honey which my loved one ’s l i p suppl ies!

Dolour ’swaveshave cast the hear t ’s frai l barque amidst the whirlpool w i l d ’

Look ye , L ami’

i,from un ion ’ssho re the w inds of hel p arise .

The i l l- fated F ig han i deserves a brie f not ice here , not so

much on accoun t of the work whi ch he actual ly achieved ,

as fo r the promise of d ist i nct ion he l d out i n those poems

which he was enable d to accompl ish . This wr i ter , whose

personal name wasRamazan , wasborn in the c i ty of Trebi zond .

L at i fi te l lsus that after passi ng through the usual curr i culum ,

he took up the study of med ic i ne ; but the real b eat of his

nature lay towardspoe try , which he cul t ivate d w i th great assi

duity. In thispursui t he wasgreatly assisted by hismarve l lous

memory , whateve r Arabic or Persian poem he read remai n

i ng , to use the expressi on of the b iographer, graven i n his

memory l ike an i nscr i pt ion carved upon a rock . Simi larly

he carried all his own composi t ions i n hismind , never th i nk

i ng to w r i te them down . The career of F ig han i was howeve r

brought to an untime ly close by a Persian epigram directed

agai nst the Grand Ve z ir Ibrahim Pasha, and r ightly or w rongly

attr ibuted to h im . The Ve zi r was,asw e have seen , a Greek

by birth , and i t is possib le that he may have had some

hered i tary fee l ing for the plast i c arts. B e this as i t may, he

b rought w i th him from the spoi ls of Ofen three colossal

3 S

statues whi ch he erected in the H i ppodrome Opposi te his

own palace . These the Mussulmans l ooked upon w i th horror ,

taking them for i do ls; and i t was open ly sai d that the Grand

Ve z ir wasst i l l i n heart a Christ ian and an adore r of graven

images . I t was at th is juncture , accordi ng to Qinali-zada’

s

account , that F ig han i’

s enemies,see i ng that he had won

the favour of Isken de r Che leb i the Defte rdar, and fearful

lest he might l ikew ise gai n the good graces of that yet

greater patron of poetry, Ibrah im Pasha,lai d be fore the

latter this old Pe rsian couple t which they represented as

be i ng h is work

I n ear th ’s temple have Ibrahims twai n appeared ;Idolswere by one o

’erthrown

,by one upreared .

2

L at ifi on the other hand,wri t i ng only twenty years after

the event , regards the verse as a genui ne product ion of

F ig han i, who , he says waxing ove r presumptuous through

consc iousness of his own i n te l lectual powe rs,had begun to

launch sat ires at the great men of the state . The Ve z ir

be l ieved the charge ; and F ig han i was cond emned , parad ed

th rough the st ree ts on an ass’

s back, and then hanged , 93 3

(1526 Whether F ig hzin i was gui l ty o r i n nocent , his

pun ishment refle cts l i tt le c red i t o n a min iste r whose boast

i t was to be frie nd l i te rature and art .

li ig h/rn t’

s po e t ry co nsists e nt i re ly of ghaze ls and qasidas;

hisstyle has a ce rtai n amo unt o f o rigi nal i ty,and L at ifi and

inzili-zad a co ncur i n d e c larin that had he l i ve d lo n fe r heis i».

Q irrali-zada says that llrralrhu t ook the statues fo r trrlisnrans.

I .

(“Lad q» ?

(A?! A—aw ( I‘M ” a c rl

The o ne Ib rrthtrn o r A b rrrlrun r is the pat riareh who,aeeo rd ing to the K o ran ,

d estroye d the b lo ts i n the temple of his lathe r A / e r o r Te rah , “ ho is saidto htt V e b e e n tr lntt lt o t‘ o i

.

KI ItV e n in ttttil‘ tt ; the othe r llrrrt lrtrrr in mi r n tl l 'u‘ lltt‘

t lrarrd Ve z i r.

36

w ould have attai ned a posi t i on of real eminence . The last

named cri t i c descri bes his poe try as be i ng fe rvi d as the

sighs of the woe ful love r . In ear ly l i fe this poe t used Huseyn i

as his makhlas.

c

A hd i gives this ghaze l as a spec imen of F ig han i’

sstyle

Ghazel. [ 174]

What scathe al though that the visi on of thee i n m ine eyen’

s cast le stay ?’

Tis queen of the ear th,

’ twe re mee t an i t choose a crystal palace gay.

0 Moon,on the part ing nigh t to war w i th sleep have those eyesof mine

Ye t once agai n drawn the lashes up , a fe l l and dark array .

My wai l hat h clomb the dome of the sphere,and now

,l ike a. trembling chi ld

,

I t feare th to ear th to descend agai n and cr ie th Welaway !

The flute at the banque t po in ts me out w i th its finger to the guestsI t sai th

,

‘Not a momen t leave th he to b e subj ec t to my lay.

’

Thou handest around the bow l to the guest at thy banque t ; wherefore thenSkinker

,w i l t thou deny a share to thy slave F ig han i, say

?

A l though his name is we l ln igh forgotten now , Ghazal i

of Brusa enj oyed no l i tt le reputat i on of a certai n k i nd dur i ng

the earl ie r part of Suleyman’

s re ign . This reputat ion was

however not so much that of a poe t as of a w it and boon

compan ion . H is merry j ovial d isposi t i on and his excessi ve

devotion to pleasure of every sort earned for him the ni ck

name ofDe l i B irad er o r Brother Madcap , by which he was

general ly known among his famil iars. H e possessed all the

Von Hammer confounds thisF ig han i w i th an earl ier poe t of the same name,

who was however a nat i ve of Qaraman . H is mistake is the more si ngular as

bo th Lat ifi and Qinali-zada mention the two w r i ters under separate entries.F ig han i of Qaraman was a secre tary in the serv i ce of Pri nce C

A b d-ullah the

son of Bayezid I I . Among h is w orks is sai d t o have been an Iskender-Namai n the same me tre as F irdawsx s Shah-Nama. Curi ously enough

,asQinali-zada

remarks,this r

‘

ig han i also was hanged through the i n t ri gues of his enemies.2 The finge r of the flute ismerely a re ference t o the shape of the i nstrumen t .

3 7

accompl ishments and qual i t ies which make fo r the success

of the Eastern court-j ester , a ready wit , an i nexhaust ible

fund of face t i ous ane cdotes, a fac i l i ty i n versificat ion,and

an unblushi ng effrontery . On fin ishing hisstud ies, Ghazal i ,

whose personal name was Muhammed , became a muderr is

at Brusa,but soon gave th is up to seek his fortune at the

court of Pr i nce Qorqud , _the i l l-starred son of Baye z i d I I ,

then governor of Magnesia. On his arr i val at that town ,

Ghazal i gai ned the i n terest of Piyala B ey, an officer and

i nt imate assoc iate of the Pri nce . By hismeanshe got i ntro

duced to Qorqud ,whose favour he soon acquired and whose

i nseparable compani on he became , accompanying him on his

fut i le v isi t to the Egyptian court,and

,i fQinali- zada

’

saccount

b e correct , remai n i ng with h im ti l l the last tragi c scene when

the haplessPri n ce had to b ow his neck be fore the emissaries

of his brother . L at i fi, however, gives a very d i fferent story

as to the part i ng be tween Ghazal i and his patron . Whi le

i n the P ri nce ’

sse rvi ce Ghazal i w rote ce rtai n books; one of

these , the Mi ftah-ul-H i da'

ya o r K ey of Gui dance , isa ve rsificd

treatise on the legal prescri pt i ons re lat ing to ablut i ons and

p raye rs, wh i ch , i f i t has but scant poet i c value , at least

contai ns nothing to wh ich the most stri c t -minded could take

exception . But o f qui te anothe r characte r is the l ) :ific-ul~

l lum t'

tm ve Ka lic-ul-(ihumum,

o r Re pe l le r of So rrows and

D i spe l le r of (Jares.

' In th is ho o k, whi ch L at i fi says is a

t ranslat io n o r adaptat io n o fthe l’e rsian A ltiyya uShaltiyya.

The hook is also cal led,Me nziq ih-i ( ilnlzali

'

I'

he A need o les o f ( Ilia/uh,

and l likfiyut-i I te l i Itirr‘ule r ltro lhe r Mad eap 's Tales.

2 [ The p ro tot ype o f ( ihani li'

a uo t h wan p l o l-aldy the l‘

ersiuu a

Shaltiyyu, compose d by A / raq l in the that half o f the twe l ft h e e atuty o t o ut

e ra to r hia pat ron h lnih, the Se littq p t iue e o t t uiput , unde r t i l t ll ll l '

atanees re lat e d hy I taa lalnluih (p . 74 o f to y ed i t i on ) , and , i n g reat e r de tai l ,by final i n eh . V I I of hh. Itala‘o iutaa (p p . 774 74; o t

'

the t'

o ustaut iao p le edi t i onof A . l l . H AM) . Se e also the 7 0m m” J riuh

'

f/ur lo t ”07 , Md . p . 355,WWW“ Iht ' l t ' in H Ho le ivy \

'

n t | l lmutn e l o n thi n ault lu t .‘ott tln ie n l idea o l

3 8

Brothe r Madcap gives free play to the Rabe laisian tendenc ies

of his nature . Every poi n t i n conne ct ion w i th sexual pleasure

is he re discussed i n ful lest de tai l and w i th the greatest verve ,

appropr iate and amusi ng anecdotes be i ng scatte red lavishly

throughout . But Ghazal i pushed his offencesagai nst the p ro

p rie t ies too far ; fo r even the pleasure - l oving Pr i nce Qorqud

woul d have none of hisbook,and straightway d ismissed him

from his court .

On his part i ng w i th the Pr i nce , Ghazal i repaired to Brusa

and established h imse l f as Sheykh i n the ce l l of the old

sai n t Geyikl i Baba, the ‘Deer Father ’ , on the slopesof Mount

Olympus.

1 L atifi is certai n ly w rong in say ing that i t was

on the occasi on of his taking up his residence on the spot

where the ‘Dee r Father ’ had l i ved and prayed that he

assumed the makhlas of Ghazal i,‘H e of the Gaze l le ;

’

for

he already speaks of himse l f under that name i n the K ey

of Gui dance whi ch he had ded icate d to Pr i nce Qorqud . Soon

ge tt i ng t ired of the monotony of a secluded l i fe , Brother

Madcap reve rted to his or igi nal professi on of muderris and

rece i ved an appointment at Sivr i H isar or the Pointed Castle ,

a town in Asia Minor . This l ikew ise he soon abandoned ,

and went to Constanti nople i n order to pray the authori t ies

to gi ve him some other posi t i on . Aston ished to see Ghazal i

i n the capital so l ong be fore the exp i rat i on of his te rm ,the

Qad i- CA ske r i nquired what was w rong w i th his post that he

had not remai ned there quie tly .

‘I t isso sharply pointed a

post that no one could rest there quiet ly ,’

repli ed the poe t ,

the con ten ts of the work may b e formed from the t i t lesof the seven chap tersin to which i t is divided

,gi ven by V on Hammer . E D . ]

1 Geyikl i Baba the Deer Father,was a holy man of the daysof cOsman

and Orkhan . H e passed his t ime in holy se clusi on in a cave on Moun t Olympuswi th no companions but the w i ld creatures he tamed

,whence his name ; but

legend represents him in qui te another l igh t,assist ing at the cap ture of Brusa,

moun ted on a deer and w ie lding asword that weig hed ahundred and fifty pounds.

39

and the w i t t i c i sm procured for him a mud errisship at A q

Shehr . This too was soon re l i nquished , and Ghazal i agai n

repaired to Constant inople where he enj oyed a good deal

of favour i n high quarte rs. H e even tual ly bui l t a publ i c bath

at Beshik-Tash on the Bosphorus, but this becoming the

rende zvous of all the d issolute characters of the capital , the

Grand Ve z ir sent a hundred jan issar ies who leve lled i t w i th

the ground . The execut i on of his bene factor Iskender Che lebi

the De fterdar occurr i ng soon after th is event , Ghazal i found

i t prudent to ret ire to Mekka,where he bui l t a mosque and

where he died i n 941 (1534Apart from the treat ise already ment ioned , the poe t i cal

work of thi s wri ter consists for the most part of epigrams

and tarikhs or chronograms . The fol lowing tarikh on the

execut i on of his patron the aforesai d Iskende r Che lebi , who

was hanged at Baghdad , is quoted w i th high approval by

the Turkish b iographe rs. L i ke almost all poet ical chronograms,

i t is wri tten i n the verse - form known asQitc

a o r F ragmen t .

The fan tast i c manne r i n whi ch the pai n ful subj ect is t reated

isa good example of the to usst range l i te rary taste of those

days. G haz zili’

swhimsi cal conce i tswhen re fe rr ing to the wayi n which his patron was put to death can hard ly fai l t o

appear equal ly heart lessand grotesque to the mo d e rn read e r ;

ye t to the autho r’

sco n tempo rariesthe y we re no t o nly po e t ical ,

but pathet i c .

Chronog ram on the l‘ix e eutio n ofIskende r Che le b i . 175

'

l'

he l au'd Iske nd e r high in lay o ur st oodl l heart

,lulu: warn i ng lty hht d est iny .

lle ho ld what in the e nd hath lne e n the aun t”l

l

all this g lo ry and p ro tt pe t ilyl

The lmae of m ath he lasted,in his mo uth

A ho d e an annu lar t hen o f l'

taw‘

auey.

40

H is fortune’sstar sank downward re trograde,

From close conjun c tion to l onginqui ty .

Dust li gh ted on the face of his fair fame,

Borne by the b last of traitrous calumny .For th for his e levat i on wen t the wordFul l sudden from the cour t of equi ty .Straigh tway they reared him up toward the skies,They raised him from the dust of obloquy .

And dervish-dancing wen t he,circl i ng round

,

F rom exi le to the Land of Ami ty .A slave neck-bounden stood he at the cour t ;They loosed him from the bonds of villeiny.

F or j oyfulness he set no foo t o n ear thWhat t ime his head was freed from misery .

R i ght gladly soared he on hisascen t,

Del ivered from the world of infamy .So never was the l i fe or death of himF ound to b e emp ty of sublimi ty .And this our hope

,that i n the world to come

L ikew ise he w in to lofty digni ty .The host of Heaven spake his chronogram‘Upward he j ourneyed through his courtesy .”

Of more note’ than e i ther F ig hani or Ghazal i is the lyr ist

Ishaq 2 Che leb i of Uskub . H is fathe r Ibrah im ,who was a

sword -smith by trade , perce i v ing the talent of the youthful

Ishaq , gave h im the best e ducat i on i n his power, w i th the

resul t that the lad soon entere d the ranks of the C

ule'

maas

mulaz im 3under Qara Bal i Efend i , and wasshortly afterwards

promoted to b e mude rr is3 or pr i n c i pal at Ibrah im Pasha’

s

Col lege at Adrianople . H e became successi ve ly le cturer at

1 This last l ine is the chronogram,the numeri cal values of the Arabi c

le t te rs composing i t gi ving,on be ing added toge ther

,the total 941, which is

the year of the H ij ra i n which Iskender was hanged .

‘3 In this name

,which is the Arab i c form of Isaac

,the s and the h are

pronounced separat e ly,thus: Is-haq .

3 F or the ex ac t significat i on of these terms,see vol . I I

,pp . 3 94—400 .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

42

The odoursswee t of Paradise won first to usward blownWhat t ime this caravan of ours drew near Damascus town .

1

The l i fe of Ishaq Che lebi was d issolute and vic ious; even

in th is ag e of misogyny he was notor i ous for the extreme

contempt and repugnance w i th whi ch he regarded the female

se x ,and for his excessi ve addi ct i on to those unnatural amours

to which the culema

’

t asa c lassappear to have been espec ial ly

prone . It is true that he issai d to have repented of hisevi l

ways on reach ing the ag e of forty (that per i od of l i fe which

the old Turkish w r i te rs cal l the buh’

ig h-i haq iq i

’

, ‘the true

ag e of when he obtai ned the degree of the

Court of the Eight, and to have made a vow (which vow

he fai thful ly kept to the end ) to forego thenceforth and for

ever all i l l i c i t pleasures.

There is a story tol d of how Sul tan Se l im , when on his

campaign agai nst the Memluks of Egypt,expressed a desire

to have some learned men sent after him who might en tertai n

him w i th the ir conversat ion . The authori t ies there fore des

patched Ishaq Che lebi along w i th the cad is Nihal i’ Che lebi

and B e zm i . On be i ng presented to kiss the Sul tan ’

s,hand ,

they made the ir appearance i n the ir trave l l i ng dress, and

wear ing the ir swordsand other arms. Thisbreach of e t i que tte

so i n censed the grim monarch that he ordere d the de l i nquen ts

to b e put to death forthw i th , an order which was however

speedi ly cance l led . Ignorant of the peri l they had i n curred ,

Ishaq , i nd ignant that Nihal i’

had been al l owed to take prece

dence of h im in kissi ng the imper ial hand , abused hiscol league

i n a r ibal d couplet , to which the latter at once re turned a

sui table reply ; and when Se l im summoned them be fore him

the next day and asked which among them was the most

M l. “SJ—L“ fsaléu

rad W . .ai

43

accompl ished , they coul d think of n o be tter answer than to

repeat the contemptib le verseswherew i t h they had just been

vi l i fying one another . The Sul tan , turn ing away in d isgust ,

remarked that he had desired compani onsand not buffoons,

and sent them back to the ir postsw i t h asmal l gratui ty apiece .

A l though he conducted h imse l f l i ke a fool i n the presence

of Sul tan Se l im ,Ishaq was a man of

’

no l i tt le learn ing and

a poe t of considerable mer i t . L at ifi, who de scr ibes hi s verses

as be i ng ‘debonair, simple , tender and g ay,

’

attr i butes these

characterist i cs to his having composed them when i n c om

pany w i th his min ions to declare the sadness of hisstate

and to expre sshis heart’s desire . Qinali-zada l ikewise appl ies

the te rms tender and g ay to his poe try , and adds that his

language and style are unstrai ned and free from formal ism .

H e le ft a D iwan of qasi dasand ghaze ls; also , accord ing to

Haj j i Khal ifa, a rhy‘

ming history of Se l im I previous to his

accessi on , wh ich he en t i tled the Ishaq-Nama o r Ishaq-Book .

H e d id not adopt any makhlas. These three ghaze ls w i l l

se rve to i l lust rate his style

Ghaze l . [ 176 ]

int fo r yearning for my loved o ne,pat ien t eve ry woe l

'

d hear ;What could wo rk the dear one ’s rigour

,were no ri val ’s mal i ce the re?

"l'

is no so rrow that those glances spil l o ur hlo o d an d wast e our peace ;flat fo r these

,

’ twe re grief o f heart to y i e ld o ur l i fe fo r yo mle tg fair .

l l ow thus e ve r should the hulhul wai l i n m ou nt w i th my sighs,

D id the rose not aye companion wi th the tho rn in m id part e rre?

No ’e r had I he e n luo lu' u-he al le d,n e i th e r had my soul he e u ve x ed ,

l lad my fo rtun e n o t shown t llt t lt llt l“ e ven as thy mushy lttt ll .

NoVe t had my heart ltu line d to wand e r add the g ai th, my love ,We re no sym pathislng u nm ad e o l a hulhul dwe ll ing the i r .

44

Dear one,but for these my verses who would p i ty Ishaq ’s pl ight ,

Tel l the story of his anguish,and to thee his case declare ?

Ghazel. [ I 7 7 ]

O my ruthless Moon,of dolour I am dying

,where art thou?

Up t o heaven on high my plai n ts and wai lsare flying,where art thou?

Nowhere save i n thy rose-garden may the bulbul-hear t find rest ;Roseate face

,w i th form the cypress- tree defying

,where art thou?

Come,strew sugar from thy liplets at the feast of hear t and soul ;

0 my Parro t swee t of accent,hear me cry ing

,where art thou?‘

O my grac ious gl iding Angel,show thy v isage ere I d ie ,

B e my soul and frame thy ransom j oyance-buy ing,where art thou?

Dead of sheer del igh t were Ishaq should’st thou once i n k indnesssay ‘

‘0 my weakling,love-distrac ted

,sadly si ghing

,where ar t thou?’

Ghazel. [ I 78 ]

A ll who see my verse upon yon pearl-bestrew ing rubies glow 2

Fai n would fling the ir soulsas largesse and w ould shout Wel l done ! Bravo !

See the rose lead for th i ts arm ies ’gai nst the tul ips in the mead ,’Tis the King of Rum 3 who do th to bat tle w i th the R ed-Heads g o .

4

111 doth i t become the lover w i ne and lovelings to renounce ;Grace less would the garb of v ir tue on the rake and lose l show .

Dear one,say ing

,

‘I t resemb le th those thy rub ies,

’

at the feastDoth the beaker bear the w ine-cup on its head, and proudly go .

Sugar swee t words; the Parro t the beloved swee t of speech .

2 The pearl-bestrew i ng rub ies the red l i ps that utter beaut i ful words. The

l ine appears to mean , A l l who hear the bel o ved reci t ing my verses.

3 The King of Rum the Sul tan of Turkey ; this ghaze l may have beenw ri tten when Sul tan Sel im was start ing on h is P ersian campai gn .

4 I n old t imes the Turks used to n ickname the P ersians ‘Qi zi l Bash ’ or

R ed-Heads, on accoun t of the red caps worn by the ir soldiers. The poe ts ofthe Classi c P e riod often connec t the Iran ians wi th the tul i p for th is reason .

4S

Weep thou for the woeful Ishaq,he is fallen in strangerhood ;

None hath he when dead to lay him on the stone,ful l well I know .

Usul i of Vardar Yen ij esi was a Sufi poe t of some repute .

Attracted by the fame of Sheykh Ibrah im Gulsheni, he wen t

to Cai ro and there j o ined the c ircle of that great myst i c

teacher ’s d isc iples . H e remai ned i n Egypt t i l l the death of

hi s master i n 940, when he re turned to Turkey . The rest

of his l i fe was for the most part spent i n his nat i ve town ,

where he dwe l t i n re l igi ous sec lusi on, and al though his

poverty wasextreme , he never condescended to b eg assistance

of the great . There he d ied i n 945(153 8 H e left a

D iwan and a Shehr-engi z of Vardar Y en ijesi . The poems

which compose his D iwan are entire ly myst ical,and are

compared by L at i fi to those of his prede cessor the martyr

N esimi . The fol low i ng ghaze l isquoted by both Qinali- za’

da

andc

A hd i .

Ghazel. [ 179 ]

Each wave that rise th on the sea o f Absolute E x istency

Declares the sec re t ‘I am (i od’

o r openly o r sec re t l y .

A ll thi ngs are mines,and o f the i r qui n tessen tial nature they bege t ,

Some gold,some si l ve r

,o the rs st ones and clods of earth

,i n ve ri ty .

A l though in t ruth this o rchard hath o n e wat e r and o ne g nrd e n e rfi

Wh at my riad t re es do grow he re i n from mult i fo rm real i t y !

lie ho ld the rac e of me n and se e ho w some are poison, sugar some ;

H o w g reat a marve l,d i ve rse frui ts appeari ng o n a si ngle t re e !

What my ria d ne tsare o rde re d lai r,what my riad showsare hro ag ht to naught ;

l l ow passi ng st range a Wo rk is this,“ he re of no Wo rkman we can se e !

i Fo r a ful l ar' rzo tt lrt o l’

N esln rl,se e Vul. l

,pp . 343 3 03 .

| i. e . o ne rai n wat e rs all, as it Is wri t t e n in the K o ran ( rat ra MU ,

v . 3 1)“and fo rm the wate r we mad e e ve ry li v i ng thi ng . lle re the flue tie ing ahlr h

und e rl i es and in lo rms all l’

he no m e na is p ro hahly tute nd ed . t i n ]

46

Lo,thou hast en tered and shal t qui t this fane n ine-domed

,hexagonal ; ‘

Ye t ne i ther entrance-door no r gate of exi t is behel d of thee .

H ow sore must labour the Ade p t ere he at tai n perfec tion ’s po i n t ;What blood the mine must drain to form a si ngle g em of radiancy ! 2

I n all beholders wai t the v irgin fantasies expec tan t t il lThat l ike Usul i there arise a lord of perspicac ity .

3

7 The world,the n ine domes be ing the Nine Spheres

,and the six si des

be ing the Six Direc t i ons,i . e . above and b elow

,b efore and behind

,ri gh t and left .

2 The old be l ief was that gemsand me tals grew and r i pened through longages i n the mines. [ Compare the wel l-known Persian verse :

w as3 w

asan . a. e ar w e . ran.

t

)o. . 3t d A

’

QQ L; on; 3. x ) m ]

3 i . e . the unformulated feel ings i n men ’smindswai t t i l l a great poe t l ikeUsul i arises to give them ut terance .

CHAPTER I I I .

ZAT I’

: KHAVALI’

.

I n the year 876 (147 1— 2 ) there was born to a poor

shoemaker of the l i tt le town of B alikessi i n Qarasi a boy

who was dest i ned to take high rank among the l yr i c poe ts

of his day. This was Zat i . ‘ At first the lad fol l owed his

fathe r’s t rade ; but his i nnate l ove of versi fyi ng and hisdesire

to achieve d ist i n ct i on as a poe t drove h im to seek a w i de r

fie l d fo r the exe rc ise of his talent than was offe red by h is

nat i ve t own,and sen t h im to try his fortune i n the l i terary

worl d of Constant i n ople . What that fortune was is re lated

by Qinali-zada i n the poe t ’s own wo rds as reported by the

father of the biographe r, who had quest i oned the aged Z zit i

as to what had brought him so far down i n the wo rld . Sul tan

Baye z id was on the throne when Z z'

rt l arri ve d i n the capi tal ,

and the lat te r l ost no t ime i n b ri nging himse l f und e r the

noti ce of the mo narch by p rese nt i ng h im w i th ce rtai n qasid as

w ri tte n fo r his glo rificat io n , which me t w i th a favourable

re ce pt io n . Z :i l l’

s fame as a po e t 8mm be came co nsid e r ab le .

and gai n e d fo r him the frie ndshi p o fmany o fthe g reat me n

of the t im e,

cA ll l

’nsl'ra the ( i rand Ve z i r, Mu’

eyye d-z zida the

Jafe r (fhe le hi the po e t'

-N islr:inj i , l’lrl l ’. ish . t the

and Qad r i l'il’

e nd i he iug all m e n t i o ne d amo n gst

A eeo rd lag to l .rrt | l l his pe rsonal name was llrrklrsht, hat all the othe rautho ri t iesmake It ‘Iwitz . llo th t hese namesare no w o ld tashio rred , lt no t o h-o le te .

48

his patrons . I t was on the gi fts of the se and such as these

that Zat i l ived , a precari ousmeans ofsubsistence i n a coun try

l ike medieval Turkey , where a great man ’s posi t i on waseven

lesssecure than washishead . Re cogn ising the very unstable

nature of this support , Zat i had resolved to learn some

professi on by means of which he woul d b e able to keep

body and soul toge ther i f left ent ire ly to hisown resources.

H is choice had fal len on the old -worl d sc ience of geomancy,

that spec ies of d i vinat i on which is e ffected by means of

figures formed of po ints traced on sand . And so i n the

troubloust imesthat preceded Baye z id’

sdeposi t i on and ushered

i n the re ign of Se l im, when C

A li Pasha was dead , jac

fer

beheaded , and Mu’

eyyed- zada deposed

,Zat i

,find ing himse lf

w i thout a patron,opened a booth or l i tt le shop in the c ourt

of the mosque of Sul tan Bayez id , whe re he sat te l l ing fortunes

and wri t i ng out charms. But Zat i ’s shop was not frequented

by those alone who sought for a gl impse i n to the future ,

the seer’

s name as a poe t caused his l i ttle establishment to

become the rende zvousof those l i terary amateursand aspi rants

after poe ti c fame who abounded in Constanti nople . These

submitted the i r product i ons to the master,who gave them

the benefi t of hisadvi ce , and who ,i t issai d

,d id not scruple

to app ropr iate . such of the ir versesasmet w i th hisapproval ,

i n troducing them into hi s D iwan e i the r qui te unal te red Or

very sl ightly mod ified . If any ventured to remonstrate w i th

h im as to this procedure, he used to mee t the ir obj ecti ons,

so the story runs, by saying , ‘You are not real ly poe ts as

you have produced no d iwans, but I have wr i t ten a d iwan

that shal l never b e forgotten ti l l the end of t ime , and by

in troduc ing your ve rses there i n to I am bestow i ng on them

abid ing immortal i ty .

’ A l though so ready to make use of the

1 The vic in i ty of the mosque of Sul tan Bayezi d is to this day the chiefresort of those faljisor div i nerswho are st ill to b e found in the O t toman cap i tal .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

50

someth ing for his old fr iend , who d ied soon afterwards i n

953 (1546 and was bur ied outsi de the Adrianople Gate

of Constant inople , where rest the ashes of so many Turkish

poe ts.

Besi des be i ng a poe t , Z eit i was a w it, and the fol l ow i ng

story re lated by Naj i i n hisProfessor’

sMagaz i ne w i l l i l lustrate

his qui ckness of repartee . A certai n C

A li Pasha, notable for

hisugli ness, having one day summoned Zat i i nto hispresence ,

looked at him for some t ime and then remarked to some

by-standers.

‘We l l , th is Zat i is no beauty .

’ Whereupon the

poe t at once rej o i ned w i th the we l l-know n proverb ,‘man is

the mirror of man .

’

A lthough hardly a great poe t , Zat i was a very prol ific

one ; he probably w rote a large r number of ghaze ls and

qasidas than any othe r author i n all Turkish l i terature . L atifi

says,on the poe t ’s own authori ty

,that he le ft over 3000

ghaze ls, 500 qasi das, and about 1000 rubacis and q itc

as; but

Qinali- zada’

s more mode rate statement , also gi ven on the

author i ty of Zait i himse l f,cred it i ng him with 1600 ghaze ls

and more than 400 qasi das, is probably nearer the truth .

Over and above his poems i n lyr i c form , he composed at

least two romant i c mesnev is, a ShemC

u P erwana, Taper and

Moth , i n 5000 couple ts, and another cal le d Ahmed uMahmud ,Ahmed and Mahmud , i n 2000 ; he is further responsi ble for

a Shehr-engi z of Adr ianople . L at ifi gives him in add it ion

to these a F e rrukh-Nama o r F e rrukh-Book ‘i n the manner

of Khusrev and Sh ir in ,’

a S iyer-i Neb i or Actsof the Prophe t

,

and a Mev lud o r Birth-song .

1

The art ist ic achievement of Zat i d i d not,however, equal

his i ndustry . Had he been more fortunate ly c ircumstanced ,the resul t woul d probably have been d ifferent ; his deafness

1 Von Hammer fur ther at tributes to him two mesn evis,Shirin

,and

cAshiq

u Macshuq ; but th is is from a misreading of the passage i n Lat i fi .

SI

to l d agai nst h im ,and st i l l more the extreme penury i n wh ich

the greater part of his l i fe was passed . This compe l led him

to place his immed iate wants be fore all e lse ; he coul d not

afford to w ork fo r ar t ’s sake al one , and many of his verses

were wri t ten e i ther fo r money o r i n the hopes of gai n i ng

i t . That under such con d i t i ons he shoul d have attai ned the

h igh posi t ion that he d i d provesh im to have been possessed

of more than ord inary abi l i ty, and the. remark of the cr i t i cs

quoted by L at i fi is w e l l-found ed that i t must have been by

sheer force of nat i ve tale nt that a man w i thout educat ion ,

who had never sat at the fee t of muderris or professor , was

able to produce works of imagi nat i ve art that fi l led the

cul tured wi th admirat i on and amazemen t . The b iographer

just ment i oned waxes enthusiast i c when d iscussi ng Z eit i’

s

gi fts; not only is he the most prol ific of the lyr ists,but had

i t not been fo r his deafness and his poverty i t is certai n

that not one of all those who wen t be fo re or fol lowed afte r

h im coul d have approached him, fo r he would have been

unique i n the c ycl e and p ro-eminent on the earth ;

‘many

an ag e must the c i rcl i ng heavens rol l e re mothe r earth b ri ng

forth to the worl d from the womb of nature o ne of l o fty

gen ius li ke to h im .

’

The wri te r adds that the c ri t i cs are

agreed that he was a master i n subt i le fanc iesand imaginat i ve

language ,and compared h im to the P e rsian po e t She ykh

fo r wh ich amo ng the arts o f po e t ry d id Ire no t

p ract ise , and to what v i rg i n fancy d id no t his pie rc i ng w it

at tai n? ho we ve r, i s no m e re hlirrd admi rat io n ; he i s

abl e to se e the weakn ess aswe l l as the s t re ng th o t'

hisaut ho r.

Sheykh ls'

e nul l o l'

ls'

huiarrd d i ed i n tio‘t ( t .| o o I ) , jam t

’

says he imi tat edl lasan o f l te lhi

,hrrt surpassed him i n snh t ilty of thoug ht ; he “ as ttt ti t lt

admi re d hy l l ii tis. The re was rrrr earl ie r ls'

emul, he of l d ahrtn , “ h o an . ki l ledhy the Mongols in try; [ I thi nk that re te re nee in p ro lrahlv madehe re to the latt e r

,-l tln lsn ra

’

ll,whose le r tlle g enius wo n to r trim the

t i t le Khalhiqu’

l-Ma' rin l,rem le red hy li ie a as

“ the g reat lrrr euto r o l r oar e t t i . t t r. |

52

and that w eakness is i n this case the common pi tfal l of the

old Turkish poe ts,obscur i ty ar isi ng from excessi ve art ifi

c iality and proneness to i ndulge i n puer i le and far-fe tche d

conce i ts. This fai l i ng ismost apparen t i n the poemsproduced

by Zat i’

after middle l i fe , which are for the most part,accord

i ng to L at ifi , i n the style of the Sheb istan- i Khayal , or

“Night-room of Fantasy , a we l l -known Pe rsian col lect ion of

such i ngen ious tr i v ial i t ies i n ve rse and prose,by F e t tah i the

author of the romance of Husn u Di l whi ch Ah i and L am ici

translated i nto Turkish .

Qinali- zada w r i t i ng later than L at i fi, and w i th more e x

p erienc e of what a Turkish poe t might achieve , i s somewhat

less exuberant in his laudat i ons. Whi le giv i ng Zat i ample

cred i t for his ski l l i n the Eastern art of amphibology , for

hispow er of language , and for hisstrange fancies, he cri t i c ises

him fo r maki ng use of expressi ons pecul iar to his day and

there fore outsi de the stereotyped conventi onal phraseology

reserved fo r poe try i n the Classi c Pe r i od , and also for a

part ial i ty to ce rtai n i deasal ien al ike to e legance and de l i cacy

and unw orthy of a man of talent , whi ch render some of his

w ri t i ngsd ispleasing to reade rsoftaste . Seve ral jud ic iouscr i t ics,

he goes on to say, consi der hisworksasunequal , and t ry to

account for the i n fer i ori ty of many among them part ly by his

d eafness, which debarred him from hear i ng the opin i onsofhis

fr iends, part ly by his pove rty ,which d rawback ,

however , adds

the biographe r , is shared by the maj or i ty of mankind , and

i ndeed by all the poe ts of the present day, and part ly by his

lack of influent ial fr iends i n high places. The Opin ion OfCA hl ,

who ishow e ve r no consid erable author i ty,iswhol ly favourable .

Turning to the mode rn cri t i cs, Ziya Pasha i n his ‘Tavern ’

places the ‘broken -hearted vagrant Ze’

rt i ’ as the th ird of his

1

Lfu dc

.

) 2

55i . Z iya Pasha’s Kharabat,or

‘Tavern ’ is a great

53

three ‘founders’ of the . Turk ish spee ch

,the othe r two be i ng ,

as we have seen , Ahmed Pasha and N ejat i B ey. A l l three

are censured somewhat un reasonably on account of the i r

ant iquated d i ct i on and of the obsole te,and to the modern

reader uncouth , words that abound i n the i r works; also ,

w i th more just i ce , for the great l i cense w hi ch they take

with the imala and z ihaf, and for the padd ing that d isfig ures

many of the i r ve rses. Ziya has howe ver the grace to add

that whi le the language has been much refined si n ce the ir

day,the i r wri t ings were l ike ly enough pre tty for the i r t ime .

The verd i c t of Professor Naj i (probably the most just that

can b e arr i ved at ) is that , whi le many passagesmay b e me t

with i n Zat i ’s poems w hi ch must b e adjudged coarse both

i n thought and language , he has a great number of ve rses

whi ch prove h im to have been a man of h igh talent and

we l l ski l led i n the n i ce t ies of poe t i c art ; wh i le the mere

fact that from be i ng a shoemake r he became a recognised

autho ri ty on the subti lest po i nts of poe try is a suffic ie nt

i nd icat i on of his extrao rd inary abi l i t y .

Z zit i’

s chie f t i tle to fame rests, as I have al ready sai d , on

his lyri cs; but o ne of his mesnev r’

s, the Shem

c

u l’e rwana

,

c lai ms a l i tt le furthe r not i c e . ( ) f the Ahm ed and Mahmud,

the l"e rrukh-N:ima, and the two re l ig i o us po ems no th ing

beyo nd the name is re co rd e d ; but L at ifi d e vo tesa fe w l i n es

to the l ape l“ and Nin t h,o ne o f th ose sto e k al le go ri cal l o ve

sto ries at which we have se e n that t ri e d his hand .

The o ld b i o g raphe r spe aks o f this p o em o f o ur autho r as

h ighly art ist i c , e V e ry c o up le t‘fro n t rnat ia

‘

to nrarlta be i ngfraug ht w i th imag i nat i o n and w it lro rrt p e e r ; all the sam e .

ire e o nt inues, the cul ture d find the styl e o f the ho o k so

fan c i ful and art itie iai that the ph rase o lo g y is no t as c lear

An thology o i l‘e rsian and A talde poe t ry in thre e r o iumes, pnirlrshed

at t'

o nntnn lino p le in Mo t

54

and pe rspicuous, and the sequence of the i nc i dents i n the

story not aswe l l arranged as they might b e . When d iscussi ng

the mesnev i i n the ve rsified rev iew of Ottoman poe try which

he prefixes to his ‘Tave rn ’

, Ziya Pasha mentions Zat i ’s

ShemC

u P erwana as the th ird Turkish poem of that c lass,

Suleyman Cheleb i’

s Bi rth-Song be i ng w i th h im the first,and

Sheykh i’

s K husrev and Sh ir i n the second , whi le the works

of Hamdi,Ibn Kemal , L ami r and a host of others are

entire ly ove rl ooked . The Pasha speaks of Zat i ’s poem as

somewhat uncouth i n language , yet contai n i ng many pas

sages ofmuch beauty ; he givesseveral short extracts from

i t i n his th ird volume whi ch is devoted to se lect i ons from

d i fferent mesnev is.

Manuscri pts of Zat i ’s works are rare ; ne i ther the Bri t ish

Museum nor the Royal Asiat i c Soc ie ty possesses any, nor

have I any i n my own col lect i on .

’ But few of his poems

have the re fore come under my noti ce , and these few do not

appear to b e i n any way remarkable . The three fol low i ng

ghaze ls are quoted by Qinali- zada ; the first , whi ch is the

best , is addressed to the Prophe t Muhammed .

Ghazel. I 80]

G lory of the Garth E tern 2 thy form in radiancy arrayedG leams a cypress wrought of l igh t that caste th ear thward naught of shade .

3

1 [ The Author must have w r i t ten this passage some t ime before hisdeath '

for his collec ti on o f MSS . con tai ns two cop ies of Zat i ’s Diwan,ob tai ned

,

apparen tly , i n June 1898, and one of hisShemc u P erwana (‘Taper andobtai ned in May, 1891 . E D . ]

‘

2 The Garth E tern,l i terally

,the Garden of the Placeless: the Place less

(la-mekan ) is the name given to the void beyond the heaven of heavens,where space or local i ty ceases to b e .

3 Nur-i Muhammed,the L igh t or Essence of Muhammed

, (see vol . I , p p .

34 was the first thi ng God created i n e terni ty,though i ts i ncarnat ion

was late . I t is a common legend w i th the Musl ims that the body of the Prophe tcast no shadow .

55

Though all they who l ooked on j oseph cut the ir hands,bew i ldered sore

,‘

Cleft a-twai n its palm what t ime the moon thy sun-b ri gh t face surveyed .2

Far thy stat ion,l ike the p rayer-shaft ’s

,beyond the n ine-fold sphere ;

Loft ier than the lo fty Empyrean is thy glorious grade .3

There is none before or after equal un to thee i n aught ;Seal o f all the Prophe t band

,i nfin i ty thy dower ismade .

H e i t is who gai ns,0 Lord

,when passed to the Hereafter ’s mart ,

Who hath ta’en the coi n of love of thee for all‘ hissto ck-in-trade .

This my hope that mi d the Paradisal bowers yon Cypress fairGather Zat i w i th the fai thful throng aneath the selfsame shade .

4

The next ghaze l isa type of a c lassst i l l rare at th is early

pe r i od , but becoming frequent later on , i n which some hand

some young lad of the poet’

s acquai n tance is descr ibed i n

a whimsi cal and more o r less humorous style , the spi r i t and

treatment be i ng ve ry simi lar to those of the Shehr-eng iz .

The youth is gene ral ly a member of the lower midd le c lass

and engaged i n some trade o r humble cal l i ng ; he re he is a

barber at a publ i c bath , some t imeshe isa tai lo r, ashampooer

at a bath , a danc i ng-boy,o r the l i ke .

Ghazel. [ 18 1]A si l ve r-bod i ed

,swee tly shave n harhe r st ri pl i ng fai r

,

Who makes the folk to ho w the head th rough h is all-g rac ious air.

“

Re fe rri ng to the l'ig yp t ian lad ies who cut t he i r hands i n bew i lde redadmi rat i on at the beaut y of j o se p lr when p resented him to t ire rrr at

the lran fp re l. Se e vo l. l l

,p . l (r(r.

2 in the Ko ran,l . lV

,l,we read : ‘A nd spl i t asunde r is the moon .

‘ Thisis trad i t i onal ly refe rre d to a mi racle ; the nnhe lie ve r‘shavi ng asked Muhammedfo r a si gn

,the moon appeared cl e ft i n twai n . lty the pul i t i o f the moon is

he re rn earrt he r d ist3 The I‘irn pyre an, i . e . the ‘A rslr

,whi t h is aho ve the l‘iig lrth l

'

ar'

ad ise . See

vo l. I, p p . 35« (r and 43 4.

Shade he re means p ro lc e lio n as i n the fo rmula so eo mmo n ly used i n

spe ak ing o fa K i ng o r gove rno r in“) sill(Jot “May i lud este rrd his «hado rr

5 la the Plant the head used to he en t i re ly slruV r' d esr e p t to r the pe rr lrem

56

H is fiin ty hear t appeare th st il l w i th i n his tender frameDeem not that swee t hath bound a stone about his waist howe ’er.

l

Love ’s vapours r ise i n to my head , e’

en as the bath i t seems; 2

What though mine eyen,l ike the basin-tap , shed many a tear ! 3

I t ever would have kissed h is feet w i thout restrai n t or let ;Oh that our face had been the mat his bath to carpe t fair !

A beggar for his grace are we,bare-headed

,bare of foo t ; 4

0 Zat i,he hath stri p t us

,he

,and shaved us debonair .

In translat i ng th is thi rd poem I have preserved the red if,

here represented by ‘doth pass away .

’

Ghazel. [ 18 2 ]When w e sigh t thy beaut y

,free w i ll ’s bri dle-re i n do th passaway ;

Champion-ri der,grace w e cry, the glaive of sde i gn do th pass away .

By thy head,cast no t thy lover down

,bedecking thee so fair !

0 my sw ee t,be th ink thee

,beauty ’s henna-stain do th passaway .

B e no t vai n a-thinking,

‘A l l these birds of hear ts I ’ve made my prey . ’

Pri nce o f horsemen,grace ’s fal con lastwise fai n do th passaway .

Kindness show to thisan t Zat i even as thou findest chan ce ; 5

Solomon-renowned,the seal of beauty

,vai n do th pass

’

away.6

a long lock of hair which was allowed to grow on the crown . A man havinghis head shaved woul d naturally bend i t ; here , by the figure husn-i taclil(ae t i ology : see vol . 1

,p . he issai d to b ow i t before the charms of the

young barber .

There is here an allusi on to the qanacat tashi , or stone of con ten tmen t ;a stone which derv ishes and Arabs

,when going on a j ourney

,or on o ther

occasionswhen a scarci ty of food is to b e apprehended,some t imes tie t igh tly

against the p i t of the stomach in order to repel the pangs of hunger .

2 Because steam rises from the ho t bath .

3 The qurna isa fixed basi n in a ho t bath,w i th a ho t and cold tap .

4Beggars go bare-head and bare-foo t,and so do people i n a ho t bath .

5 Solomon , the greatest of monarchs, is often ment ioned in connect ion w i ththe an t

,the meanest of all creatures. The story runs that on one occasi on

,

when trave l l ing w i th hisarmy,Solomon en tered the Val ley ofA n ts

,whereupon

the Queen of the An ts, perce i v ing the approach of the mighty host,cried

out to her subj ects t o en ter the ir dwel li ngs lest Solomon and h isarmy shoul dtread them under ' foo t and perce i ve i t n o t , a speech which was duly heardand pondered by the w ise King who understood the language of all l i v ingthings. See Koran

,chap . X X V I I .

6 Solomon ’s great power, by v ir tue of which he ruled over men,sp iri ts,

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

58

’Twas l ike the Sun“

conj o ined w i th the Moon .

The ir folk had p i led the b ed-gear nine-fold,l

(The tale of what they did n o t is un told . )A golden ladder thereagai nst was lai d ,Whereby the twai n strai ghtway upelomb the b ed .

Soon as that Balm of Dole wasmounted there

(As o’

er the nine-fold sphere the fai thful ’s prayer) ,H e str i p t her l ike un to a gentle doveNaked

,and hel d her to his breast w i th love .

H e saw how fair that Lamb beseemed his breast,H e clasped her close and t o his bosom prest .And nex t he struck his tee th in to the peach , 3

Del igh t he tasted,l i fe h is l i fe did reach .

A harvest of the rose that bosom shone,

That n igh t the bulbul the rose-harvest won .

From the King ’s hand the b ird restrai n t takes fl ight ,H is free w i l l sink e th down and passe th qui te .

That lover w i nne th to a si lvery lawn,

And sees the foo t-pr in t of the heavenly fawn .

When reached the Monarch to that pri n t his hand,Thereunderneath a caske t l ocked he fand

,

The which he opened w i th a coral k ey,And strewed w i th rubies all the drapery .

More highly endow ed w i th poe t i c gen ius, though lessver

sat ile and far less prol ific than Zat i , wasKhayali B ey,whom

L at ifi cal ls ‘the l ord and leader of the poets of th is ag e ,

the chie f and chance l lor of this company ,’

and whom Qinali

zada descr ibes as ‘the King of the poe ts of the land of Rum

and the champion of the e l oquent of this realm .

’

Khayali’

,

Eastern bedsare made of several mat tresses,usual ly three

,lai d upon the

ground,one on the top of the o ther .

2 The b ed formed of n ine mat tresses one above the o ther to the uppermostof which the lady

,the Balm of Dole

,mounted

,is compared to the n ine

P tolemai c sphereswhich revolve on e outsi de the o ther,and through all nine

of which the prayer of the fai thful must pass to reach the Cour t of God whi chis held beyond the outermost .

3 That is,he kissed or b i t amorously . A kissisoften cal led a peach (sheftalri ) .

59

whose pe rsonal name was Muhamme d,was, l i ke the myst ic

poe t Usul i, a nat i ve of Vardar Y en ijesi, a l i t tle Rume l ian

tow n whi ch i n those days was a centre of cul ture and not

al toge ther undeserving of the e ncomium of Qinali- zada, who

speaks of i t as ‘the mee t i ng-place of poe ts and the we l l

spri ng of the accompl ished .

’ When qui te young he became

a d isc i ple of the myst i c teacher Baba c

A li-i Mest, FatherC

A li the Drunken ,‘ i n whose servi ce he obtai ned an i nsight

in to esoteri c l ore t o which the poems wr i tten i n hi s after

l i fe bear ample w i tness, whi lst his mind became i nde l i bly

impressed w i th the dervish i deal of a re t i red simple l i fe ,

free al i ke from desi re ofwor l d ly weal th and glory and from

fear of fortune ’

s frown . K hayali used to wander about the

country in company wi th h is master,and on one occasi on

they came to Constanti n ople , where,accord ing to c

A shiq

Che lebi,they we re brought unde r the not i ce of the judge

of the c i ty ,who d isapproved of the youthful d isc i ple roaming

the land w i th the wander i ng qalend er , and confide d h im to

the care of a muhtesib 2 cal led Uzun c

A lt at whose hands

he rece i ved a lib e ral educat ion . A l ready ,whi le he wasst i l l

a mere youth,K hayait

’

s poe t i c talent began to show i tse l f ;

his ghaze ls att rac ted consi de rable atte ntio n and me t w i th

gene ral appro val , whe reupo n Iske nd e r C he le bi the

always ready to he l p and p romo te the cause o f l i te rature ,

took up the young po e t, and gave h im e ve ry assistance

and enco urageme nt i n his po we r . li ve ntually he re cour

me nd e d irirrr to the n o t i ce o fthe ( irand Ve z i r Ib rah im l ’asha,

wi t h the resul t that the latte r to o k Khayai l i nt o his o wn

c i rc le ,and final ly c ro wn e d h is care e r iry pre se n t i ng him to

Sul tan Sn ieynran . The d isc i p le o f the vag ran t d e rvish had

i That a,d runke n , o r b eside himse lf

,raw ..r the l livlue ammo .

The nurhtesilr was a lrt bllL O H illt lttl who had r lrarg e o t “ e ig hts, measures,prov isi ons

,he used also to ar t art arr rtmresno t and r o lle t‘to r o l esr lu'

rltt tlr‘n.

60

now reached the highest poin t of w orl d ly honour and pros

p erity attai nable by Turkish poe t ; he was admitted into

the i n nermost c irc le of the Sul tan’

s i nt imates, he was p re

sented w i th a large and valuable fief, and every new ghaze l

or qasida that he w rote wasmade the occasi o n of some fresh

mark of his imper ial patron’

sfavour . But Khayali never forgot

the earl y teachi ngs of his first master ; the smiles of the

court d i d not make him vai n o r presumptuous, and but l i tt le

of all the weal th which passed through his hands remai ned

w i th h im . H is friends got the rest,for he woul d gi ve l oans

to all who asked him , and as he kept no note of these , he

soon forgot them,while the borrow e rs took good care that

he shoul d not b e reminded . And so when the evi l days

came , when Iskende r Che leb i was hanged at Baghdad , and

Ibrahim Pasha d ied myster i ously w i th i n the wal ls of the

Se ragl io,and whe n the poe ts we re no longer the great men

they had been , Khayali found himse l f i nvolved i n d i fficul t ies,

and had to fol low the advi ce which his friends had often

previ ously urged i n vai n,and pray the Sul tan to confer on

him a Sanjaq .

1 The request wasgranted , and i t is probable

that th is was the occasi on of K hayali’

s re ce i v i ng the t i t le

of B ey whi ch is usual l y added to his name . The poe t d ied

at Adr ianople i n 964(1556K hayali B ey appears to have been of a ve ry amiable

d isposi t i on ; the b iographerc

A shiq Che lebi , who waspersonal ly

acquai n ted w i th many of the poets whose l i ves he wrote ,

knew K hayali i n t imate ly duri ng some tw enty years,and

speaks i n the highest te rms of his modesty, his gene rosi ty ,

and his hatred of sat i re and e very form of unkind speech .

Once on ly , and that afte r seve re provocat ion , washe be trayed

into wri t i ng an ungentle ve rse . Yahya B ey,another great

poe t of whom we shal l speak by and bye , j ealous of the

1 A subdiv isi on of a prov in ce .

6 1

favour shown towards-K hayali’

,re ferred to h im i n d isparaging

te rms i n certai n qasidas whi ch he p resen ted to the Sul tan .

A s th is occurred more than once i t coul d not b e passed

ove r i n si lence , and K hayali found h imse l f under the necessi ty

of send ing the offender a couple t show i ng h im hisproper place .

There is a story told of how Khayali, when first i ntro

duced i n to the imper ial c irc le , overaw ed apparently by the

august presence i n which he foun d himse l f,abode si lent w i th

bowed head , dumb before the Sul tan and his court , and how

he afterwards apologised for th is conduct i n a ghaze l whi ch

ends w i th thi s couple t

Khayali hath been summoned to so glori ousa feastThat there had Eden ’s rosebud

,all abashed

,unopened bode .

l

c

A shiq Che lebi te l ls us that he once had occasi on to visi t

Vardar Yenijesi when just re cove ri ng from a fe ver,and as

he d rew near the town , be i ng weary w i th the j ourney and

the summe r heat , he turned asi de i nto the ceme tery that

lay without the gates to rest a l i t tle . Whi le there he b e

thought him to repeat the Fa’ t i ha “ fo r the repose of the

souls of the great and good me n lyi ng around, wh ich he

d id , menti on ing the names of Sheykh Ih'

rhr’

the myst i c, and

of the poe ts Usr’

rh’

,and Khayz

'

rli . N o so one r had

Goat ; {M } ism“

; w arjust P

rams of “ asme.p

The st o ry is as above,but the poem is just as l ike ly to b e pure l y myst i c .

2 The ifatilra,o r is the sho rt e irap te r w i t h which the Ko ran begins.

i t is to lslfun what the L o rd ’s l' raye r is to t ’ i rr' i t-rte rrd o tn . i t is usual to re c it eit ove r g raves fo r the we l l-b e i ng o f the d ead

,rrrrd o n almost e ve ry '

l'

nrl\ islr

tom bstone o n e se es a re quest to the read e r to srry a I"rt tiiur fo r the repose o fthe soul of him o r he r who l ies burie d the re

i‘ l"o r' Sheykh llt'tlri,se e p . of vo l. i i

,fo r “sti l l p . 45 l lnvr‘e tr o f

Vardar Ve n ijesi, a p ro teg ri o f Ib rt‘

rhinr I ’ard in,war. a trri tro r‘ poe t o fuo g reat nrarlc,

who d ied in 041 l ie lrrrd a younge r b rot h e r V ii -rut, run named S t rut e lut lso r lo an the. in te rr ri ty of hismysl ie lo ve , who sturlred unde r h ire r lt iri i ttlalre trl

,tr

‘

aVrzile rl turn it i n I 'e rsia,and e ve n tual l y lre r' tt t t re whe vlrh o fthe rue vle vr

tle t‘vlalre rt trt Ad riano ple. . li t: wrot e some rrryst le po ems, and die d in

62

he done so than he re col lected that he had prayed for

K hayali who wasst i l l al i ve as though he we re dead,a c ir

cumstance which he took for an i nt imat ion that his friend

was i n deed no more . H e was accord ingly not aston ished to

hear immediate ly afte rwards, when he entered the town , of

K hayali’

s death at Ad rianople .

K hayali B ey was one of the best poets of his t ime . H e

woul d appear to have been l i v ing when L at ifi entered him

i n his Memoi rs,for that bi ographer gives. no part i culars as

to his career, and me re ly ment ionshim as the greatest poe t

of the time . Qinali- zada speaks of h im in almost equal ly

h igh terms; he says that K hayali’

s poems were greatly

esteemed by men of taste , and extols the puri ty of his

language and the corre ctness and swee tness of his style ,

which fo r clearness and fluency he compares'

to a r i ppl i ng

stream . H is w ri t i ngs, he adds, are free from confusi on and

i n decisi on , and are dist i nguishe d by beauty of phraseology

and grace of d i ct i on .

Scarce ly less favourable is the opin ion of Professor Naj i'

,

than whom no more compe tent judge hasperhapseve r l i ved ;

himse l f a d ist i nguished poe t and scholar , we l l verse d i n the

modern cul ture and ful ly apprec iat i ng itssupe r i ori ty , he has

none the less a thorough know ledge of and true sympathy

w i th those earl ier w r i terswhom so many of hiscontempo raries

i gnore or despise . This gentleman consi ders K hayali one of

the fi nest poets of his day, and says that i n no other w r i ter

of that t ime is so much pow er to b e found .

The poems of K hayali’

are exclusi ve ly lyr i cal ; lC

A shiq

Che lebi vai n ly endeavoured t o persuade him to try hispowers

i n a mesnev i ; he protested that i t woul d b e impossib le for

h im to comple te a story once begun . Care less of his poems

This poe t must no t b e confused w i th the obscure wr i ter of the same namewho composed aLeylaandMejn tin i n the t ime of Sel im I . Seep. I 72 , n . 3 , ofvol. I I .

6 3

as of all his property, K hayali neve r made a col lect i on of

them as other poe ts d id , but d istri buted them among var i ous

fr ie nds and acquai ntances. They were , howeve r, brought

toge ther and formed i nto a D iwan , a copy of wh ich , w e are

told , was often i n the handsof Sul tan Suleyman . The Ottoman

Sul tan was not the on ly royal admirer of Khayali’

; Shah

Tahmasp of Pe rsia,so runs the story ,

was seated i n ful l

d ivan , w hen a verse of the Turkish poe t was quoted i n his

presence , whereupon admirati on so fi l led the King that he

straightway cal led for a beaker of w i ne w hi ch he drai ned

to the heal th of the gi fted si nger .

1

Khayali’

s poems, whi ch are for the most part deeply t inged

w i th the myst i c ph i losophy , d isplay far more origi nal i ty both

of thought and of treatment than is usual w i th the wri ters

of th isag e . They may i ndeed b e equal led , or even surpassed ,

by the works of some of hiscontemporaries, so far aspictures

queness of imagery and me re verbal adornmen t are concerned ;

but i t seems to me , notw i thstanding the fac t that K hayz’

tli

is passed ove r by Ziya Pasha w i thout so much asthe me nt ion

of h is name, that he is i n real i ty the truest poe t among all

the many who made Constant i nople the i r head -quarte rs b e

twe en the days o f N ejat t'

and those of llziq t. Thought , not

exp re ssi on , no t e ve n fee l i ng , is his d ist i nc t ive characte rist i c

as a po e t .

llesid es the usual qashlasand ghaze lsthe re are i n Khayalt'

s

Pe rhaps i t is to this that Khayti lt al lud es i n the fo lliflt’ lll“ e o up le t fromo ne of his g lue/mitt :

oflnb‘

fié l or

.) as,

J via- A”

we, (p a r/g . fi at un

fi t

I,Khuyt

‘i lt

,tun u l e ve l l e r who t lt'uiun the th ew. ln R ttn i ,

Whi le the l‘i tupe ro r o l quutl‘

n llI C i hiuu lum l to n ie .

‘

I'

urlt inttt n the ho n ! o l'

the'

I'

ui lo i . I l e ne l’

en t i nl -.iu

i Q l

l i t t ke m to enn l .

64

D iwan a few stan zai c p ieces,

mukhammes,and so

on,the most remarkable of which is a fine e legy on the

talented but unfortunate Pr i n ce Mustafa , composed , as isso

often the case w i th such poems, i n the ve rse- form known

asTe rj iC-Bend .

The fol low i ng ghaze l is probably an ear ly producti on , as

i t is quoted by L at ifi i n hisTe z kira ; i t is pure ly myst i cal

Ghazel. [ I 85]

H ow to make my soul b e fel low of the Sempi ternal Rayne?

H ow to stri p away all yearning for the w orld ’s desire an d gain .

H

H ow to fly and b ide w i thin the curl ing tresses of the Dear,Having worn

,through love

,my body to a hair by wai l and plai n .

”

H ow to cast my falcon w i ll to take the birds of golden w ingThat do fly an d play them ever o

’er the vast qui cksi l ver mai n .

”

H ow w i th one deep draught t o emp ty all those n ine smaragdine bow lsSe t i n heav ’n

,and thereby ban ish hence eb riety

’s dul l pain i4

Lo the sphere hath turned K hayali ’s v isage to an autumn leaf ;H ow to give i t Thee as Keepsake

,Thee the spr i ng of beauty fai n ! 5

I t is we ll known that the first rule of the mysti c philosophy is that n op rogress can b e made i n the H igher L i fe t i l l all se lfish desire b e kil led .

2 The Dear is the Celest ial Beauty,no t to b e perce i ved or apprehended

w i thout travai l o f the soul . Occul t ism, says the theosophist , wears no crownbut one of thorns.

3 The strange p icture of the golden-w inged birds fly ing over the qui cksi lversea may perhaps have been suggested by the starry heavens; by these b irdsthe poe t possibly means no thi ng more defini te than those mysteries of naturewhich surround us on all si des

,and whi ch may b e comprehended , say the

myst i cs, through w ise , strong , l ov i ng purpose .

4The nine emeral d (that is green , or as we shoul d say, blue) bowls ofheaven are of course the nin e P tolemai c spheres

,and here represen t the

un iverse , the r i ddle of whi ch the myst i c seeks to solve and so escape fromall doub t and perplexi ty in to the region of perfec t calm .

5 From tw o or three passages i n his poems,K hayali woul d appear t o have

been of a sal low complexion : Yahya B ey also in one of the verseshe direc tedagai nst the poe t

,speaks of his yellow face .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

66

Al though the E rzheng is no longer, e very verse of mine do th glowThe pic ture-gal lery of Maui

,through the tale of thee divine .

‘

Be take thee to the tomb of Mejn t'i n and behold how Leyla’. makesOf every b ow of him a surma-holder for her pai n ted eyne .

2

Behold , Khayali, thou’rt the champion-wrest ler i n the fie l d of verseTo-day whi le re igne th a Dar ius heaven- throned and Jem-ben ign .

3

Ghazel. [ I 88]

Each tree w i thin the mead I hel d a hour i l igh ted here below,

I saw the flowers and reckoned there the radiance that the ir faces4show .

I looked and saw the garden-wayswere fair bestrewn w i th almond bloom,

And l ikened them to Eden-bowerswhere through the streamsof camphorflow .5

The mead is the Most Blessed Vale,ablaze w i th all i tsbloomsand treen , 3

I fancied i t was Sinai ’s Moun t w i th Heaven ’s refulgency aglow .

The stream behel d the j oseph-flower w i thi n the Egyp t of the mead ;I thought

,the lover holding forth the mirror

,filled the whi le w i th woe .

beaut ies,he does i n real i ty pay tribute to the Divine Lovel inesswhich mani

fests i tself through these . The figure in the verse is taken from the Christ ianw orship ; the beaut i ful p i c tures and images i n the churches were but i dols t othe Musl im

,though to the myst i c i t was easy t o see how God could b e w or

shipped through these . The organ and the sacramen tal w i ne play impor tan tparts i n the Christ ian r i tes.

1 Man i isManes,the founder o f the Mani chaean system . The poe tsrepresen t

him as a great pai n ter , and h isstudio , where he kep t his collec ted pai n t ings,is cal led E rz heng (some t imes Erzeng and E r teng . )

2 This couple t is pure ly myst i cal and does n ot refer to any i nc iden t i n theromance

,which makes Leyl i d ie before Mejn tin . The meaning may b e some

thing l ike th is: The Eternal Beauty,in i ts coun tless mani festat ions

,is ever

making use of the elemen ts,physi cal and psychi cal

,of i ts lo vers

,i n order t o

give expressi on to and body forth i ts own love l iness. Surma is the b lackpowder w i th which Eastern ladies pain t the edges of the ir eyel i ds.

3 In this verse K hayali givesboth the Sul tan and himsel f a pat on the back .

4That is,the houris’ faces.

5 Of the streamle ts of Paradise i t issai d that the ir ear th is of camphor,

the ir beds of musk,their sides of saffron

,whi le the ir pebbles are rub ies and

emeralds.

6 The ‘Most Blessed Vale ’ (Vadi-i E ymen ) is the val ley i n whi ch Mosessaw the burning bush .

67

Khayali, I behel d his breast which grie f fo r r i vals had bedecked ,I took i t for a deser t-land where i n no pleasan t grasses grow .

1

Ghazel. ] I 89 ]

Naught he knows of medic ine ’s v ir tue who hath ne ’er had ache or pai n ;Never do th the cai t iff quafi

'

the beaker at the feast o f bane .2

H e shall no t be broi led at fires in fernal myr iad mon ths and years,

H e,O zealo t

,3 who i n can t ’s ho t marke t-place 4do th cold remain .

What though I shoul d dance around,O jur ist ,5for the Dear One

’

slo ve ?’Twere but mee t i f dust to c ircle w i th the whirlw i nd st i ll b e fai n .

6

One of p in ion w i th the Canq z

’

r lofty-souled is he t o-day 7

Who apar t,alone

,ab ide th mid creat i on ’s nest and grai n .

T idings of the bloom and perfume o f this garth e Khayali gi ves,Like t o y onder leaf autumnal on whose green ’s the yell ow stai n .

9

The next ghaze l is sai d by P rofessor Naj i’ to b e the best

known of Khayali’

s poems.

Perhaps an al lusi on t o Yahya l icy .

The cai t i ff can n eve r win ad e p tshi p , t o gai n which o ne must sutl'e r .

The ‘zealo t ’ (zahi d) is a frequen t figure i n the myst i c poe t ry of the liast .l ie co rresponds t o lh rrns’s ‘uneo guid

,

’

and stands fo r the t y pe of the r i gidn

o

but somewhat hypoc ri t i cal o rthodoxy of conve nt io n . l ie is usual l y i n t roduc edto se rve as butt fo r some scathi ng spe e ch o f the poe t .4 A mark e t ’s be i ng ‘ho t ’ o r

‘wurro’ m eansitsbe i ng busy and much frequent ed .

5The jurist , o r d o e to r of the law, (faq ih ) is h e re in t ro due e d asanothe r ty pe

of C onve nt i onal respe c tab i l i t y .i t we re no t strange i f i

,who am but dust

,should b e b o rne round by

the n il-compe l li ng whi rlwi nd o i l ov e fo r the i livine i ieuutv .

l The“and /r in n. fab le d b i rd o f g ig rrrrt ie ti l / e

,sup posed to dwe ll on the

tturnm ita o fMount UM, a e irrriu of loft y mount ai ns said to rrurro und the “ ho le

earth,which of course wart regard e d arr I lal . The '

an i | tt wirie ir in p rar t ir'

allr‘

the Mi ll ie tor the I'

e raiurr S linurg h, luri ng un iq ue , wi t hout rrrate o r t o rnparrio n ,

in o i imr lll it t' ll by the po e t“ arr a type o f the l 'e ily.

The g arden of t ire I livine Itean ty, o r o i io V e t ire re io r .

i't‘

l‘lllt lrtt It I

'

t‘trrt ri tt tt lit ll ir rt t i n l i re | rrrrt l’

h Q tt lirr“ r n trrlt lt‘l lu lt .

68

Ghazel. [ I 90]

The world-adorners i n the worl d know naught of what adornmen ts b e ,Those fish that sw im the seasaround know naught of that which is the sea.

O zealo t,prate no t to the tavern-haun ters o f the pai ns of hel l ;

F or chi ldren of the hour are those,from all the morrow ’

s troubles free .

I f lovers looked upon the ir scars what t ime the sunse t ’s blood is spi l t,

No mote w i thin the solar beams,no moon in heaven w ould they see .

About the ir bowed forms they sl ing the cords b efashioned of the ir tears,The arrows of the ir w i ll they shoo t

,but know not whence the b ow may b e .

Khayali, they whose naked frames i n weeds of pover ty are w rappedDo boast themselves thereof

,nor reek of sat in or of broi dery .

I shal l c lose the se lect i ons from K hayali’

s Diwan w i th a

cur i ous and very origi nal ghaze l ; i t is a l i ttle fable , a kin d

of poem rare at th is peri od, and which

,when i t does occur,

is usual ly found in mesnev i form .

Ghazel. [ I 9 1]

Once un to the w or ld-i l luming Sun the Moon in heaven did say,‘0 thou beauty

,radian ce-v isaged

,charmer high of fair array

,

"Tis thy beaker’s dregs that scat ter foison over land and sea,

‘Whelmed are all earth ’smyriad atoms i n the lustre of thy ray;‘Through thy sel f the ve rdan t garden finds its glory and its grace,‘By the br i ll iance of thy judgmen t heaven and ear th are lumined aye .

‘What the sin whereof I ’m gui l ty,what my evi l i n thy sight

,

‘That whene’er I look upon thee,thou dost turn thy face away?

‘That whene ’er I show to thee my body bended as the b ow

‘F ar thou fiiest to the apsis of disdai n and there dost stay fr ’

When these words the Moon had spoken reached unto the shin ing Sun,

Thus the answer came,

‘O mirror of the forms of man and fay,‘Whensoe ’

er thou art beholden i n the fulness of thy grace‘Do th the eye of ear th st il l w i tness how vainglory is thy way.

‘If I saw thee meek and low ly,pale of v isage and demure

,

69

‘Then my love for thee w oul d deepen and my yearning w in the day ;‘Then i f augh t I saw of blemish in thy frame

,0 lover mine

‘I woul d perfec t and comple te i t by min e own brigh t beauty s ray.

’

Whosoever sees his fai l ings i n the mirror of his hear tAnd do th make his nature perfec t

,all the realms of soul do th sway .

O K hayali, shouldst thou mee t w i th woe , a chi ldl ike hear t ’s the balm ;If thou seekest t o b e migh ty

,b e thou l ow ly

,l owl y aye .

’

CHAPTER IV

TH E LATER SUL E YMAN IC A G E . 964— 974(1556

F u zul i’ . P o e t s o f A z e r b ay jan .

On certai n mo rnings we may see the sun c l imb i ng the

eastern hori zon and bathi ng all the land i n the glory of his

rad iance , whi le the moon is shin i ng w i th soft pale lustre i n

the western sky. The e ra of Turkish poet i c greatnessbreaks

w i th such a dawn . Fuzul i of Baghdad , i l lustri ous by V i rtue

of the origi nal i ty of his gen ius,may w e l l represent the sun

flashing w i th his own under i ve d splendour i n the east , whi le

Baqi of Constant i nople , most gi fted of the Persian isi ng poets

of his people,may stand for the wester i n g moon shin ing

w i th a borrowed l ight .

W e must there fore i n terrupt for a l i tt le whi le our survey

of the poe ts and poe try of western Turkey , and turn our

attenti on eastward ; for there ,i n a remote corner of the

Empire , appears th isgreat man , whose gen iusmay b e just ly

cal led transcendental al i ke i n the i ntensi ty of that impassi oned

pathos which coul d grapple w i th and overcome even the

deaden ing conventional ism of Eastern rhe tori c , and i n its

sol i tar i ness, si nce i t had ne i ther forerunner nor successor .

There is no greate r name i n all Turkish l i terature than F uzulr’

of Baghdad . Appear ing l ike a glor i ousme teor on the eastern

hor i zon of the now far-extending Empire , he flooded for a

7 1

space all the d istant sky with a strange unwonted splendour,

and then sank where he had ar isen,leav ing none to take

his place . Fuzul i’ is the earl iest of those four great poe ts

who stand pre-eminent i n the older l i terature of Turkey ,

men who i n any ag e and i n any nat i on w oul d have taken

the ir place amongst the Immortals.

Muhammed b in -Suleyman , whose poet i cal name wasFuzul i’ ,is sai d by a modern wr i ter , on what author i ty I know not ,

to have been of Kurd ish extract i on .

‘ There is some doub t

as to the exact place of hisbirth ; i t wascertai n ly somewhere

i n the val ley of the l ower T igr is, i n the region known as

C

I raq - ic

A rab ,probably e i ther H i l la

,as the Br i t ish Museum

Catalogue says, or,as i s sug ge sted , though not d ist i n ctly

stated , by the early b iographe rs, the c i ty of Baghdad . I n

any case his l i fe was passe d almost ent ire ly i n the last-name d

c i ty, the

‘Abode of Peace ’

(Dar-as-Se lam ) as i t is cal led by

the Easte rn wri ters; and a ve ry peace ful , o r at least unevent

ful, l i fe i t seems to have been . A s was to b e expected , the

con temporary biographers,l i v i ng i n the midst o f the l i te rary

wo rl d of Constant i nople,know next to noth i ng of th is p ro

v inc ial si nge r i n a remote c i ty but just added to the E rn p irc .

’

L at ifi had heard his name, and kn ew that he was o ne of

the ‘poe ts of the ag e ;’

he kn ew also that he had a st range

heart-bewitchi ng style wh ich was all his o wn , and had heard

some sto ry about a Khaursa co n tai n i ng an e nchant i ng v e rsio n

of the tal e o f lse yizi and Mejn r'

nr, th re e co up l e ts fro n t which

he quo tes.

c

Ashiq ( Ihe ie b i’

s i n fo rmat io n go esa t rifle furthe r ;

ire kno ws all that L at ifi kn o ws and a l i tt le mo re . He kno ws

l‘iirtl-Z -Vi iyfl i n the lro t iee i n l ite N tt ln tlrrtt-i l‘ide lriyyrt t .

2 llrrg in lnd , W ll it il had b e e n i n the po rrrre rralo n o i the l 'e ridana and lrad inr

p lo r'

e d the he lp o f h'

uieyrnri n , warr o eeup ie d rr itho ut H ‘hl’ri tl lt t l’ by an l i lto nran

utury und e r the, ( hand Ve / i r Ilnnhtrn i'arrlra in arm (the ve ry be g i nn ing o t

Tin: Sul tan arri ved ne x t day, and remai ned t he re tr i l l i the troo p ttil

sp ri ng .

7 2

that Fuzul i is ‘Baghdad i , of Baghdad , and that he is the‘master and e l de r of the poe tsof those parts;

’

he also knows

that when the Ottomans took possessi on of Baghdad F uz r’

i li

p resented qasidas to Ibrah im Pasha and Qadr i Efend i , and

through them to Sul tan Suleyman himse l f, who gave him

an order for a pensi on on the exchequer of the c i ty ; but

as to whether he was dead o r st i l l al i ve at the t ime of

w r i t i ng the b iographer confesses that he knows noth ing .

That wri ters c ircumstan ced as were L at ifi andC

A shiq

shoul d b e able to te l l us but l i tt le about Fuzul i’ is only what

we shoul d expect,but we might fair ly have expected a ful ler

account and more defin i te i n format i on from c

A hd i’

, who was

h imse l f a nat i ve of Baghdad,and who w rote his Memoirs

i n that c i ty i n the year 97 1 (1563 But here agai n ,

al though w e g e t a few add it i onal detai ls, the not i ce is un

happi ly of the meagrest . So far as i t goes, however, i t is of

value , having regard to the t ime and place i n whi ch the

author w rote . H e l ikew ise speaks of F uzuh’ as

and adds that he washighly accompl ished,be i ng w e l l versed

i n mathemat i cs and astronomy , and that he was of a l i ve l y

d isposi t i on and was a charming conversat i onal ist . H e com

posed w i th equal ease and e legance i n Turkish , Persian , and

Arabic,his Turkish poems be i ng h ighly favoured by the

cri t i cs of Rum,hi s Persian d iwan be i ng the de l ight of the

poe ts of eve ry land,his Turki p ieces be i ng rec i ted by the

Mughals, and h isArab ic versesbe i ng famousw i th thee l oquent

among the Arabs. In another part of hisbook thisbiographe r

te l ls us that Fuzul i had a son named Faz l i, who also was

ski l led i n ve rsi fyi ng i n the three languages , and who ,at the

date of wr i t i ng , was l i v ing i n sec lusi on , apparently i n Bagh

dad . B ut this son made no mark in l i terature ,and w oul d

have been al together forgotten but for C

A hd i’

s br ief not ice .

C

A hd i says that Fuzul i d ie d of the plague i n 963 (1555

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

74

of his mind,and

,borrow i ng the rad iance of passi on from

those sun-br ight beaut ies,waxed greater day by day, t i l l

ere l ong the l ight of its beams reached far and w i de . F rom

time to t ime , he te l lsus, th is passi on for poe try woul d over

master him and make all other th ingsfade i n to insig nificance .

H is fame and reputat ion . we re ever on the i n crease , but i t

became evi dent to h im that he must study to acquire all

manne r of sc ience , for poe try without science is l ike a wal l

w i thout foundat i on, and a wal l w i thout foundat i on is b ut

l ightly esteemed . So he set to work , and for a t ime spent

the coi n of l i fe i n acquiri ng the var i ous sc iences, unt i l at

length he was able to adorn that beauty, his poe try , w i th

the pearls of know ledge . The Pre face next givesan account ,

to which we shal l revert by and bye , of the c ircumstance

which led the poe t to col lect his Turkish ghaze ls i nto a

D iwan . This is fol l ow ed by an appeal whi ch Fuzul i makes

t o his (presumably Osmanl i ) readers not to let his ve rses

fal l i n the ir esteem mere ly because he has neve r i n his l i fe

trave l led beyond the l imi ts of his nat i ve provin ce of C

I raq -i

C

A rab (an i n terest i ng item in hisslender biography) , and not

to look w i th the same contempt upon hi s abi l i ty asupon

his birthplace , si nce the esteem in whi ch a country is he l d

does not affect the abi l i ty of an i nd iv i dual , just as the sheen

does not passaway from gold because i t is ly ing i n the dust,

whi le a fool does not become w ise mere l y through dwe l l i ng

in a c i ty , no r a w ise man a savage through abi d ing i n a

desert . A l l th is is i n teresti ng as show i ng i n what l ight the

A z erbayjan i’

or Persian Turkswere regarded by the i r bre thren

of the west .

Then comes an entreaty to the ‘e l oquent of Rum ’ on the

one hand , and the ‘Tartar rhe tor i c ians’ on the other, to hold

him'

e x cused i f his ve rses are not adorned w i th the words

and phrases of those realms, and bede cked w i th the w i tt ic isms

75

and p roverbs of those countr ies, for the people of every land

l ook upon borrowing as a d isgrace . The Pre face c l oses w i th

a praye r that God , whose grace hasgui ded those dear ch i l dren ,

hispoems, from the narrow strai t of nonent i ty i n to the plea

sant fie l d of existence , may accompany them to whatever

land they go , making the ir adven t a blessi n g and the ir

p resence a de l ight ; and that H e wi l l shie l d them from all

who woul d do them wrong , and espe c ial l y from those three

crue l foes, the i gnoran t scri be , the unski l led rec i ter , and the

envious de tractor .

The works of Fuzul i’ are wri t ten in that d iale ct of the

Turkish language spoken along the Turko-Persian front ier

and cal led A z erbayjani from the country of A z erbayjan ,

which forms the north-western corner of the modern King

dom of Pe rsia. A l though i t has at no t ime been more than

m omentari ly i n the hands of the Ottoman Sul tan , th isd istri c t ,

which i n populat i on and language isalmost exclusi ve ly Turkish ,ought , e thnological ly speaking , to have been inco rporated i n

the Ottoman West Turkish Empi re ; and i t is much to b e

regre tted that Suleyma’

n and hissuccessors, i n place o fwast ing

the ene rgies of the i r people and the resources of the i r state

i n vai n schemes fo r the conquest o f fore i gn lands whic h i t

was as i mpossi ble as i t was undesi rable that they shoul d

pe rmane ntl y re tai n , (lid no t turn the i r se ri ous atte nt io n to

com pl e t i ng the best wo rk o fthe i r p re d e cesso rs by gathe ri ng

und e r the i r w i ng those large bo d i es o f the i r tb llo uu'

l‘

urks

who st i l l remai n e d subj e c t to the Shahs o f Pe rsia i n d ist ri c ts

c o n te rmino us w i th the i r o wn d o minio ns.

This d iale c t stands b e twe e n the ( lt to mau o f

Co nstant i no p le and the Jag hatay o f t'

e ut ral Asia. but is

much cl ose r to the fo rm e r than it is to the lat te r .

famil iar w i th the ( lt to nrau d ial e c t , espe c ial l y i n its earl ie r

stag e s , w i l l have no t ro ub le i n read i ng any thi ng Wri t ten by

76

Fuzul i , whi le he w i l l hard ly b e able to understand much

of Neva°1'

w i thout some prev ious spec ial study .

‘ None the

less i t woul d appear strange and p robably somewhat uncouth

to w estern readers; and so we find L at ifi and Qinali-zade ,

apparently more struck by the d ialect than by aught e lse ,

l i ken i ng the works of Fuzul i to those of Neve’

r’

i . That the

poe t h imse l f regarded hisspeech as d ist i nct al ike from the

C

Osmanli and the jag hatay is evident from the appeal i n

the Pre face to his Diwan fo r i n dulgence i f his words and

phrasesb e found unfamil iar , si nce they are addressed equal ly

to the ‘e loquent of Rum ’

,name ly the Ottomans, and t o the

‘Tartar rhe tori c ians’,that is the Central Asian Turks.

So far as i t goes, the judgment of the earl y cr i t i cs on

Fuzul i' iswholly favourable . L at ifi speaksof his‘

strange heart

bew i tching ’

style , and pronounces him an or iginator w i th a

manner of his own , a fact whi chc

A hd i also is able to p er

ce ive . Qinali- zade findshisun i que style cur i ousbut i ngen ious,

and his poe try highly ornate , but possessi ng d ign ity and power

as we l l as de l i cacy, whi le the c lar i ty of hisspee ch , l i ke unto

that of swee t water, is the envy of the heaven ly Se lseb r’

l 2

Among the more obviouspecul iar i ties of Fuzuli’sTurkish are the occasi onaluse of such Eastern forms as

ax i ljl aS XL l

jl, €

§b l m l,(4)l

aSMZLLS, 6 3 355: and asw as; ad l

jl,sd J l la

(J

ud g e) Lg,sex ual: 5. x .5M b. The form wasst i ll common in theWest

,b ut no t

fij‘ljl

fi lly, or

am : ,

loM /wnl. Simi lar ly , whi le the

forms gj ek al

, Ol‘j’ L‘ J u

jéilg were used there

,such a form as

ULQL>

,l

Ob i wasunknown . So was 50 “c

(Jill?for Gi JQsJ LJ .

The forms and fo r)e>and

)LX5}J were obsolescent ; so wasJ lj l

J“ L il. Such Eastern accusat ivesaseu lj m for

L ¢. g é}mé w ere never i n use,

nor hadL CMB ever been generally used for nor U” for nor 8k :

forL9 ) (there was however an old w ord

UK) sti l l i n occasi onal use) . The

meaning of a few w ords issl igh tly modified : thus Fuzuli often uses J i mwhere an c

Osmanli would prefer w oo l, ni l /53 .5i n p lace of J ai lb

‘

,and so on .

2 The Selseb il is a r i ver i n Paradise .

77

and of the Fountai n of the shin ing sun,and the ve rdure of

the bowers ofhisgl i t ter i ng poesy isan obj e ct of envy to the

rose -garden of the earth and the azure fie l d of the revolv ingsky . But high-sounding words l ike these go for l i tt le w i th

such authors,who scatte r the pear ls of the ir rhe tor i c w i th

lav ish and impart ial hand upon gen iusand mediocr i ty al ike ;

i n de ed , many a wri ter who is now all but forgotten is far

more r i chly handse l led w i th the gems of Qinali- z ad é’

s e lo

quence than ishe whom all now recogn ise as the c hie f glory‘

of Turkish medieval li terature .

Whi le i t is thus ev i de nt that the ol d cr i t i csperce i ved that

i n F uzuli’s poetry they w e re confron ted w i th some th i ng new

and strange , i t is perfect ly c lear that they utterly fai led to

apprec iate the greatness of his gen ius , or to see that i n his

verses they had the swee test wordsye t sung by poe t i n the

Turkish tongue . H ow ,i ndeed , shoul d they apprec iate h im ?

H is ways were not as the i r ways and his worl d wasa very

d i ffe rent worl d from the i rs. What had they and the ir com

pe e rs,wi th the i r laboure d me tapho rsand far- fe tched conce i ts,

to do w i th that love whi ch i n its passi onate ardour be comes

obl iv i ous of se l f and all beyond its o ne dear o bje c t?What

to them was the simple language of the tende r soul , the

wo rds that flow from the l i ps be c ause the h eart is ful l ?They

care d fo r no ne o f these th i ng s; the y had de l i be rat e ly shut

the d o o r i n the face o f t rue and n atural fe e l i ng whe n they

turne d in c o ute rrrpt fro m the so ngsand bal lads o f the i r o w n

Turkish peo p l e , whe re i n , i f they had but d e ig ne d to lo o k ,

they would have learn e d a lesso n o fsim p l i c i ty , t e nd e rness

and manho o d whi c h all the po e ts o f'

| r:iu we re p o we rl ess

to teach . l'ZX p ressio n was the g o d d ess to who m tho se rrro uo

the i sts b o we d the kne e ; a p o e t mi g h t b e the parro t o t'

the

l'

e rsians, wi th no t an id e a in his he ad that he had no t

bo rrowe d fro m o r j arul ; o r he m ig h t b e a m yst ic

78

whose eve ry verse was a r i dd le re cal l i ng the prove rb ‘the

meaning is i n the mind of the poe t ;’ 1

o r he might even ,

i f he l iked , wri te the veriest nonsense , w i th no mean ing

e i ther for his own mind or for that of any man , but so l ong

as he pai d due reverence to Expressi on,that is to the mass

of art ific ialisms and affectat ionsw hich masqueraded assuch ,

hisPlato-astounding thoughtswoul d reach beyond the Seventh

Heaven , and his dul ce t w ords woul d form the burden on

the tongues of men and ange ls. And so i t c omesabout that ,

Expressi on be i ng consi dere d the one th ing needful , and e x

c ellence there i n the true measure of poe t i c gen ius, Baq i’

,the

master of the Persianisi ng wr i ters of Turkey , is crowned

Ki ng of the Poe ts, whi le Fuzul i, i n many of whose ghazels

there i s more real poetry than in the w hole D iwan of this

King , is d ismissed wi th a few l i nes of commonplace approval .

I t hasbeen reserved for the mode rns, who are much more

i n sympathy w i th h im than w ere his contemporaries, to ful ly

apprec iate the genius of this gi fted poet and to perce i ve the

unique posi t i on w hich he occupies i n Turkish l i terature . A s

I have already suggested more than once , his d ist in c t i ve

characte rist i c as a poe t is pathos; a te nder yet passi onate

tone pervades his works,of which even the most art ificial

impress us w i th a fee l i ng of the author ’s earnestness. No

Turkish poe t has w r i tten ghaze lsso trul y beaut i ful ; Baq i’

s

are more classi c , N ed im’

s more dai nty , but none are so

i ntense , none so aglow w i th l i v ing fire as those of the ol d

Baghdad i . There is besi des more i nternal harmony in h is

ghaze ls t han is usual at this t ime ; the note struck at the

beginn i ng is adhered to throughout , and he does not si ng

each couple t on a di fferent k ey. Many wri ters spoi l what

w oul d otherw ise b e a pre tty ghaze l by i n troduc i ng a d ist i ch

l

flacl li

oh: 3 dual ,

79

al toge ther out of harmony w i th the rest, and str ik ing an

ent ire l y new ve i n of thought,but Fuzul i iscare ful to avo i d th is.

Fuzul i’ stands al one ; none can charge him w i th that im i

tat iveness which he somewhat too ch ivalrously dec lared was

he l d i n all landsfor a d isgrace . The resemblance whi ch L at ifi

and Qinali- zade find be tween him and N eva’

r’

i is the mere

superfic ial resemblance of an unfamil iar d ialect , whi lst the

comparison w hi ch C

A hd i makes be tween him and Se lman is

no more than a convent ional complimen t . Fuzul i found his

i nspirat ion i n the pages of no poe t , Turk or Persian,but i n

his own heart ; gui ded by the l ight of his own gen ius, he

foun d a new pathway for himse l f, a pathway untrodden by

any pre decessor, and whi ch none of all who fol lowed him

coul d red iscover. H e stands al one i n o ld Turkish l i terature

as the Poe t of the Heart .

But Fuzul i coul d not w hol ly escape the spi r i t o f h is ag e ;

i n an evi l hour he gave himse l f up ,aswe have seen

,to the

study of the ‘sc ience ’ of poe try, a study the resul ts of which

are unhappi ly but too mani fest i n many of his wo rks. A

man of his powe rs woul d soon make himse l f fami l iar w i th

the l i te rary paraphe rnal ia of the Pe rsians, and ,be i ng pe rsuaded

that such th i ngs were n e cessary adjuncts to poe t ry of the

l o ftie r style , woul d fre e l y ado rn his ve rses w i th nove l and

st ri ki ng combinat io ns of the o ld sto ck nrate rials; and so we

find that the re are few e ve n amo ng Turkish po e ts mo re

art ifrc ial than at t i mes is li uz r'

rlt, few i n whose wo rks are

mo re fantast i c simi le s o r n io re far-fe tched co nce i ts. b ut no t

the l east wo nd e rful th i ng ab o ut th is po e t is that , i n spi te

o f the se t ri v ial i t i es, his po e t ry re rrrains po e t ry ; that no tn ith

stand i ng the e vid en t co nsc i o usness and no less e vid e n t p lea

sure w i th wh ich he i nt ro duc es his sulrt ile fan c ies and far

fe tc lre d imag e ry , Ire n e ve r fai ls to c o nvinc e us o fhis pe rfe c t

si nc e ri ty am l o f his real earnestness o f heart . A nd he re he

80

d i ffe rs w i de l y from the mass of his contemporar ies; for th is

was a pe ri od of l i terature i n which i t was natural to all

authors, authors i n prose aswe l l asauthors i n verse , to seek

out i nge nui t ies of fancy and cur i os i t ies of expressi on . Such

a per i od paralysesmediocr i ty, and gen iusal one can encoun ter

i t and emerge tr iumphant .

But Fuzul i has very many passages and not a few ent ire

poems i n which he seems to have forgotten all the learn ing

of the schools, i n which the pedant issi len t and the voi ce

of the poe t alone is heard . And i t is these passages and

poems, where he gives himse l f up un restrai nedly to hisown

passi onate fee l i ngsand poursout hisardent heart , all obli vious

of the canons of schoolman and rhetori c ian , that form his

true t i t le to \ our affe ct i on and esteem,and have won for him

the high posi t i on which is his i n the l i terature of the East .

The gen ius of Fuzul i’ is i n tense l y subj e ctive ; he isunable

to pe rce i ve a thi ng as i t is i n i tse l f o r as i t woul d b e i f he

were not the re ; he reads himse l f i nto eve rything he sees,

and even in those poems descr i pt i ve of external obj ects i t

is not so much the obj ects themse lves as the impressi on

they produce upon hismind that isuppermost i n histhoughts .

Thissubj e cti vi ty isa feature of the t ime,and isshared more

or less by all the poe ts of the Archai c and Class i c Per i ods,

but i n Fuzul i i t finds its most e l oquent , i f n ot its ul t imate ,

expressi on . A resul t pe rhaps i n part of this mental att i tude

is that tone of sadness w hich pe rvades almost all of th is

author’

s w r i t i ngs. Sti l l when we read those swee t sad l i nes

so ful l of a gentle ye t passi onate yearn i ng , we cannot escape

the fee l i ng that w e are here i n the presence of one who has

l ooke d close ly on the face of sorrow .

Fuzul i is not a phi losophisi ng poe t l ike Khayali, w i th a

D iwan ful l of myst i c odes, but every now and then w e come

acrossa l i ne or a phrase de ftly introduce d i n a ghaze l which

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

82

ment w hich is cal led i n quest i on by Kemal B ey. I n another

place,d iscussi ng the L eyla and Mejnun , the Pasha says that

the understand ing is l ost i n admirat i on ofthisheart-attract ing

poem , and that though there are many L eyla’

and Mejnuns,none is equal to this. Kemal B ey w ould begin the true poetry

of Turkey w i th the works of Fuzul i’ . Memduh B ey i n hispamphle t on Ottoman l i terature simply ignores all that has

gone be fore and starts w i th this poe t . H e is the first poe t

menti oned by E krem B ey i n his l i tt le treat ise on the old

wr i ters; and Professor Naj r'

l ooks upon him as the greatest

of the l ove- poets of Turkey .

The two works on whi ch the fame of Fuzul i restsare his

Diw an and his L eyla and Mejnun . H e has, as w e shal l see ,

othe r w r i t i ngs, both i n verse and prose ; but these , admirable

though they are,are subordi nate t o the two just mentioned .

The Diwan is preceded by a Pre face i n prose , w i th verses

i nterspersed,i n whi ch

,as we have seen , he gives some

account of his stud ies and of his devot ion to poetry . H e

further te l ls how he came to col lect his D iwan ; one day a

musky-haired beauty comes to see him , who after w i nn ing

his heart by swee t and grac i ous words, reminds him that

he alone is able to w r i te poe try w i th equal grace i n A rab ic,

Persian and Turkish , and represents to him that whi le his

Pe rsian ghaze ls1and hisArabic R eje z are a j oy and de l ight

to many, i t is unjust that the Turkish lovelingsshoul d b e

le ft w i thout a share , an omission which might moreover

eventual ly prove a defe ct i n the foundat i on of the edifice

of his fame . The musky-haired beauty ’

s wordsseemed good

to Fuzul i who , al though at that t ime engaged on work of

greater import (one cannot he l p wonder i ng what i t was) ,

1 Fuzul i wro te a comple te Diwan in P ersian,of which there is i n the Br i t ish

Museum a manuscri p t marked Add . 7 785, and which has been l i thographedin Tabri’ z .

83

resolves to carry out the suggest i on and col le ct i nto aD iwan

the var i ous Turkish ghaze ls whi ch he had wr i tten from the

days of his ch i ldhood , H e there fore set towork , and ,hav ing

reque sted his fr iends to re turn the poemswhi ch he had from

time to t ime given them , compi led t he book which hasmade

him immortal . The first part of the foregoing pre tty l i tt le

story is qui te convent ional , and probably ent ire ly fict i t ious;

those ol d Turkish poe ts seem to have had no lack of en

courag ement from fair fr iends, so perhaps i t isnot aston ishing

that they were so i ndustr i ous.

The D iwan i tse l f opens w i th a number of qasidas which

are for the most part panegyr i cs on Sul tan Suleyman and

certai n Ottoman offic ials, probably connected w i th the govern

ment of Baghdad . Poe try of th is kind was al toge ther al ien

to the gen ius of F uz r’

i lr’

, so that noth ing very remarkable

can b e l ooked for here , and , asa matter of fact , hisqasidas

are surpassed by those of seve ral o f hiscontemporaries. Ve ry

d i fferen t are the ghaze ls, some three hund red i n number,

i n whi ch F uz r’

rh’ pours out his heart , and sighs and smiles

by turns. The few stanzai c p ieces which fol low are very

quai n t and pre tty , be i ng l ighte r and brighte r i n tone than

the ghaze ls; i f the sighs are heard more ofte n i n the latte r,

we have the smi les i n ful le r measure he re . A sectio n of

quat rai ns (rub ric

ls) b ri ngs t he l ) lw:in p ro pe r to a c lose , but

some co pi eshave furthe r afe w pi e cesc e l e b rat i ng the t rium phs

o f the O ttoman arnrs i n the liast . These ,as we l l as the

qasidas , partake o f the nat rrre o f c o urt po e t ry , and bo t h

se c t io ns are usual l y omi tte d i n manusc ri pts and p ri n te d

e d i t io ns o f the which loses l i t t le o fvalue and g ains

rrruc lr i n rrrrity o f to ne and fe e l i ng by th e i r abse nc e .

The t rue l ) tw:’

ru o f Fund“, that is the l ltwau, aswe have

it wi th the c o urt po e t ry e liurirrate d , is i nsp i re d b y l o ve . and

by lo w al o n e ; the sp i ri t o f l o ve ,o r rathe r o fl o ve

'

s sad ness,

84

exhales from all its pages.

1 This l ove of F uzuli ’s, to the glory

of which his whole D iwan is one l ong rapturoushymn , is of

a nature so subtle and e thereal ised that one doubtswhether

its object had any existence on the material p lane at all.

The be loved is rare ly presented to us as a human creature

formed of flesh and blood ; we are consc i ous onl y of a vague

presence of more than mortal beauty , and clothed about

w i th radiance , but i n tangible , i mpal pable as the v isi on of a

sai nt . Had this be l oved any obj ect i ve existence , or was the

whole but a poe t ’s dream ,and th is fair be i ng no more than

the person ificat i on of the wr i ter ’s i deal of all l ove l i ness?No

one can te l l ; we can only guess; i t may b e that the re was,

or once had been , some one whom the poe t l oved and

through his love i nvested w i th all that he could con ce i ve

of grace and beauty , and whose image abode i n h i s heart

clad in this garment of perfect i on whi ch had no counterpart

i n the outer w orl d . B e that as i t may, F uzuli’

s l ove i s of

the purest ; unsul l ied by any stai n of the sordid or the

earthly , i t is such as the ange l s i n heaven might bear to

one another .

Here agai n F uz r’

i li’

is the mirror of his ag e . The loves

of the poe ts of this t ime are always more or less mysti cal

and transcendental , and have , for the most part , an air of

unreal i ty about them . Simi larl y,the erot i c aspec t of l ove is

hardly recognised i n Turkish poe try ti l l the more obj ecti ve

Spiri t of the Transi t i on Per i od begins to assert i tse l f. 2

1 The Diwan of Fuzul i was prin ted at Bulaq i n 1254(183 8 and his

Leylaand Mejn t’rn (under the t i tle of Manzuma-i-Fuzul i) i n Constan ti nople i n12 64 (1847 H is Kulliyya

’

rt,or comp le te Turkish works, were pr in ted at

Constan tinople in n ot

2 Excep t in the nup t ial scenes i n cer tai n of the romances,where the whole

business is set for th i n a series of me taphors,some t imes obscure, some t imes

daring enough ; but the mat ter is never unduly i nsisted upon ; i t is ne i theraccentuated nor shirked

,but takes i ts natural p lace i n the story , and may

fil l some thirty or for ty l i nes i n a mesnevi of three or four thousand couple ts.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

86

year of his death .

1 The poem opens i n the usual way w i th

the praises of God and the Prophe t ; these are fol lowed by .

panegyr i cs on Sul tan Suleyman and Veys B ey,2 who was

governor of Baghdad , and to whom several of the poe t’

s

qasidas are addressed . Then comes the ‘Occasi on of the

Wr i t i ng of the Book .

’

One day the poe t wasat a w i ne -feast

with certai n accompl ished friends from Rum ; the talk ran

upon poe ts and poe try , upon Sheykh i and Ahmed i, j e l i

’

l i

and Nizam i, when Fuzul i’

,becoming exhi larated by the good

cheer , fe l l to vaunti ng his own poe ti c powers. Thereupon

his compan ions proposed to h im that he shoul d undertake

the story of L eyla and Mejn t’

i n , for al though there were

many versi ons of the tale i n Persian , there wasasyet none

i n Turkish . Much against his i ncl inati on Fuzul i’ consented ,for the story wasa sad one , giv ing no j oy to e i ther thought

or fancy (had i t been otherw ise many of the talented woul d

have handled i t be fore) ; but he perce i ved that the proposal

was made as a test of his powers, and i t was less pai nful

to set to w ork on i t than to begin and make excuses.

Thisstory may or may not b e histori cal ; but the statement

that the romance of L eyla andMejn t’in had never been treatedi n Turkish is of course absolute ly wrong . F uz r

’

i li may b e ex

cused i f he never heard of the obscure wr i ters B ihisht i and

K hayali who made Ottoman versi ons i n the days of Se l im

the Gr im , and even i f he was ignorant of the renderi ng given

1 M L :di al J’ l J

'

f’ 5. x :

jta x ay aifi a

jL a

The prin ted tex ts read d i d:L gfig l 69 alai lDi J

) which is obviouslyin correc t as i t gi ves the sum 1873 , a H ij ra date from whi ch we are st i ll morethan a half a millennium distan t . I have therefore ven tured

,though w i thout

authori ty , to amend i t as above . The Br i t ish Museum hasa MS . of the poem,

but the tex t of this is no t very ful l,and among the omi t ted passages is that

con tain ing the chronogram . A fur ther d ifl‘ieulty is, how ever, raised by the fac tthat the poem is c i ted by Lat i fi

,who finished hisTez k ire i n 953 (1546

“

3 Cal led Uveys in the Bri t ish Museum MS .

87

by Hamd i, whose j oseph and Z eh’

kha ec l ipsed all his other

work ; but he ought to have known that N eva’

r’

i had treated

the story i n jag hatay Turkish some sixty years be fore .

The romance i tse l f ismere ly the slender story of the dese rt

beauty and her frenz ied lover ,l but to l d w i th that passi on

combined w i th simpl i c i ty whi ch we shoul d expect from Fuzul i .

Many ghaze ls i n the poe t’

s own character ist i c and e l oquent

style are scattered th rough the narrat ive . These ghaze lsare

put i n to the mouths of the actors, usual ly at some po in t

where the ir fee l i ngs are strung to so high a p i tch that they

seem unable to find re l ie f save i n a lyr i c outburst . The same

tone of gentle me lancholy that runs through the D iwan

pervades th is poem ; but the style issimpler , there are fewer

quai nt conce i ts, the re is less of fantast i c image ry, whi le the

language is perhaps a trifle free r from provinc ial isms and

d ialectal pecul iari t ies.

In the pathe t i c l i t tle story of L eyla and Mejm’

rn F uz r’

rli

has a subj ec t we l l sui ted to his gen ius. L ike many another

great poe t , he d id not care to i nven t his sto ry ; he was

content to take one that wasalready common p rope rty , and

by the magic of his t reatmen t turn i t to his own . The sto ry

of Sh irin is mo re d ramat i c , that of j oseph mo re pic turesque ,

but ne i the r woul d have afforde d such scope fo r the exe rc ise

of the wri te r ’s spe c ial gi fts,and he acted w ise ly i n making

the se le ct io n that he d id ,o r i n fo l l o w i ng the adv ice o fhis

C ompan io ns, i f we suppose the sto ry i n the p ro lo gue to b e t rue .

l. eyl:'

r and Mejn r'

rn is w i tho ut d o ubt the mo st

beaut i ful mesne v i that had ye t b e e n w ri t te n in the'

t’

urkish

language , and i t is ve ry que st io nable whe the r it has e ve r

be e n surpasse d . The re is o ne p o e rrr, and o ne o nly , that can

compe te w i th it , that is Sheykh ( ilrzilib'

s l lrrsrr n ‘

A slrd o r

‘ Scu vo l. I I, p p . d uo . I"u/ rtlt followed j rturt

'

s rrrlhe r thrrn Nit rtmt'

rr

lrtt l l‘

trlc ,

88

Beauty and L ove , . w ritten late i n the Transi t ion Per i od , the

last romant i c mesnev i in'

Turk ish l i terature . This fine poem

is more powerful and far more or iginal than F uzuli’s, but

i t cannot compare w i th the o lder w ork in pathosor i ntensi ty

accord ing to the reader ’s temperamen t wi l l b e hispreference .

F uz r’

rli’s poem consists of near ly 3400 couplets, and is

wr i tten in the same me tre as the prototype by Ni zami .

F uz r’

rli has two other poet i cal works,the Saqi-Nama or

Cup-bearer Book , and the Beng u Ba

’

rda or Nepenthe and

W i ne . Both are short mesnev is,the former contai n i ng a l i tt le

over 300 couple ts, the secon d about 440 ; but the Saqi-Nama

is i n Persian , and so outsi de our present sphere . The Beng

u Bada, which is in Turkish , must have been one of its

author’

s ear l iest works, for al though the year of composi ti on

is not given , its dedi cat i on to Shah Ismac

i’

l fixes i t asbe i ng

somewhere be tween 907 (150 1 when the Pe rsians took

Baghdad , and 930 (1524) when Ismac

il was succeeded by

his son Tahmasp . The l i ne contai n i ng Shah Ismacil’s name

is omitted i n many copies, doubtless because the Ottoman

scribeswe re l oath to admi t that a poe t whom they reckoned

as one of the irsshoul d have i nscri bed a book to the here t i cal

sovere ign who had dared to w i thstand the gr im Se l im .

l The

poem is a phantasy conce i ved in the same spiri t asL am i°i’

s

Contenti on be tween Spri ng and ; W i nter, but wr i t ten wholly

i n verse . When F uz r’

i li wrote,the use of the opiate cal led

1 The l ime ‘ is,however

,supplied by the pri n ted edi t ion of Fuzuli ’sComplete

Works. (Kulliyyat-i Fuzul i ) .

wa s x i i . » sl it its?3 )o e

ra

The feast-brightener of the banque t-hall o f the In t imate,The Jem of the ag e , Shah Ismacil.A t rest through him are r i ch and poor

,

God perpe tuate his Kingdom to e terni ty .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

90

conce rning i t are forthcoming, no copy of i t is known te

exist . E krem B ey says that , having seen i t mentioned in

certai n Te z kires, h e appl ied to several l ib rar ies i n Constan

t inople , but no manuscr i pt was to b e found . I t there fore

seems to me that the two Western biographers are i n error

i n the i r ascri pt i on o f a Khamsa to F uzuh’ . W e have already

seen that the ir i n format i on about th is poe t is vague and

uncertai n ; and i t is i n credible that i n those daysone mesnev i

out of a set of five shoul d have attai ned the ce lebr i ty of

F uzuli ’s L eyla and Mejnt’in ,whi le the remai n i ng four should

have been so utterly and absolute ly forgotten that the ir very

names are lost . Agai n , had the poe t wr i tten a Khamsa, i t

is scarce ly l ike ly that iA hd i woul d have passed i t over i n

complete si lence , re ferr i ng at the same t ime to the si ngle

poem of L eyla and Mejnun asbe i ng F uz r’

i li’

swork in mesnev i ,

as though this we re the only thi ng of importance he had

ach ieve d i n that form . I t is much more probable that L at ifi

rece i ved and chron i c led a piece of erroneous i nformat i on ,

which Qinali- zade , e i ther through negligence or i nab i l i ty ,

fai led to check before transferr i ng to his own work .

I n prose F uz r’

ih'

wrote a h istory of the Holy Family of

Islam , which he cal led H ad iqat -us-Suc

adaor The Garth of

the Blessed . Thiswork,which dealschiefly w i th the suffer i ngs

and martyrdomsof the ImamsHasan and Huseyn ,the grand

sons of the Prophet , fol lows the l i nes of the Persian R awz at

ush-Shuhada , or‘Garden of Martyrs,

’ of Huseyn V e’

fiz ,‘ but

compr ises many de tai ls col lected from other sources. I t con

tai ns a very beaut i ful e legy , i n the Terk ib -Bend form , on

the Imam Huseyn , who wasslai n i n the desert of Ke rbe la ,1 Huseyn Va

°iz died in 9 10 (1504 amongst his numerous w ri t ings is

the Anvar-i Suheyli, or‘L ights of Canopus’

,a book of fables

,the Turkish

translat i on of which , cal led the Humayun-Nama or‘Imper ial Book ’

,made by

cA li Chelebi about this t ime , is reckoned among the finest prose works ofthe Old School .

9 1

along w i th his l i tt le band of fol lowers, after a long and

brave resistance , by the army of the usurping Cal i ph Y e z id .

There is further a pe t i t i on addressed by Fuzul i’ t o the

N ishanj i Pasha protest i ng agai nst the act i on of the local

author i t ies who re fused to comply w i t h the i nstruct i ons of

the Sul tan ’

s order grant ing him a pensi on , and request i ng

the assistance of that officer . This le tter , which i s cal led the

Shikayet -Nama or‘Plai n t ’ of F uzuh’ , is he l d by the modern

cri t i cs to b e among the best examplesof early Turkish prose ;i t is s imple and natural i n tone

,w i th a ce rtai n na

’

ivete even

i n its conce i ts . I t is wr i tten i n the Ottoman d ialect .

The fol low i ng ghaze l s are taken from the D iwan ; the

reader w i l l obse rve how d ifferent they are i n tone from those

of any preced ing poe t , and how much closer than usual is

the connect i on be tween the several c ouplets.

Ghazel. I 9 2 ]

my loved o ne,though the wo rld because o f thee my fo e should b e .

"l'

were no so rrow,for thysel f alone were friend enow fo r me .

Sco rn ing eve ry com rade ’s rede,I cast me bl indly midst o f love ;

Ne ’e r shal l fo e do me the anguish l have made myse l f to d rce .

Dale and tee n shal l neve r fai l me l ong as l i fe and frame abide ;Li fe rrra van ish frame turn ashes: what is l i fe o r frame to me?1

Ah,I knew no t union ’s value

,e re l tasted pnrt irrg ’s pain ;

No w the gloom of absence makes rrre runny a d im th ing clear to see .

Smoke and embe rs are fo r me, g rrrd

’rre r

,cyp ress-t ree and rose ;

What should I wi th bo wm's?Thi ne the bowe rs,mine the ti re

, pe r‘d ic l

Vo n rle r Moon lurth bruc d he r g hrne e'

s glai ve ; b e no t unhe edi ng , lre rrrt ;I"o r d e c re e d th is day are b lt te r Wall to rue rrurl d eat h to thee .

t ) l"u7atll,thoug h that llfe should pro m, fro m love

'

s way pron-r no t I ;

My the path whe re. lo vm‘s wand e r make my g rave , I p ray o l ye .

92

Ghaz el. [ 19 3 ]

Whensoe ’er I cal l to mind the feast o f un ion ’ tw ix t us twain,

L ike the flute,I wai l so long as my waste frame do th breath re tai n . l

’Tis the par t ing day ; rejoi ce thee, O thou b ird, my soul , for now

I at length shal l surely free thee from this cage of dule and pai n . 2

Lest that any, fondly hop ing, cast his love on yonder Moon ,’Gai nst her tyranny and ri gour un to all I mee t I plai n .

Ah,my tears of blood suffice not for my weeping eyes’ outlay

,

So each momen t from my v i tals aid to borrow am I fai n . 3

Grieve no t I whate ’er i njust i ce r i valsmay t o me display ;’Gai nst my dear ’s desp i te

,I teach «my heart injust i ce t o sustain .

We ll I know I ne’er shal l win to uni on w i th thee,st i l l do I

Cheer at t imesmy cheerlesssp iri t w i th a hope as fond as vai n .

I have washed the name of Mejni’i n off the face of ear th w i th tears;O Fuzul i

,surely I l i kewise a name on ear th shall gai n .

Ghazel. [ I 94]

Feresare heedless,spheres are ruthless

,F or tune is i nconstan t qui te ;

Woesare many,friends no t any, strong the foe, and weak my pl ight .

Past away hope’s grac ious shadow,passion ’ssun beats fierce and ho t ;

Lofty the degree of rui n,lowl y is the rank of ri gh t .

L i t tle power hath understanding,louder aye growsslander’s voi ce ,

Scan t the ruth of fickle For tune,dai ly worsensLove’s desp i te .

I ’m a stranger i n this country,4 gui le-bese t isunion ’s path ;

I ’m a W i ght of simple spiri t,ear th w i th faer ie shows is dight .

The flute wai ls so long as the player’s breath is i n i t ; the poe t wai lst i ll his breath ceases

,i . e . t i l l he dies

,or t il l he swoonsfor sorrow .

2 That is,from the body .

3 The l iver (the seat of passi on) wassupposed to b e formed of blood ina sol i d state .

4The world .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

94

Yonder Goddess reared her eyebrow,shri ne-ward turn no t I my face ; 1

L et me b e , 0 zealo t , vex no t me,so thou do God revere .

A l l thy l ife-co in thou hast squandered one fair Idol ’s l ove to W in ;0 Fuzul i

,woe is t o thee

,i f this comp t b e cal led for e

’

er .

Ghazel. [ I 96]

Cast the ve i l from thy moon-cheek,the morn do th ray ;

For th ! for for th is come the sun t o take survey .

Sure ly my heart-stringssufli ce thee,kno t thou these ;

Only curl no more those jasmine-lo cks,I pray . 2

Roaming flushed,cast n o t thy glance on every side ;

Ah ! consi gn no t all the worl d to waste dismay .

Toward thy lovers leave not thou to turn thine eyes;Hol d thee from the hear t-consuming wai l away .

Every n igh t I coun t the stars t i l l morning break ;Thou

,the night apar t from whom ’

s my Reckon ing-Day.

Hel l he ne ’er shall sigh t who burnsfor thy disdain,

None to tormen t doomed may w in t o Heaven a way.4

Ear th’s duresse hath cast me from my fee t adown ;G ive me w ine

,cup

-bearer,that do th dule al lay .

Oh‘. have ruth upon those fal len for thy love ;Hast no meed a guerdon-gai n i ng deed to ’ assay ?

Should the loved one ask,

‘H ow fareth i t w i th thee,

‘Sick Fuzul i ?’ what w ouldst thou in answer say?

1 Here the mihrab or prayer-ni che (see vol . I , p . 2 24, n . I ) is coupled w i ththe eyebrow

,on accoun t of its arched top .

2 That is,jasmine-scen ted locks.

3 The Reckon ing-Day is properl y the Day of Judgmen t ; here Fuzul i boldlycalls the night spent apart from his beloved his Reckoning-Day ; l i terally ,because he coun ts the stars all night (i . e . l iesawake) ; and me taphor i cally ,on accoun t of the tormen ts he suffers.4And Hel l i tsel f would b e Heaven compared to the t ormen t caused bythy disdai n .

95

Ghazel. [ 197]

Lo thy mole hath thrown my fortune all a- tangle l ike thy hair ;Ne ’er a day, 0 free from dolour, w i lt thou ask me

,

‘H ow dost fare ?

Hear t,yon cypress-figure ’sshade is past away from o

’

er thy head ;Weep , for now thy bli thesome fortune change th i n to drear despair.

Never woul d I let the Sp ir i t ’s table t deck the body ’swall,

Were i t n o t,0 dearest one

,that Love had drawn thine image there .

I

Though thou dost no t draw the glaive of wrath to work my death for thrigh t,

Yet forsooth some day ’ tw i l l slay me,this desp i te thou mak ’st me bear.

Yearn ing for that mole so musky and that ruddy cheeki

o’ thine

Whelms the pup i ls of mine eyen mid the l iver’s gore for e’er .

O thou bird,my heart

,I rede thee

,keep thee from Love ’s snare away

,

E re the stone o f sligh t have broken these thy p lumes and p in ions fair .

L ike thy shadow hath Fuzul i lai n for long before thy fee t,

In the hope that thou may ’st one day tread him p rone before thee there .

Ghazel. [ 198]

Goddess,when I sigh t thy figure wonder makes me dumb to b e ;

H e who sees my pl igh t and fashion fo r a figure holde th me .2

Naugh t of love to me thou shewest,naugh t of ruth

,t i ll now at length

Passi on fo r thy l ocks d oth t read me l ike the shadow on the lea.

Weak my star,my fo rtune adve rse

, ye t wi thal thy grac ious mienl‘ive r fills my soul wi th yearn ing ll

'

fo nd fo r uni on wi th thee .

' l 'hou a p ri ncess; I, a b eggar,may no t Wo n thee : what run I?

Yearning me wi th lane ies vai n l ne ’e r can ho pe to see .

Shoo t no t fo rth thy g lnnee’u dart

,it mai t en my vi tals

,spill-4 my b lood ;

( Zant no t l oose thy knot t ed fo r they Wo rk my to rme n t i y.

I Would n ev e r mome nt to “W o n but fo r the li lt ltt t t‘ of t h e e ahh h l an e

has d rawn in my mind .

'

l'

hat in, fo r a Iife lena lo tm .

96

Dest iny long sin ce hath vowed me to the l ove of dar l i ngs fair ;Every moon-brigh t one do th make m e thral l of down and mole t o b e .

0 Fuzul i,never shal l I qui t the path of Love

,because

Through his v ir tue gai n I en tran ce mid the noble company . 1

Ghaz el. [ I 99 ]

Ah,the happy days when thy dear face was aye before my sigh t ,

When the lamp of union w i th thee fil led the eye of hope w i th l ight .

Then the j oy of be i ng near her made the ai l ing body whole,Then the cheer of uni on w i th her brought the weary heart resp i te .

Radian t wasmy wel fare ’s taper,migh ty wasmy for tune ’sstar,

Curren t wasmy glory ’s edic t,prosperous my pleasure’ssi te .

Naught of censure ’s dust had l igh ted on the skirt my gladnesswore ;Far the envier’s eye , far distan t from my party of del ight .

Then was I a man,ri gh t wel come was I at her graci ous cour t ;

Mine abode wasH eav’n ; my dri nk, K evser ; my fere , a houri br i ght .

Fate washidden t o accomplish whatsoever th ing I sought ,T ime was bounden strai t t o order every th ing I w ished arigh t .

Whatsoever prayer I ut tered found an answer mee t straightway ,Whatsoever boon I cried for granted freely was forthri gh t .

Naugh t of gr ief,foreboding par t i ng

,suffered I to reach my hear t,

Though I saw how For tune ever deale th dolour and desp i te .

What then if the Sphere do cast Fuzul i midst of par t ing’s pains?

I n the days of union bode he st i ll a vai n and heedlessW igh t .

The fol low i ng mukhammes is taken as an example

F uzuli’s stanzai c poems; i t is that already re ferred to

be i ng addresse d to the Paynim mai den , and i s wr i t ten

a sl ightly humorousstyle .

Da que l giorno in qua’ ch ’amor m ’accese

P er le i son fat to e gent i le e cor tese .

Luigi Pul c i .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

98

Tul i p-red thy hands w i th henna,l and w i th surma 2 b lack thine eyne ;

L ike t o thee is n e ’e r a beauty thus bedecked so fai r an d fine .

Shafts thy glances,3 bows of pop lar green those pain ted brows o ’ thine ;

Stil l un to thy glance and eyebrow do th Fuzul i e ’er inc l inePassi ng strange the b ird should fly no t b ow and arrow

,filled w i th fear !

The fol low i ng w i l l se rve as a spec imen of the ruba ls.

Rubafi’

. [ 20 1]

I f thou desire thy love,self-l o ve forego ;

If thy desire b e self,thy love forego .

W i th love of self may ne ’er a lo ve b eSo love thereof

,or love hereof

,forego .

Be fore taking leave of the Diwan,I shal l quote a few

stray couple ts from di fferent ghaze ls,wh ich are both pre tty

and character ist i c of the author ’s style .

be ing in thy hair,does no t embrace thy mihr

,i . e . sun -l ike face) , but the

chain,hanging round thy cheeks

,does; so I am no t l ike the former

,but l ike

the lat ter,as I too embrace thy mihr ‘love

,

’ i . e . l ove ofthee isw i th in my hear t .1 Henna (properly hinna, but usual ly pronounced q i na i n Turkish) is the

plan t lawsonia i nermis,from the leaves of which is made the red dye used

by Eastern ladies for stai n ing the nai ls and some t imes parts of the handsand fee t ; men occasi onall y use i t for dye ing the beard .

2 Surma, the p reparat ion of an timony used for darken ing the edges of theeyel ids.

3 The compar ison of the eyebrow to a b ow,and of the glance t o the shaft

or arrow is a favour i te .

4Fuzul i here speaks of the eyebrowsas‘vesmelu

,

’ i . e . pai n ted w i th indigo,

and l ikens them to bows of green poplar . The ‘green poplar" (yeshi l toz)may b e some part i cular varie ty of the tree

,o r i t may mean merely a young

poplar ; in e i ther case the w ord ‘green ’ hasa se condary reference to the i ndigostai ned eyebrows

,and is an i nstance of the i dentificat ion of the colours blue

and green . [ In a p enci l-no te of the Author ’s whi ch I found ly ing be tweenthe pages the fol low ing paral le l passage is c i ted from Z ihn i

’

s Yusuf andZ elfkha:

( an: G ala, M4 «an,»M aw , w as»‘Adorning her eyebrows w i th indigo

,she bound the green b ow-stri ng to

the b lack (musky ) b ow .

’E D . ]

99

Couplets. [ 20 2 ]

Yonder Moon knew naugh t of how ‘I burned upon the par t in g-day ;Kens the sun about the taper burnin g all nigh t long ti ll morn ?are a s- s

Day by day the heart-consuming flame of absence fiercer grew ;Bri gh ter shines the moon ’s refulgence as it ' further leaves the sun .

+ s x v r a x e x > s =re s s r x a s

Strange a secre t that of love,for ere to any W ight I spake

,

Voi ces through the t own were crying how I l oved thee fond and dear .

A l l the w orld through thee rejoi ce th , I alone am thral l t o dole ;Dole is forth the w orl d departed

,and hath homed w i th in my soul .

Whate’er the bondage b e,

’tissheer distress; a cage woul d only grieve

The n igh tingale,al though they formed i t all of branches of the rose .

ar r / a s se fi f / f r re se a m- s ari

Ah Fuz ri li,lo,the Sphere hath bowed our frame

,as though ’ twould say,

‘Bend thee down,for now

’tis t ime that through the door of l i fe thou pass.

’

a a a a a a a a a s a a r. as s e s s -a r se

The zephy r w i l l n o t le t the tender rose-leaf kiss the dust that l iesAneath thy fee t un ti l the dew hath laved its face an hundred times.

a a a m m a a m a s a a a m a a a a o w e e a

Ne ’e r could they the ty ran t glai ve o f those th y Slrtrtn-l i ps aby,

Though the Sphe re shoul d,l ike to l’e r'had

,fashion love rs’ frames of stone .

‘

s a s s m a m m e m e u a m m m m e e w e a m

Ne i the r rosebud glads no r rose e xpands the st ri cken heart o f are,

So re i t yearne tlr fo r that smiling lip and red red che ek o ’ thi ne .

n e m a e m m v e e e e n e n o e m o o m o m

To hear the p raises of thy pearly t e e th the sea is fai n,

A nd so its ear may ev e r b e seen upon the sho re ."

fi fl h fl fl fl fl fi fi fi fl fi n fl t fi o o i n m o c

An allrrrrio rr to |"e rhad'

s m-nlp turirrg the tig rrre

-r o f Shrrtn and li hunre v

on Moun t lii-Sit ri rr.2 The. d e rris rp rlag hi o r ru'

n-e nr l'r what we c all the ear' -

. lre ll. i lrin r ump le t

suppl i e s an e xam ple o i the r urio u-r b rrt o rig i nal imag e ry a h h h l' rrr ttlt at

t imes alte r lrt .

100

L et us now l ook at a couple of passages from the L eyla’

and Mejnun ; the first te l lshow Mejnun redeemed the gaze l le

from the hunte r i n the desert,touched w i th p i ty be cause he

saw i n i t a fe l low -suffe re r, and because its eyes reminded

h im of L eylas.

From L eylauMejnun . [ 20 3 ]

H e saw where a hun ter had se t hissnareTo ensnare the gazelles at unaware .

A gen tle fawn i n hissnare was caught,

I ts b lack eyne w i th tears of blood were fraugh t .I ts neck en tangled

,its fee t bound fast

,

I ts br igh t eyes we t,and its hear t aghast .

Mejnti n had ruth on i ts dreariheadH e gazed and rosy tearshe shed . l

That hapless on e came his hear t anear,

And gen tly he spake to the hun ter there‘Have ruth on this fawn

,I pray of thee ;

‘Who would no t p i ty thismisery ?‘O hun ter

,slay no t this hapless one ,

‘Have ruth on thy soul,and le t i t b e gone .

‘0 hun ter,beware

,th is cr ime evade ,

‘Knowest n o t that b lood is by blood repai d ?‘0 hun ter

,give thou its blood to me

,

‘And make no t its hear t the fire to dree .

’

‘I t is thus that I l i ve,

’the hunter said

,

‘I shall l oose no t its fee t though I lose my head .

‘If the l ife of this quarry I should spare,

‘H ow would my w i fe and my chi ldren fare ?’

Mejnt’rn gave him all his gear w i th glee,

Of every leaf he stri pped his tree ;H e loosed the bonds of that swee t gazel le

,

And rej o iced its woeful hear t righ t wel l .H e stroked its face w i th a weary groan

,

H e gazed in its eyes and thus made moan‘O thou

,as the deser t whirlw ind flee t

,

1 The rosy tears, i . e . red tears,tears of blood

,i . e . shed in anguish .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

102

‘O God,of this l i fe am I full t ired .

‘I am the taper of par t ing ’s nigh t '‘F or burnin g and black ismy dreary p ligh t .‘Distraugh t by the w orld ’s desp i te am I

,

I ne ’er shal l rest t i ll the day I die .

I should p ray : “ L et my body b ide for aye !”

‘Were i t l ike that union shoul d ti de some day.

‘I’

m the sun i n the si gn of radiancy,

‘I know that my frame the ve i l must b e .

‘Un i te me w i th death,0 Lord of ruth ,

‘F or the way of D eath is the way of Truth ! ’

H er prayer was pure,and the answer came °

And feebler an d feebler grew her frame .

The unwholesome air i t wrought her i l l ,And weakness grew on her body st i l l .H er dolour i n creased upon her e

’

er,

And the shiveri ng fever left her ne ’er .

Fain t i n the fever that fairy on e,

L ike a taper that is by the flame undone .

Dimmed by disease washer beauty ’s ray,

L ike a rose whose freshness is past away .A t length so feeble and weak her pli ght .That she lay on her b ed bo th day and nigh t .Who had sought to l ook on her there

,I ween

,

Woul d scarce her wasted frame have seen .

Away were borne heal th ’s emblems fair,

And the ensi gns of death w ere gathered there .

Then j oyous,her bashfulness cast off,

She told to her mother her secre t l ove‘0 mother

,balm of my hear t ’s desire ,

‘0 mother,l ight of my longing ’s fire

,

‘I am come to death for my hidden i l l ;‘So long as I migh t

,I have borne i t st il l '

‘B ut now that the t ime is c ome t o go,

"Tismee t that I te ll thee my secre t woe .

‘O weary on e,imagine ne ’er

‘That I am slain by the sword o ’ the air ;‘No fever fires in my body play

,

103

‘Excep t the anguish of love -dismay .

‘A help less an d weep ing love r I,

‘Distraugh t for a moon-faced . on e I lie ;‘A -yearning for him am I undone

,

‘A -longing for h im my l ife is gone .

‘Sore have I cri ed for his beauty sheen,

‘B ut un ion w i th him I n e ’er have seen .

‘And now I go w i th hiswords i n my hear t ,‘Whate ’er be t ide

,these have been my part .

‘No t only I am of love forlorn,

‘And wai l for that dearest on e and mourn ;‘H e t oo is love-smi t ten of w oeful me

,

Distraugh t mid the wastes of misery .‘A lack

,for me is his reason gone

,

‘And he who was Qays isasMejnun known . 1‘F or me he passe th his days i n dole,‘N or once hath he won t o the l onged-for goal .‘Of i ll repute i n the ag e through me

,

‘A by-word in every land is he .

‘Not vainly h is tears and si ghs are spen t,

‘F or am no t I by h is fai l i ngs bren t ?‘0 mother

,fai thful my whole l i fe through

,

‘0 mother,consoler in every woe

,

‘When I hav e hidden farewel l to ear th,

‘And hence on my j ourney am se t forth,

‘As be reft of me thou d ost si gh and moan‘A -passi ng tho rough the d ese rt lo ne

,

‘lf e’

e r thy foo tste ps should chance that way‘l io thou my woes to that fai r o ne say.

" l ' ake he ed when to him them e o m’

st anigh ;‘l le is g rue io us, pass him n o t. he ed less hy.

‘lfall at his fe e t and his care im p lo re ,‘A nd fo r si n ful me his p raye r im plo re .

" l'

he n any : ( i l o ve r leui and t rue ,“Sud i .eyh

‘l hath giv e n he n l i fe fan yo u;

‘l i e l lN llINlN o f love are ae t'

u tn p linln'tl H o w

,

l l e r lo ve r'

s nuln e W it ; t eally Q ays; Imt a li e n he Ina ame n a't to t he r

l ove he Wtut culle d Mejn tin , i . e . i'

o aneu e t l. See so l. I I, p p . 175 I 7“ .

104

‘N or hath she fai led to fulfi l her vow .l

‘Then say th is to him from woeful me‘O boaster of love and of constancy

,

‘To me l i fe ’s harem is now shut fast,

‘I am free of j oy and del igh t at last .‘0 come thou hi ther

,make no delay ,

‘I am wai t ing for thee,do no t heedlessstay .

‘So thou l ikew ise art of fai thful p ligh t,

‘Bide no t,but abandon the w orld for thri gh t .

‘Come,let us love as our hear ts are fain

,

‘In a land where is none t o work us pai n .

‘I have found the way to the realms of p eace,

‘Where taun ts of friends and of r ivals cease .

‘If me once more thou art fai n to see,

‘In the name of God come hi ther to me .

’

When of her charge she had made an en d,

That wayfarer for th on her way did wend .She cal led on her l ov er fond and kind

,

And yearn i ng for him,her soul resigned .

The fol low i ng l i ttle story from the W i ne and Nepenthe

occurs i n the message whi ch King W i ne sends to his r i val

when demanding hissubmissi on ; i t is i n tended to i l lustrate

the ev i l resul ts of the opiate and the good e ffe cts of w i ne .

From the B eng u Bada. [ 205]

There was once a toper i n Isfahan,

L ike to beng,a merry-headed man .

In a fair pav il ion he made hisstay,

Where he pl ied the w i ne-cup n igh t and day.

I t befe ll one day that this b ooser’s l o tOfw i ne

,l ike th

’e l i xir of l ife

,was no t .

From his last carouse his head wassore,

So he took some beng the pai n to cure .

The op iate at tacked him in every par t,

And darkness rusted his mirror-hear t .

That she w ould d ie i f no t uni ted w i th Mejn tin .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

106

F or those whose l ips were parched w i th thirst on Kerbela the plain,

Thou mad ’st the dri fti ng sand the stream of all dismay,O Sphere .

‘

Thou hast no t spared to treat as naught the honour of the L aw ;Dure t o the sons of Mustafa thou mad ’

st thy sway,O Sphere .

No ruth hadst thou on those sad oneswhose hear tsw ere turned to blood,

On those whose fortune was o’

erthrown i n dreary strangerhoodu u n" t . a, e, v r, uI; i : a: i : as is i : i t i i i' is i :

“3 : i s

F uz t’

i li was, as we have seen , an

c

Osmanli i n a pol i t i cal

sense only ; but fo r Suleyman’

s t ime ly occupat i on ofBag hdad

he woul d not have been reckone d among the Ottoman poe ts,

and the l i terary history of the nat i on woul d have been the

poore r by one great name which i t coul d i l l afford to lose .

There have been,of course , many other A z erbayjani Turkish

poets, but none of these has attai ned to anyth ing l ike the

ce lebr i ty of Fuzul i , ch iefly,no doubt , through lack of mer i t,

but part ly perhaps because none other among them owed

to the Sul tans that al legiance w hi ch woul d have ent i t led him

to b e i nscribed on the muster-rol l o f the C

Osmanli poe ts. Most

of these Turkish w r i terswere subj ects of the Shahsof Persia ;

a few i n later t imes have unhapp ily been under the Czars

of Russia. I t is beyond the scope of the present work to

consi der the wri t i ngs of such Turkish poe ts as have no

claim to b e reckoned among the Ottomans, so I shal l con

tent myse l f w i th ment ion i ng i n this p lace , asthe opportun ity

may not occur agai n , the names of afew A z erbayjan i authors

who have been b rought under my noti ce .

2 To begin w i th ,

no less a personage than the founder of the Safev i dynasty,

Shah Ismacil himse l f, wrote a comple te D iwan i n thisTurkish

d ialect , i n wh ich he takes the makhlas of Khata ’ i’

. Then1 Huseyn and his followers w ere kil led on the plai n of Kerbela, no t farfrom Baghdad .

2 A collec t i on of {A z erbayjan i poems of the e i gh teen th and n ine teen thcen turies was published at Lei p zi g i n 1868 by Adolph Berge. I t is en ti tledD ic/z t zmg e/z Tram -K aukasz

'

sc/zer Sang er des X V I I I z ma’X IX 7a/zr /zw za

’

er ts in

Mum/ar t .

107

Mesihi, who flour ished under Shah c

A b bas I and Shah Safi,

wrote at least three romanti c mesnev is, V erqauGulsha (for

V erqa and Gul Shah , the names of the hero and hero ine ) ,

Dana 11 Dam o r Grai n and Snare , and Zenbar uC

A sel or

B ee and Honey . Qavsi of Tebriz wasa l yr i c poe t who l i ved

about the end of the seventeenth century ; he is the author

of a D iwan , several of the ghaze ls i n w hich are confessed ly

imitated from Fuzul i.

CHAPTER V

F A Z L i. EBU’ S-SUC

L

'

JD . YAHYA B E Y or DuK A G iN .

Turn ing agai n to the w est , we find in Constanti nople a

poe t whom Von Hammer , by publ ishing and translat i ng the

most notable of his works,has done some th ing to br i ng

unde r the not ice of Europe . This is Faz l i , whose personal

name was Muhammed, and who wasusual ly known duri ng

his l i fe time asQara Fazl i o r Black Fazl i , asobri que t probablyearned by his swarthy complexion . Fazl i was the son of a

saddler , and , ifc

A hd i’

s account is to b e trusted ,he devoted

himse l f i n early l i fe to the study of myst i c ism , be i ng i n i t iated

into the esote r i c l ore of the East by Zar i fi Efend i , and

eventual ly becoming affi l iated to the K halvet i order of d er

v ishes. F rom the beginn ing Faz l i’ had a strong b ias towards

poetry, and he was the most prominent of those young

l iterat i who frequented the l i t tle shop where old Zat i’

d iv i ded

h is t ime be tween te l l i ng fortunesand d iscoursi ng upon poe try .

H e was, we are tol d

,his master

’

s favour i te pupi l , probably

because he was the most gi fte d ; and Zat i, who coul d scarce ly

keep his own body and soul toge ther, was oddly enough

the means of making hisyoung fr iend’

sfortune . In the summe r

of 1530 Sul tan Suleyman he l d a great fest ival , whi ch e x

tended ove r thre e w eeks, to ce lebrate the c i rcumcisi on of

his sons Muhammed,Mustafa , and Se l im . Duri ng the course

of the fest i v i t ies, the poe ts of the ag e w e re cal led upon to

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

110

name w r i tten in 7 3 2 (13 3 1—2 ) by Khwajuof Kirman . This

last is a romance of the orthodox type,hav ing for subj ect

the love adventures of Pr i nce Humay of the L and of the

West (Zem i’

n-i K haver) and Pr i n cess Humayun , daughte r of

the F ag hft’

i r of Chi na. A few couple ts of the Turkish versi on

are quoted by L at ifi .

F az li’

s second and more i mportant mesnev i is the Gul u

Bulbul or Rose and Night ingale,w ri tten

, as a chronogram

in the last d ist i ch te l ls us,i n 960 (1552 and ded i cated

to Pr i nce Mustafa . This romance , whi ch is an expansi on , i n

the Bal l and B at o r Taper and Moth manner, of the famil iar

fict ion of the l ove of the n ightingale for the rose , hasmore

or iginal i ty than is usual w i th Turkish poems of i ts c lass.

A l i ke i n general concept ion and i n e laborat i on of detai l the

work appears to b e for the most part the author ’s own ;

at least , I know of no Persian poem in which the Rose and

Nightingale myth is thus extended in to a complete al legori cal

romance . One ser ies of i nc i dents however, where the recurr i ng

seasons are person ified as host i le Kings, is the same as the

fundamen tal i dea i n L amici’sContent ion of Spr i ng and W i nter .

The work is on the whole among the most grace ful of

its class; the vari ous de tai ls and i n c i dents are i ngen i ously

conce i ved and pre tt i ly expressed ; and , though not exact ly

bri l l iant , the poem forms very pleasant reading . L at i fi, of

course , does not mention it , as his book was comple ted in

953 (1546 seven years ear l ier than the poem ; but Qinali

zada speaks of i t as be i ng the most ce lebrated of all F az li’

s

wr i t i ngs, and as enj oying much favour w i th the publ i c . Von

Hammer, who publ ished the Turkish text along w i th a G er

man translat i on,

‘ praises the poem for its or iginal i ty and

i ts ‘irreproachable decorum .

’

H e consi ders i t the best sui ted

Gul u Bulbul,das ist : Rose und Nach tigal l

,von Fasl i . Ein romant isches

Gedicht ub erse tz t durch J oseph von Hammer . Pest and Le i pz ig . E . A . Har tleben .

I I I

of all Turkish romanti c m esnev is to the European taste , an

Opin i on w i th which I do not agree ; the poem appears to me

to b e worked out i n too fan tast ic and far - fe tched a manner

to great ly please the modern reader, who woul d b e i nc l i ned

to regard the s tyle assomewhat tr i v ial , i f not chi l d ish ; w hi le

the human i nterest of such themes as K husrev and Sh ir i n

or L eyla and Mejn t’in is al toge ther absent .

I n order to give an example of the manner i n which

poems of this class usual l y open , I shal l translate some

passage s from“

the prayer w herew i th the book begins.

From the Gul u Bulbul. [ 2 0 7 ]

O Thou ! who dost i l lume the Rose ’s t orch,

And dost w i th fire the Bulbul ’s harvest scorch ; ‘

Who sweetenest the soul-refreshing air,

Scen ting the musky breeze w i th at tar rare ;

Who grautest to the crown é d Spring the crown,

And to the Parterre Empi re its renown ,Desi gner of the flowers’ be l vede re

,

Unve i ler of C hig il’

s and China’s fai r,

‘

2

iedc eke r o f the meadow’

s banque t free,

Ado rne r o f the garden company,

L i gh te r of the i ncense of the gale,

St rike r of the late the llulbul'

s wai l,

The l ove ly Rose he r hues hath ta’

eu from Thee,

The Iiulbul hath re ce i ved his st rai n from The e .

Yearning fo r The e the Tul i p ’

s heart’

s eo re b rands;i t runlc fo r Thy lo ve , in clay , the ( Iyp ress stands.

‘Tis through Thy favour t hat the earth 's heart beams

,

A nd th rough Thy g rac e that l im p id run the st reams.

That is,the garnere d sto re o f his pat te ner o r peac e o fmind is t

‘n tl 't tl ttt t‘ll

by the ti re t i l lo Ve .

lx'

hat i‘n,i . e . t 'ulbay

,o r t

'

hinese Tai taiy, and , by e x t e nsion , t '

h iaa p i o pe t ,

was tamo us among the o ld poe ts to r the beauty o t its g i rls and youths.

SC VC t'al t'

uthuyun t itles at e me nt i one d i n this e o n ne t tto n ,e npe t lall)

‘ t’

hlg tl,

me n ti on e d in the te x t,Vag b nni , l

"e i lchtt r and Tut tt l .

I I Z

The V i ole t Thine anger must have seen,

And thus i ts form is bowed for dule and teen .‘

L i gh ted by Thee the Garden taper glows,

Branded by Thee the Tul i p seared shows.

The Narc isse was a beggar hungry-eyed,

’2

To whom Thy grace a golden crown suppl ied .

A beauteousmouth Thou g av’

st the Rosebud fair,

A sw ee t t ongue to the L i ly for itsshare .3

So w i th that month and tongue the Garden bri gh tC han teth Thy praises ever day and n ight .Each fresh green thing that i n the Meadow spri ngsRaise th its voi ce and t o Thy glory sings.

B ut none on earth can yie ld Thee fi t ting praiseThy glory ’sstrai n do Thou Thyse lf upraise !What wondrous power ! that i n to be ing cameThe Universe when Thou didst ‘B e ! ’ p roclaim .

4

Thou through Thy mercy hast created earth,

And thus the H i dden Treasure hast shown for th .5

From Thee the powers of ear th and water b e,

The germinan t i ts v irtue hath from Thee .

In just i ce Thou the elements hast phased,

And the four—columned dome of nature raised . 6

F our opposi tesThou’st bounden strai t and fast ,A dragon tal isman created hast .Thou through Thy grace the S tream of L i fe dost grant ;And Thou p rovidest for the snake and an t .

Thy boun ty opes its hoard to all that l ive,

Be ing to all con tingen ts Thou dost give .

1 The bowed head of the v iole t is often referred to by the poe ts. Each ofthe flowers men tion ed i n this prologue is person ified and plays i ts par t inthe romance .

2 W e often read of the eye of the narcissus, the reference be ing to thecentre of the flower ; the golden crown is, of course , the yellow corolla.

3 The rosebud mouth is a commonplace . The tongue of the l ily refers tothe shape of its leaf.4 ‘Kun !

’ i . e .

‘B e !’ God’s fiat to creat ion . See K oran II

,I I I

,and

.

manyo ther places.

5 An al lusi on to the wel l-known tradi ti on : “ I was a H i dden Treasure and

I desired to b e known : therefore I created Creat ion that I mi ght b e known .6 Four-columned

,bui l t on the four elements of the old phi losophers.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

I I4

Thou’

r t thus the Lover of Thy Beauty grown ;None ’s worthy of Thee save Thysel f alone !F or those i n whom Thy Beauty Thou’st portrayedA ll manner love and passi on are displayed .

L ikew ise i n those through whom Thine eye is thrownA re all the lover ’s pangs and yearnings shown .

Thou art alone the Truth mid all that seems,

A l l e lse beside is fan tasy and dreams.

The worlds existence is an emp ty dream,

A vai n i llusi on i n the mirror ’s gleamThings are the forms where i n the Names appear

,1

In all the Names God ’s Essence shine th c lear .

Thy Beaut y ’ssun through space its radiance threw ;These atoms

,th ings existen t

,flashed i n v iew .

Before Thy power isunderstanding mazed,

Sense,reason

,and imaginat ion

,dazed .

Thine Essence there is none may comprehend ;Ah

,that would understanding ’s hear t-strings rend !

Thine Essence none hath understood or shown ;‘We have no t known Thee asThoushould’st b e known ! ’ 2

Reason must in such things a school-ch i ld b e ;Sav ing Thyself no one may know of Thee .

My God,I am a sinner stained w i th gui le

,

Aneath the hand of passi on fal len,v i le .

A cap tive,by the fair ones’ l ove o

’

erthrown ;

Yearning for beaut ies am I hoary grown .

Longing hath filled this brai nless head of mine ;What though I seem a bubble on the w in e ?

Seeking the cup of union w i th the fair,I wander o

’

er the beaker here and there .

W ith longings l ike t o these the w i ne I drai n,

F l inging afar asce t i c ism ’s grai n .

When for ablut ion I take up the ewer,

Me thinks i t holde th dulce t w i ne and pure .

Obedience 3 and ab lut i on hence I ’ve cast,

And from all ac ts of formal worship past .1 The ‘Names

,

’or

‘Most Comely Names’ correspond to the Platon i c I deas.

2 This l ine is a Hadis or Tradi t ion of the Prophe t .3 That is

,to the formal or r i tual L aw .

115

My face I lave not,ne i ther pray by rule ;

None can b e far as I from such a school .Deem no t I to the mosque for good repair ;To see the Loved one ’s face I w end me there .

‘

I f toward the M e cca-poin t ing n i che 2 I gaze,

And,erring

,fold my hands l ike one who prays

,

In fancy I am by the D ear one ’s gate,

And ready stand,w i th folded hands, t o wai t .

Lord,though I serve Thee no t w i th formal part ,

I y ie ld to Thee the w orship of the hear t .Sin ce ’

tis Thy Un i ty which I be lieve,

Thy r i tual do I behind me leave .

Teach Thou t o me Un ification’

sway,

And gui de me i n the dervish-path,I p ray .

Bi d w i th Thy Face’s l igh t mine eyes t o gleam,

And cause my hear t fair as the bower t o beam .

Leave no t the wanderi ng soul i n gl oom to stray,

L igh t w i th the lustre of Thy grace the way.

Far from my heart put all that leads from Thee ,And fil l my soul through love w i th radiancy .

L e t i t he Thou who ever mee t’

st my gaze,

And le t my tongue rec i te Thy name always.

So le t my heart he fi lled w i th love fo r Thee,

And wi th Thy Un i ty ’s In' ig ht myst e ry ,That lle ing ’s sec re t to nry soul lie bare

,

That whe resoe ’e r I look,I see Thee the re ;

That whe resoe ’e r my heart its glance may turn ,ll. may i n all the Face o f ( io d disce rn !I te e p d rarrg hts of L ove unto my spi ri t give

,

My se l f ann ihi late.

thut I may l i ve !That d runk wi th Io vc

,I may e x c laiur

,

‘t t I lc l

‘Naught i n c x hrtc nee naving l l im l rre e !’

A nd that my h eart ‘No t io d lrtt t t io d l'

may c ry ;

N o r e ve r aught nave t io rl alone d ear l y .

[ t'

o mpare some V e rnon lry A lrrt N rrwrtrr,l lrtrrtn ar-It rnrlrtd

'

rr court poe t , r iled

lny vo n Ii re nre r at p . 74of hhr t'

rrltrrrg o ra hh lrt llr he S tre lt/ ttg e ( l e lp t ig ,

The n rllrrr‘rlr,

o r tt rr he rl n lt lro li t the rno nrltte whlr lr lrrd lr'rt te n the rllt e r tlo tr

o l M e r‘ca.

116

To such dest ruc t ion poin t my soul the way,

That one t o her become the Yea and N ay !

W e shal l content ourse lvesw i th a br ie f menti on of E bu-s

Sucud , who though not a great poet , wasone of the greatest

legists that Turkey has produced . Born in the ne ighbourhood

of Constanti nople , i n 896 (1490 of a family or iginal l y

from Kurdistan , he early d ist i nguished himse lf by his talent

and abi l i ty ,which gai ne d fo r him the patronage ofMu°eyyed

zade and late r of Ibn Kemal . After fi l l i ng a number of legal

posi t ions, he eventual ly attai ned to the highest , that of Muft i

o r Sheykh -ul- Isl am ,which he he l d for th irty consecut i ve

years t i l l his death at 87 years of ag e i n 982

H e left a number of treat ises i n prose on legal and re l igi ous

subj ects. Such poetry as he w rote was for the most part i n

Arabic , a language fo r whi ch he had the usual partial i ty of the

Musl im doctor of old t imes; but the fol lowing Turkish e legy

on a be loved chi ld issi ngularly modern in tone, and isd eserv

ed ly praised by the accomplished author of theCourse of L i te

rature , who quotes i t asan example of true fee l ing in poe try .

Eleg y. [ 209 ]

Come, O thou blessed of sprigh t , my ange l of l ight, 0 come !Forspen t for my yearn ing sore are my strength and my might

,0 come !

Me thought when I lai d thee to rest that my l ife would vanish away ;B ut alack ! i t is come no t to pass

,that fancy unrigh t ; O come !

W i th thee was the realm of my life w i th fairest estate beseen ;B ut now is i t all o

’

erthrown,and dreary my plight ; 0 come !

0 thou, who makest thy tears to rai n as a cloud ! as to Fate,

Me too hath i t made to weep ; le t our tearsuni te,0 come !

Of prayer and en treaty at length thou hast made an end,0 hear t

,

That dear comes no t,so t o him le t us fare forthr ight

,0 come !

Yahya B ey is i n many ways among the most i n teresti ng

of the Turkish poe ts. In the first place,he was not a Turk

at all, but a European, a member of the noble A l ban ian

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

118

After which he te l ls us how the val iant l ions of war , ashe

cal ls the Turkish recrui t ing office rs, came and spread them

se lves among the mountai ns; and how fire , that is sorrow ,

proved to b e the r isi ng-poin t of radiancy,that is his fame ,

or his conversi on to Islam ; the champions, he says,bore

him off from his mountai ns as a preci ousstone is carried

away from among the rocks.

The youthful Albanian was of course conveyed to Con

stant inople , and duly entered in the corps oc jemi Og hlans,

that is of the young conscr i ptswho were be i ng trai ned to

recrui t the ranks of the janissar ies and sipahis. Here he d is

played so much abi l i ty that he rece i ved a l iberal educat i on

as a Turkish gentleman over and above the usual mi l i tary

and re l igi ous i nstruct i on accorded to youths i n his posi t i on .

H is master, Shihab-ud -Din, the Secretary of the janissaries,

was, we are told , able to g et him re l ieved from many rout ine

dut ies, so that he might have the more t ime to devote to

his l i terary pursui ts.

Yahya soon just ified the except ional treatment he had

rece i ved , and , making‘

his mark by ce rtai n qasidasand other

poems , was admitted to the l i terary c i rcle which gathered

round Ibn Kemal , Jac

fer Che lebi,and Qadr i Efendi . L ater

on he wason simi lar termsw i th Ibrah im Pasha and Iskender

Che lebi , the two great patrons of le tters duri ng the earl ier

part of Suleyman’

s re ign .

Yahya was, as we have already seen , constantly host i le

to the poe t Khayali B ey of whose court favour he was

j ealous. On the occasi on of one of his Pe rsian campai gns,he presented Sul tan Suleyman w i th a qasida i n which he

gave ful l re i n to his hatred of his r i val . This qasida came

to the know ledge of R ustem Pasha who was then Grand

Vez ir, and was an enemy to all poe ts; the abuse of K hayali’

pleased this minister, and he conferred upon Yahya B ey ,

1 19

who appears to have re t i red from the army about th ist ime ,

the stewardship of a number of pious foundat ions i n and

near Constant inople . This act i on was, howeve r, prompted

by no love of Yahya, but simply by the Ve z i r ’s greater

hatred of K hayali, who wasmere ly a poe t and not a sold ier

as we l l l i ke his r i val . R ustem had not l ong to wai t be fo re

he found an excuse for taking back all that he had given ;

for just at th is t ime Suleyman wasweak enough to succumb

to the i n trigues of the Grand Ve z ir and the Sul tanaK hurrem

and to sanct ion the execut i on of his son Pr i nce Mustafa ,

who was great ly be loved both by the people and the army .

Yahya B ey,never lacking i n courage , wrote an e legy on

the i l l - fated Pri nce which wassoon in all mouths. R ustem

summoned the poe t be fore him and asked how he dared to

bewai l one whom the Pad ishah had condemned , whe reupon

Yahya made answer ,‘we i n deed condemned him w i th the

Pad ishah , but we bewai led h im w i th the people .

’

The Ve zi r tried his hardest to i nduce the Sultan to put

Yahya to death , but coul d gai n n o pe rmissi on to do mo re

than dep rive h im of his offices, which he d id i n the most

o ffensi ve manne r . The poe t th e reupon ret i red to a lief i n

the sanjaq of Zvo rn ik i n Bosn ia, whe re c

A ll the hist o rian

saw him i n 98 2 (1574 Yahyz'

r,who was the n an o ld man

of o ve r e ighty , was busy arranging his a task which

he had no t qui te compl e te d whe n d eath o ve rto o k him in 983

(1575c

A ll i n fo rms us that the po e t'

s St i l t i\d e |n (‘

lre le hi

hroug ht to him the p re fac e to the l ) tw :in , i t he i ner hisfathe r'

s

w iah that thisalro nld he snhm it te d to the histo rian fo r re vis io n .

The care e r o f this so ld ie r , who m o ve d amo ng

g e n t lem e n as o ne o fthemse lv es, the i r e qual i n e ve ry

way, ia ful l o f in te rest as i l lust rat i n g ho w i n t imate mig h t

hee o n re the re lat i o ns he t rr' e e n the and tho se

i nd i v iduals U i.

lllt: Ht tlrj r't‘

l tam". e u tn lt t r t lst ‘ r

‘u lt t t ltn lt

120

cause w i th them and i dent i fy the ir own i n terestsw i th the irs.

It proves, one i nstance out of many scatte red thi ckly through

Turkish history, that the D evshirma was not in every case

necessari ly an evi l,but might b e the door through whi ch

fame and fortune coul d b e attain ed by those who woul d

otherw ise have passed the ir l i ves i n obscur i ty . A man ’s

nat i onal i ty was of no account ; luck and ab i l i ty,espec ial ly

abi l i ty ,w ere everything . Yahya B ey d i d not wi n renown

and rank because he was an A lbanian , but because he was

brave and talented ; ne i ther did he l ose his fortune because

he wasan A lbanian , but because he i n curred the displeasure

of a powerful m inister, himse l f by b irth a Croat .

Yahya’

s poe try is no less i n terest i ng than is his l i fe . Of

all the many non -Turks, Asiat i csaswe l l asEuropeans, who

have essayed to w r i te Turkish poetry,he alone haswon a

posi t i on of real eminence . Whi le there is nothing i n h is

language to show that he“

is not a Constantinopol i tan by

b irth aswe l l asby educat i on,there isa sustai ned simpl i c i ty ,

v igour, and original i ty i n hisw ri t i ng which at once si ngles

him out as essential ly d i ffe rent from the Zat isand K hayali’

s

by whom he wassurrounded . H is works betray nothi ng of

that lack of se l f-confid ence which isso characterist i c of the

contemporary Turkish poets; he scorns to b e a mere trans

lator ; even in his j oseph and Z eli’

kha,the only poem in his

Khamsa of which the subj ect is borrowe d , he is no para

phrase r of j am i’

o r F irdawsr’

, but te l ls the story i n a manner

all his own . A s he himse l f de c lares i n the epi logue

This fair book,this p earl of w isdom

,

Is (of ) my own imagin ing,for the most par t ;

Translat i on would no t b e fi t t ing thisstory ;I would no t take a dead man ’s swee tmeats i n to my mouth .

‘

Lama(w as ans jo J a b-5g usts) ;

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

12 2

Khamsa, form the most importan t secti on of Yahya Bey ’

s

work . These five mesnev is are the Shah u Geda or King

and Beggar, the Yusuf u Z eli’

kha o r j oseph and Z eh’

kha,

the Kitab -i Usul or Book of Precepts, the G enj i

’

na-i Raz or

Myst i c Treasury , and the Gulshen -i E nvar or R oseb ed of

Radiance .

The first of these , The ‘

K ing and Beggar , hasalwaysbeen

the most popular , and is the most remarkable , ofthisauthor’

s

works. The claim of o riginal i ty which , aswe have just seen ,

he makesfor i t i n the epi logue , isamply just ified . The work

is probably the most or igi nal mesnev i we have ye t had to

consi der . It has nothing i n common w i th the Persian H ilali’

s

Shah u De rv ish or King and De rv ish , except a simi lar i ty of

t i tle ; i n general scheme and concept ion , asw e l l asi n matte rs

of de tai l , the two poems are absolute ly d ifferent . Yahya’

s

obj ect appears to have been to dep ict the outcome of what

he conce i ved to b e the noblest type of l ove when evoked

by pure ly physi cal beauty . To this end he descr i bes the

be loved asa youth , and not asa girl . Apart from conformity

to the fashion of his ag e , he has a defini te reason for this

choi ce . The love of a man for a woman is, according to him ,

not a pure love ; that is to say,i t is a love which seeksfor

i tse l f the possessi on of its obj ect , and i n so far as i t does

so is a form of se lfishness. The pure l ove must b e all for

l ove and nothing for reward ; i t must also be unsul l ied by

any tai n t of the fieshly o r the mater ial . The vani ty, the

fut i l i ty of such a love when lavished upon an obj ect that

is mere ly earthly, upon a beauty that is of form and feature

on ly , is the moti ve of the poem . The be l oved is therefore

represented by a youth of peerless beauty, but w i thout

kindnessof heart , who is poet i cal l y styled the Shah or King ,

not only because of this peer less beauty, but also because

of the unl imited power which he has over the heart of his

12 3

lover,who is l ikewise poe t i cal l y styled the Beggar

, as be i ng

always a suppl iant for the favour of his clear one .

The poem opens i n the manner which custom had rendered

obl igatory ; the praises of God , the Prophe t , and Sul tan Su

leyman are duly sung, and the c i rcumstances which led to

the composi ti on of the work are recounted . A susual , a party

of fr iends are me t toge ther , and the talk runs on l i terature .

Some one praises F erhad and Mejnun , but Yahya obj e cts

that these were not true l overs, si nce the goal . of the ir l ove

was the possessi on of a woman . H e is thereupon requested

to wri te a poem whi ch shal l descr ib e true l ove , whi ch he

consents to do A l l th is i s c onvent i onal enough , but w i th

the story Yahya s i nd iv i dual i ty beginst o assert i tse l f. Instead

of be i ng borne off to some hal f-mythi cal c i ty i n d istant Ind ia

o r Cathay , we find ourse lves i n Constant i nople i tse l f, l istening

to a desc ri pt i on of St . Sophia and the H i ppodrome . This

great square , which the Turks cal l the A t Maydan i or Horse

Square , i s Spec ial ly menti oned as be i ng the favouri te resort

of beaut i ful youths. Four of these are then descri bed in the

Shehr-engi z manner, the last and fairest o f whom is a lad

cal led Ahmed , surnamed on account of hisun ri val led beauty

and the powe r which this con fe rs, the 8111111 o r K i ng ; and

i t is he who plays the part of the be lo ve d i n the story

The l ove r is next i n t roduce d ; he is d esc ri bed as a learned

and piousman ; his real name is no t given ,o nly hissurname ,

the B eggar, the supp l ian t o f lo ve . H e se e s the King i n a

visio n , and co nce ivesfo r him the most ard e n t tho ugh pure ly

l’lato nie affe ctio n ,

i n c o nseque nce o f which he leav es his

resid ence i n Rurne lia and p ro c e e ds to (’

o nst:rn t ino p le i n q uest

of the o ri g i nal o f his d ream . The sl ig h t sto ry o fhis d eal i ng s

A eeo rd lng lo the hlo g rrrphe r “ ho was pe rsonally au pnrln ted rsith

runny o l the po e ts who-re lIV r n he. Wrot e,the o rlg lrrnl o l t lrla Ahmed “ an it

young sold ie r o f that name In o wn d rvlrd o n .

124

w i th the King , which forms the nominal subject of the poem

isgiven e lsewhere . I t is enough here to say that the l over’

s

highest desi re is but to serve his l oved one , and that the

latter , though not represented as vic i ous,isshown to us as

heartless and vai n . The lover neve r attai ns his wish, the

be l oved ge tt i ng rid of h im in the end by a somewhat mean

tr i ck . Then comes the culm inat i ng point of'

the poem , when

the lover, rej ected and abased , his love scorned and his con

fid ence be trayed , hears the cal l of the ‘Unseen Hat i f,’

the

‘voi ce from Heaven ,’ crying to him that all l ove , even the

highest , when poured out upon sensual obj ects,

ends in

sorrow,that the true and on ly w orthy obj ect of such love

is God . And w i th the Hat if’s words the story ends.

The King and Beggar was from the very first the greatest

favour i te of all Yahya’

s works, and i t is not d ifficul t to

understand how i t came to b e so . Thispoem isasa mirror

i n which many of the be tter c lass of Turkish th inkers of

those days coul d see reflected the i r own fee l i ngs and i deas .

A s we know, a love for boys had at that t ime become

fash ionable through a varie ty of causes already suffic iently

d iscussed , and had unhappi ly supplanted,i n a manner the

more natural l ove for women . B ut i t woul d b e as great a

mistake to imagine on the one hand that all those who

professed this preference were d issolute reprobates, as to

fancy on the other that they were all Platon i c sent iment

alists. The first c lass, i f they cared for poetry at all, w oul d

doubtless b e able to find any number of verses ready to

the ir hand ; but the second class, among w hom w ere at least

some who seem to have adopted th is preference , strange as

i t may appear, for str i ct ly moral reasons, woul d find in

Yahya’

s poem a reve lat i on of the ir own hearts. I t is true

that the poem shows the fut i l i ty of such a love , but i t is1 See Appendix .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

126

some from story-books, and some from the author’

s own

expe rience ; the story of the poe t F ig hanr'

,who wasexecuted

for his satir i cal epigram on Ibrahim Pasha, is given among

others to prove the necessi ty for discre t ion i n speaking . The

maqamsare followed by seven Shuc

basor Branches, l ikew ise

accompan ied by i l lustrat i ve anecdotes; then comesan e legy

on Pri nce Muhammed , a son of Sul tan Suleyman , who d ied

i n 950 and then the epi logue wh ich cl oses the book .

The fol low i ng couple t occurs as a re frai n at the end of the

i ntroductory cantos i n most of the maqams, and e lsewhere

throughout the work .

What n eed for dispute,and what reason for strife ?

By this Book of Precep ts ordai n thou thy l ife .1

Ve ry simi lar both i n purpose and i n p lan are the Myst i c

Treasury ? and the R oseb ed of Rad iance . The former is

d ivi ded into forty short sect i onscal ledMaqalas, or Discourses,which take the place of the Maqams and Shu

c

bas i n the

Book of Precepts; whi le the R oseb ed ,wr i tten when itsauthor

was advanced in years, and probably his last work of im

portance , is more pure ly relig ions i n its tone than any of

his earl ie r product i ons. None of these three mesnev is can

properly b e descr i bed as a si ngle poem ; they are rather

col lecti ons of short poems art ific ial ly he l d toge ther by a

common metre and by be i ng made to serve a part i cular

purpose .

Yahya B ey was a rapid worker ; the King and Beggar ,he te l ls us

, was wr i tten in a week,the Myst i c Treasury i n

less than a month . The five books of his Khamsa are all

ded icated to Sul tan Suleyman .

2 A chronogram at the end of this work gives 947 (1540—1) as the dateo f composi t ion .

12 7

Besi deshisKhamsa, Yahya le ft a D iwan ofghaze ls, which ,

howeve r,does not appear to b e i n any way remarkable . This

author ’sstrength lay i n hismatter rather than i n hismanne r,

and exce l lence of manner is the quali ty most needful for

success i n the ghaze l .

L at ifi, Qinali- zade , andc

A hd i all speak i n favourable terms

of Yahya Bey’s poe try , and the ir op in i on is endorsed by the

mode rn wr i te rsZiya Pasha and Kemal B ey. L at ifi, who w rote

duri ng the poe t ’s l i fet ime,has not much to say ; he speaks

of him as be i ng soldierl y of beari ng and d iv i ne of spee ch ,

and descr i bes his poe try as for the most part pathe t i c,but

some times searchi ng and somet imes bacchanal ian .

C

A hd r’

,

l ikew i se a contemporary , part i cularly ment ionsYahya s bold

ness of spee ch , and praises his i nvent ive and original gen ius

where mesnev i is concerned ; here , says this b iographe r, he

re igns supreme,fo r though the re are i n thi s ag e many poets

among the learned and accompl ished of Rum,not one of

these is l i ke to him i n mesnev i, his books be i ng fi l led w i th

heart-d e l ight i ng thoughts and strange stor ies. Qinali- za'

de is

scarce ly less favourable i n hisjudgment , but expresseshimse l f

i n more gene ral te rms.

So far as t rue poe t ry is conce rned, a si ng le ghaze l from

l"uzul{’s L eyla and Mejm’

rn is wo rth the whole of Yahya

Bey ’

sKhamsa ; but the A l ban ian was i n touch w i th hist ime ,

the B ag hd z’

rd t was no t .

Thispassage from the King and B eggar o ccursi mmed iate ly

be fo re the commenceme nt o f the sto ry . The I'

arro t i nvo ke d

at the outse t takes the plac e o f the Muse whose i nsp i rat io n

the Weste rn po e ts we re at o ne t ime so fo nd o f impl o ri ngwhe n abo ut to hegin the i r wo rk . It is usual ly a b ird that

p lays this part i n Turkish po e t ry ; i f no t the i’

arro t , t he n

the. Nig h t i ng ale o r the fab le d but so m e t im es the

i n vo cat io n isadd ressed to the S . i r | t o r t'

up lreare t‘

.

12 8

From the Shah u Geda. [ 2 10 ]

O fair-voiced Parro t,tel l the tale divine ,

W i thi n the fire of Love thy heart refine .

Each poin t 1 of Love is a whole book i n truth,

Each mote of Love is a brigh t sun for sooth .

Whelmed were Creat i on i n one drop thereof,

Lost Ei ther World 2 w i th in one mote thereof.Man through pure Love become th truly man ,Pe rfec t and r ighteous

,now ise e lse he can .

Love ’s beamsw i ll make one chief of lords of r igh t ,As the sun turns black stones t o rub ies brigh t . 3

Sin ce ’tis through Love we the D i v ine at tai n

,

Deem no t pure Love an i dle thing and vai n .

Love is the radiance of the lo vers’ eyne,

Love ’fore the wayfarer 4 do th ever shine .

The thought of Love deep i n the hear t issown ;I t is through man Love ’smystery is shown .

H is thoughts,who thral l is t o the hand of Love,

May never to augh t o ther obj ec t rove .

Love madd en e th a man,that fai n is he

To cut him from all o ther bondage free .

Who doub te th may no t trave l on this way ;A fearful gui de boots l i t tle here

,I say.

The slave to Love become th King of earth ,F or Love ’s duresse fulfilled of j oy and mir th ;F or that desire of ear thly things alwayObscureth heavenly beauty ’s perfec t ray.

So long as carnal reason 5 do th ab i de’Tw

'

rll raise up doub ts and fears on every si de ;B ut he who l oves do th st i l l on God rely

,

And toi ling upward,w i ns his p lace on high ;

1 The point referred to is a diacri t i cal p oin t or do t over or under a le t terof the alphabe t .

2 Ei ther World,the Spir i tual and Mater ial .

3 The o ld bel ief was that rub ies were common stones on which the sun

had shone for ages.

4The wayfarer on the Myst i c Path .

5 cA ql

-i nefsan i,carnal reason

,issai d to b e the inst inc t of sel f-preservat ion .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

130

The sp ring unveilé d the flore ts swee t ;And each branchle t forth from the trees’ p ennairDrew the design of a reed-pen fair ,And kindling the ir lamps at the ruddy light ,The garden beaut ies the i r green robes dight ;H e of blessed l ife and of sain ted death ,The lord of the Champions of the Fai th,The ghaz is’ King , Ghazi Murad ,Was fai n to walk i n the garden glad .

H e saw how the sp ring had decked all brigh t ,And wasmusi ng on A l lah ’s wondrous might,When one of hismenie who stood anearP lucked a rose and offered i t to him there .

‘W i ther thy hand ! ’ to that man quoth he,‘F or the death of this rose hath been caused by thee .

‘The while i t was praisin g God ful l fair,‘By thee is i ts serv i ce stopped for e

’

er ;

‘The whi le i t was decking the garden brigh t ,‘Thou hast slai n i t

,e’

en as the blast of bl igh t ;‘L ike the w ind of death

,thou hast passed i tsway,

‘And extinguished the lamp of its l i fe for aye .

’

F or wreak of the rose he rebuked him sore,

H e taught him who had erred to err no more .

H e who make th the stream of just i ce flowW il l h is ears on the very p lan ts best ow .

Fair fear of the Lord ! Fair just i ce,ruth !

In his day was nor w rong nor desp i te i n soo th .

A merc iful King who is just,benign

,

Isasspring which se t teth the ear th ashine,

Through him smile all things g ay and fai r,

And j oy and welfare beam everywhere .

The fol low ing verses are from Yahyas e legy on Pr i n ce

Mustafa which went so near to cost i ng the poe t his l i fe . The

Imperial army, w hich had se t out on the march for Persia,

had reached Eregl i,w hen the Pr i nce was summoned to one

of the Sul tan ’

s tents, where i nstead of be i ng rece i ved by his

father as he had expected,he wasse t upon and bowstrung

13 1

by the Imperial execut i oners. The poem is i n form aTerk i’

b

Bend of the second and less usual var ie ty,that i n which

the r ime occurs at the end of each hemist i ch .

From the Eleg y on Prince Mustafa. [ 2 1 2 ]

A las! alas! and a column of the ear th is broke atwain ;F or the tyran t Death’s marauders Prince Mustafahave slai n .

Eclipsed is hissun-bri gh t v isage,away were his he l pmee ts ta’en ;

Through treason and gui le have they wroug hten the House of COsman bane .

Brief t ime agone did they make yonder hero cross the plain ;The Sphere did the King of the A g e thi therward to wend constrai n .The hidden hate of the liar

,his dastard falsehood vain

,

Have l i t ten the fire of part ing and caused our tears t o rai n .

No sin l ike hismurderers’ crime did his noble sp iri t stai n .

ln dolour ’s flood is he drowned,and scat tered isall his trai n .

Would God that our eyes had never l ooked out on thiswoeful si gh t !A lack

,alack

,we may never hold a deal i ng l ike th isfor righ t .

x a r a w z r r / A w s w s s > >r a s s

That Pleni lune o f perfec t ion,that Sw immer of learn ing ’s sea

,

I lath j ourneyed hence to the Void,slain of ev i l dest iny .

A -throb are the burning stars,such the grief for him they dree .

This part ing do th Syria b ren,make th Ram i n tears to b e .

And sorrow assai lsQaraman and arrays her i n black,perdie .

That Moon have they done to death through an idle fan tasy .Round his n eck c lung the noisome snake ! as a halo

,wo e isme !

Sulnn iss to the w i ll of ( io d,whate ’e r i t we re

,was he .

l'

n p ro ved any c rime o f him , and unknown any i n famy .

( 1 Sain t ! f) Mart y r ! foul is the w rong they have w rought on thee .

Undone on the face o f earth,he re turned to his o wn t rue land

,

A nd j oyous he went fo rth ri gh t i n the prese nce o f ( Zo d to stand .

fl e u e e fl fl fl u e o m n o n a n c o o n a

A las that the fae c of d oom in the m il ro r S phe re was shown !

l ie l e ft the “routine “ of earth , we nt whe re naug ht o l'

e lmng e is lt no uu

lle b larte d in st range r-wine on that j ourne y all ulomA nd

,e'e n an the humid hin t

,o f the Would alm ve waw |aoue .

in t ruth was his fligh t al oft lac-ug h ! alm at hv his t l tt t’ l to m'.

The ho wutrlng .

13 2

Is i t strange i f the carrion ear th was ne’er as his port ion thrown?O Yahya

,his spi ri t away to e ternal l i fe is flown ;

May God b e his friend , may the soul of Muhammed defend his own,

May his feres b e the angel- throng,and hismate each blessed one ;

And plen teous e’

en as our tears may mercy on h im b e shown !0 A l lah

,may Eden-bower a dwel l ing for him prov ide ;

And st il l may the King,the stay of the earth

,i n weal ab ide !

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

134

gene rous and d isce rning monarch that he at once took the

poet in to hisspecial favour and admitted h im to the c irc le

of his pr i vate friends. The close and i nt imate connecti on

thus formed be tween Suleyman and Baqi was cont inued

w i thout i nte rrupt ion unti l the death of the former i n 974when the poet mourned his patron i n an e legy which

st i l l holds its place among the noblest achievements of the

Turkish Muse . Se l im I I,himse l f a poe t ofconsiderab le abi l i ty

,

cont inued to treat Baqi w i th the same ki ndly famil iar i ty,and

when after a re ign of e ight years he wassucceeded by his

son Murad I I I,the poe t found h imse l f st i l l enj oying the

sunshine of imperial favour . I t was of course impossible to

occupy such a posi t i on w i thout encounter i ng the host i l i ty of

many persons j eal ous of the advantages i t conferred and

eager to secure these for themse lves. The wonderful th ing

is that Baq i Was able to mai ntai n himse l f i n his place at

court so l ong ashe d id . A t length , however , his enviers

contr i ved , by means of what appears to b e a somewhat

c lumsy tr i ck , to depri ve him for a t ime of the Sul tan ’

s

favour, and even to g et him sent i nto temporary banishmen t .

They got a ghaze l by an obscure wr i ter cal led Nam i, made

some sl ight al terat ions i n i t, and lai d i t before Murad who

had just succeeded to the throne,te l l i ng h im that Baqi had

composed i t i n r id i cule of the late Sul tan,whose predi lect ion

for w i ne wasa matte r of publ i c notor ie ty . The new sove re ign

bel ieved what he was told, and ,

i n d ignant that his father’

s

kindness should b e so repaid , d ismissed Baqi from the im

portant legal posi t i on wh ich he he l d and , as has been sai d ,sent him into banishment . The ghaze l i n quest i on was

,how

ever , soon discovered in a collect i on of Nam i’s poemswhere

upon Baqi was recal led and re i nstated i n the good graces

of the court . Thiswas the only c loud which darken ed the

poe t’

s career as an i mperial favour i te ; he survived Murad ,

I 3 S

l i v ing to win the esteem and to si ng the praisesof Muhammed

I I I , the fourt h Sul tan whom he saw upon the throne ofC

Osman .

Baqi eventual ly attai ned a high posi t i on i n the ranks of

thec

ulema; he was successi ve ly Cad i of Mekka, Cad i of

Constant inople , Anatol ian Qad ic

asker , and (i n 1006) Rume l ian

Qad ic

asker. In the fol l ow i ng year he resigned , be ing upwards

of seventy years of ag e .

Baq i’

died on the 2 3rd of Ramazan , 1008 (Apr i l 7 ,

and on the fol low ing day the funeral servi ce wasperformed

in the presence of an immense assembly in the Mosque of

Muhammed the Conqueror, where the poe t’

s father had been

mu’e zz i n long be fore . Sun c-ul l ah Efend i,the Sheykh -ul- Islam ,

who conducted the servi ce , quoted i n hisaddressth iscouple t

from one of the dead poe t ’s most beauti ful ghaze ls

F riendsshal l know thy wor th,0 Baqi

,when thou l iest on the bier

,

And w i th folded hands they range them o’

er against thee,rank on rank .

l

Outs ide the Ad rianople Gate , on the road to E yyub ,was

Baq i buried ; and there his tomb st i l l remai ns, a sac red Spot

t o all who care fo r Turk ish poe try .

Qinali-zade re lates a charming l i tt le story of Baqf’

s debut

as a w ri ter, which pro fesses to come from the poe t h imse l f.

O ld mu,as we have se e n

,was re cognised asmaste r by the

young woul d -he po e ts o f those days; so natural ly e nough

the youthful liziq f to o k to h im o ne o fhis ghaze ls, eage r to

se e what advi ce o r e nco urageme nt the great man would

vouchsafe . The wo nde rful maturi ty o f the po em prese n ted

to him amaze d the c ri t i c , am l whe n he lo o ke d o n the lad

( 4. 5L ? L5! “HT

-l" i mum 652“L 9 3 0“ :

e lm J oo h“ “ Baapear, 31 V an-b

1 fly a stran g e p le t e o f eare lemm eaa the date o f llanp'

n death is lunu ihcderro neo tmly on illtt tomlmto ue .

13 6

be fore him,he refused to be l ieve that the ghaze l was the

work of one so young , and read him a l ong lecture on the

w i ckedness of plagiar ism and the disgrace i t was certai n to

entai l . This so embarrassed the poor boy that he coul d only

stamme r out the words,‘Nay,

the poem is mine own .

’ I n

orde r to test h im ,Zait i

’

then show ed h im certai n passages i n

his own Diwan and asked him to point out the beaut ies i n

these . This Baqi d i d , though apparently w i thout qui te con

v inc ing the cri t i c ; fo r he te l lsus that he le ft Zat i’

s presence

overcome w i th bashful ness at his recept ion,but at the same

t ime w i th his heart fi l led w i th de l ight i n that hispoem had

be en so highly thought of. Z eit i l i ved not only to find out

that he had been i n error i n his est imate of the young poe t ,

but to forget his own warn ing and i ntroduce i nto hisDiwan

some of Baq i’

s verses, a proceed ing which he openly avowed ,

declar i ng i t b e no d ishonour to steal from such a poe t .

There isanother story told about Baqi . Sul tan Suleyman

bestowed many gifts upon his favour i te poe t , and among

these was a young Seragl io lady,noted fo r her wit , named

Tut i Qad in or Dame Parrot . One day the poe t N GVC

I cal led

to congratulate his“

brother of the pen on this latest p iece

of good fortune , whi ch he d id by saying .

‘So you have

become the compan ion of the Parrot ,’

al lud ing to a story

i n Sac

d i’

s Gul istan of a parrot and a crow which w ere made

to l ive toge ther i n the same cage .

‘ Baqi,perce i vi ng the

al lusi on , repl ied .

‘Gently , brother , do not make her fiy too

high by cal l i ng her the parrot ; she is the crow .

’

The lady

who e i the r heard o r heard of this col loquy, answered them

by a ve rse of N evci ’s own which she modified sl ightly to

sui t her purpose

1 This story is i n the fifth book of the Gul istan,and begins: 0&3o

w ”)t>

Lfc l)Lg Bi b [ Platts

’

s edi t ion,pp . 108—109 . E D . ]

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

13 8

these we re w ri tten . L at ifi i s of course too early ; Baq i’

wasonly

some twenty years old when th isbiographe r wrote , and had

not yet made any consi derable name . L at i fi me re ly ment ions

him and quotes the opening couple t of one of his g haz els.

l

c

A shiq Che lebi , after some grand iose speeches as to the

cycle of poe try be i ng whee led round and the muster of the

poets be i ng rol led up , says that the first thing which , l ike

the mouth of the be loved,gave forth mysteries abi d i ng

behind the pavi l ion of existence was the gen ius of Baqi, 2

and goes on to describe the poe t’

s verse asvigorous, strong ,

equal , artist ic , highly coloured , and taste ful , while hislanguage

is fluen t , his i deas grace ful , his ve rsificat ion clear , and his

thoughts ful l of passi on . H e further dec lares his poetry to

b e free from strai n ing and exempt from pomposi ty,so that

one might say that such things had fal len on his tongue

from the voice of the Interpreter of Sanct i ty from the Un

seen Worl d .

Simi larly C

A hd i, l ikew ise a contemporary , speaks of the

passionate verses and the heart- i l luming v irgins (i . e . or iginal

i deas) of this n ighti ngale of the rose-bower of speech , th is

sugar-breaking parrot , asbe i ng famous throughout the world ,

and the cynosure of the eyes of the sons of Adam ; and he

praises hisstyle al i ke i n ghaze l and qasida for fluency and

evenness.

Qinali-zade surpasses himse l f i n grand i loquence when he

tries to do justi ce to this great man ,who is

, he de c lares ,

That beginn ing

Hula: ma y } ;

PALM .) m l

jfi d alj i

Thismust therefore b e an early poem ; Qinali-zade men t ions i t ashaving beensubmit ted to Z at i by Baq i some t ime after their first in terv iew .

2 H e means that though Baqi was born late,after the ag e of the great

poets, he was the first to reveal the mysteries of the uni verse .

13 9

one of the greatest of the poets, the most accompl ished of

the e l oquent, the most eminen t of the learned , the Preface

of the D iwan of Pe rfect i on , the I ndex of the t i tle-page of

graceful speech , the Poe t of the asaemb ly- i l luming cr i t i cs of

subtle t ies, the Magic ian of the w it -deal ing si ngers of ghaze ls,

the Sul tan of the poets of the realms of Rum, nay, the

K husrev and the Khaqan of the si ngers of every land . H is

heart-attract i ng poe try and his pee rless speech are the d es

pair of Se lman and the envy of Zah i’

r ; for truth is this, that

i t is known and observed by men of talent , as c lear as the

l ight of talent , that never si nce the souls of the sons of

mankin d have poured from the ove rflow of the c loud of

Heaven ’

s domin ion i nto the she l ls of forms,and since the

j gl i tter i ng pearls rai n i ng from the c loud of the might of God

upon the she l ls of bodies have become the central ornamen t

of the necklace of Real and Cont ingent Be i ng , hath there

played in the mirror of existence verse c lear and flow i ng

and sweet - toned as this, equal t o the poe try of the Psal ter .

H is language ado rne d w i th e l oquence isa K husrev that hath

se i zed the Habi table 2 Quarter and compe l led the Kings of

ve rse to b ow the head be fore him ; and the ambe rgris-scented

bree ze hath fi l led the he ights and de pths o f all lands w i th

the wafts of the al oes of his blessed wo rds. A l though that

this l"irst ling of e l oque nce , this C ano n fo r t ime,b e c ome

late , what mat te r, si nce i n rhe to ri c aml e lo que nc e he isbe fo re

all?A nd al tho ugh he ab id e o n the sho e -rarik o f the aud ie nce

1 Kh/ult‘rn

,said b e o riginally ( Ihin ese wo t

-tr lull-hang

,was the w ere

t i tle of the '

I'

artar o r Mogul em pe ro r, as K lrusrev (Ix'

lursraw,A rable mum

,

( i re e k ( ilroaro eu) was “ r the l’c r

’

slau,I"ag lrfrtr “ r the manq ue

,taww (t

’

aeaar)“ r the R tlurl o r llyzan t ine , N e ir

'talrl (Negus) “ r the Amm an“

,and so

Nnw-sr-llttytt it is o ne of the rtrtm o r the H t lo nuru Saturn . In l i te rature it in

used l ike Klrurn‘

e v to d eno te a K ing ge ne ral ly .l"o r the Hab i table Quart e r o f the earth 's nurfaee

,l. e . the whole wo rld

,

Ite o Vol . l , p . 47 , tr. 1.

Saff i at at,the. plac e wh e re shoes are left o n e n te rlng a room , and “ he re

140

hal l of existe nce , what reason fo r regre t , si nce i t isacknow

ledged and attested that he occupies the seat of highest

honour . The fragrant rose come th last to the garden ; first

are the thorns and w eeds. H is pear l-d i ffusi ng poe try is pure

and flow ing as runn ing wate r, and his v irgi n fanciesare free

and exempt from harshness or w eakness. Since his peerless

ghaze ls are i nscri bed in the album of the un iverse,and his

c lear verses are renow ned among mankind , what (more)remai neth to b e sai d?(or, what need to cal l h im Baqi the

Abid ing ?)The poet CA ta 1who cont inued Tash-Kupru- zade

’

sBiography

of Sheykhs andC

Ulema, cal led the Cr imson Peony,

i t down to the t ime of Murad IV, takes up the so

praise . In a long not i ce devoted to Baq i’

,whom he cal lsthe

Sul tan of poets and the Moderator of the speech of Rum ,

W hose verse is the source of honour and glory to our pre

d ecessors and successors, he endorses and accentuates the

poe t ’s own se l f-sat isfied statements that i t is only si n ce he

began to praise his loved one ’

s eyes that the poets of Rum

have learned how to w ri te g haz els,land that he is now

King in the realm of speech , t o whom the ghaze l hasbeen

given and the qasida handed ove r .

2

Then w e have Qaf- za’

da F é’

iz i (d . 103 1 162 1 who

compi led a great anthology, apologi z i ng for not inc luding

the whole of Baq i’

s poems i n his col lecti on , because , he says,

servan tswai t . If the room were ful l,a late-comer would have t o stand there.

The allusion is to Baq i ’s be i ng born late .

el l/o sub dri g vex /15 a “

pd

L5)“ 6M” ti , 5M L6

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

142

N ef‘i was the ar t ist o f speech in qasi das

,

B ut i n the ghazel he could no t equal Baq i or Yahyai . l

Seib it , anothe r d ist i nguished poe t of those t imes, wr i tes

If we call Baq i the assayer,th is is (but) just ice ;

F or his groatsare the si lver of our though ts.What t hough the p en collec t the remnan ts of his fancies,In the acquisi t ion of accompl ishmen ts i t is Baq i ’sslave .

2

Passages such as those might b e c i ted from many other

of the ear l ier wri ters, all to the one e ffect , that Baqi is

supreme over all the l yrists of Rum , i f i ndeed he b e not

greatest among the poets of the earth . But le t usnow leave

the older cr i t i csand see what isthe judgment of more recent

t imes. W e find that Ziya Pasha, the great poe t of Sul tanc

A b d -ul-C

A z iz’

s re ign , i n the pre face to his ‘Tave rn ,’ 3 place s

Baq i’

at the head of the second of the three pe ri ods i n to

which he divi des the history of his country’

s poetry . The

first of these three per i ods is the A nc ient f b eg inn ing i n the

earl iest t imes; the secon d is the Middle,beginn ing w i th

Baq i’

; and the third is the Mode rn,beginn ing w i th Nab i .

What induced the Pasha to begi n his Middle Peri od w i th

Baq i is the fact that this poet,

is the ear l iest wr i ter of d is

tincti on who seri ousl y and successful ly addressed himse l f to

the work of dete rmin ing the metri cal treatment of wordsof

Turkish origin . Up to this t ime the poets had treated such

)t>jbfi U$b~ ad ds-ala s g al, LS

’ L L ’

LsS u3 q J : Lal

jaa

f

bl

u lu al as. ) 3 L. ) balsam-JO OLE) (3d

sex—b’bllafMS

3 See Vol . I,p . 240, n . 1 .

143

words, to use E krem Bey ’

ssimi le , as though they were made

of e last i c,draw i ng them out to any length the me tre might

require , by that system of p rolonging vowe ls natural ly short

which is known as imala, and the constant employment of

which rende rsso much of the ir w ri t i ng d isagreeably forced,

at least to modern ears . A l though , as I have already sai d ,

a somewhat d ifferent pronunciat i on may have caused this

faul t to b e less obvi ous and less pai n ful i n the ear ly days

of the Empire , i t is clear from the care w i th whi ch Baq i

seeks to avoid , or at any rate to curtai l , i ndulgence i n this

l i cence , that the unpleasant e ffect which i t produces had

begun to make i tse l f fe l t at the t ime he wrote . Judged from

a modern standpoi n t , Baq i’

s works are i ndeed by no means

free from imalas; but i t may we l l be‘

that certai n sounds

are now short which i n his day were l ong . This much how

ever i s certain , that so marked a change i n th is part i cular

comes ove r the wr i t i ngs of the poe ts after Baq i’

s i nfluence

is once thoroughly establ ished , that Z iya Pasha is amply

just i fied i n regard ing his appearance asan epoch i n Turkish

l iterature .

Baq i’

s example furthe r he l ped to sweep away from the

language a numbe r of old wo rds and fo rms wh ich , hav ing

bee n re placed by othe rs, had become obsole te , and we re

re tai ned o nly by the conse rvat ism of the po e ts. These wo rds,

al though p robably qui te as goo d as those by wh ic h they

we re de pose d , had no lo nge r any real l i fe , and survive d

me re ly as part ofthe t rad i t i o nal paraph e rnal i a o fan art itic ial

l i te rary style . llz’

ull the re fo re re nd e re d the language a se rvice

whe n , by usi ng l i v in g wo rds i n t he i r stead , he he l p ed to

ban ish them from po e t ic d ic t i o n . Such are the se rv ie es to

which Z iyz’

t I’asha al ludes whe n he ealls l l.l l | l the‘em liest

re fo rme r,

’

and says that po e t ry was tirst mo uld e d in to p ro p e r

shape at his hands.

144

E k rem B ey, i n his l i ttle pamphlet on the old poets, praises

Baqi for his care i n avo i ding the imala and endorses Z iya’

s

statement that he must b e re ckoned among the re formersof

the language , add ing that he presented to hiscontemporaries

poemswhich even nowadaysw e must consi de r asvery smooth

and harmonious. B ut he takesthe poe t to task for the great

number of puns and equi voques whi ch d isfigure hisw ork .

Qinali- zade had l ong before, but i n no d isparaging tone ,

cal led at tenti on to Baq i’

s pronounced affe ct i on for the t evriya

or {ham (amphibology) ,1 quot ing a number of examples of

the same from hisghaze ls. Whi le we must agree w i th E krem

B ey that such frol i cs of the fancy are i ndeed unworthy of

Baq i s gen ius, we must not forge t that the spi ri t o f that ag e

l ooked upon such things as n ece ssary embe l l ishments to all

ser ious l i terary work .

Simi larly Professor Naj i', who reckons Baqi among the

most noteworthy of the Turkish poe ts, avers that he acted

to his countrymen as i nstructor i n the i r language , whi ch he

strove to reform so far aswaspossi ble unde r the old system .

F rom these vari ous cri t i c isms which I have translated or

paraphrased i t w i l l b e observed that whi le the earl ier wri te rs

l ook upon Baqi as be i ng be fore all th ings a poe t of the

highest rank , the late r cr i t i cs consi der that i t is rather as

a l i terary reforme r that he is ent i t le d to our respect . The

reason for this di fference of Opin ion is to b e sought in the

di fferent meaningswhich the two schoolsattach to the w ord

Poetry . A swe have seen ove r and over agai n , poe try meant

to the olde r school simply expressi on , expressi on reduced

to a fine art ; whi le the poe t wasmere ly an art ist i n words.

N ow Baq i was a consummate art ist i n words, and he was

l i ttle more . Even the reforms he brought about w ere nothi ng

but reforms i n words. Not one of the poe ts who had gone1 See vol . 1

,p . 1 13 .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

146

mode l ; and i n v iew of his l i mitat i ons, i t may b e that he

acted w ise ly .

That Ba’ q i none the less was real l y possesse d of poet i c

genius of a high order,and might under more favourable

c i rcumstances have become a ve ry much greater poe t than

he actual ly is, is proved by his Elegy on Sul tan Suleyman .

Had he always wri tten up to the leve l of this noble poem ,

Baqi woul d have been not on ly the greatest of all Turkish

poe ts, but one of the great poe ts of the wor l d . Turkish

poe try is r i ch i n e legies, but i t has none to equal this.

Sincere,ful l of d ign ity

, and si mple,so far as that was p os

sib le,i t is no unworthy d irge fo r the great monarch whom

i t bewai ls. Here for once Baqi seems to have c losed his

Hafi z , gone to his own heart,and sought his i nspi rat ion

the re . B ut unhappi ly i t was for once only,and thissplend i d

outburst remai ns to show what Baqi might have achieved

had he been born i n another land or i n another ag e .

The large number of manuscr ip ts of his D iwan which are

to b e found , and the great beauty of many among them ,

bear w i tness to the extent and durat i on of Baq i’

spopular i ty .

The only two Turkish manuscri p t d iwans embe l l ished w i th

mi n iatures which I have ever seen are both cop ies of this

poe t’

s works; one be longs to the Bri t ish Museum , the other

is i n my own col lect ion,and both are extreme ly beaut i ful

volumes.

Baq i’

s poe try is whol ly lyr i cal ; he w rote noth ing in the

way of mesnev i . Some of his qasidasare dign ified and even

maj est i c ; but they are, asusual , weakened by extravagance

and marred by strai ned o r far- fe tche d imagery .

H e made some prose translat i ons from the Arabi c of worksre lat i ng to law and theology . H e further col le cted and trans

lated the A had isOr Tradi ti onal Sayingsof the Prophe t handed

down on the authori ty of E buE yyub the Ansari .

147

I 0

Baq i IS the on ly Turkish poe t at a translat i on of whose

D iwan any attempt has ye t been made . In 1825the i n de

fat igable Von Hamme r publ ished a German rende r i ng from

a couple of MSS . which he supposed to contai n the comple te

D iwan of this poet , but which , as he soon d iscove red , com

prised ln real i ty less than one hal f of Baq i’

s poems.

l Even

so far as i t goes, th is German ve rs i on isutte r ly i nadequate ;

i t is ful l of mistakes of eve ry kind , and cannot b e accepte d

as giving any just i dea of Baq i’

s work .

The fol lowing Qasi’

da i n honour of Sul tan Suleyman , which

has been translated in its ent ire ty , is usual ly placed first i n

col lecti ons of Baqf’

s poems. I t is a perfect example of the

form as descri bed i n the thi rd chapte r of the first book (vol .

I , pp . 83— 87 ) of thiswork . The exord ium descr i bes a starry

n ight ; and all the seven plane ts known i n those days are

men t i oned in orde r .

Qasida. [ 2 1 3 ]

O ne even tide the bat tlemen ts of heaven ’s subl ime se ray 2

We re fai r i llumined by those flashing lamps the stars display .

Amid the stel lar host the flambeau of the Moon burned bri gh t '

A nd rad ian t o ’e r the fields o f sky st re tched the S traw-beare rs’ \Vay.

3

The Sc ri be o f heaven 4 had reached his hand to g rasp the me teo r-pe n,The Ci phe re r “ of H is d e c rees whom m e n and p an obey .

llaki’s,des g rosste n llll’ lt lh’ C llC ll L yrike rs

,l liwan

,zmu e rsten Mahle g auz

vc rde nscht,vo n j ose ph V on l lnmme r

,W i e n

,l 8 25.

2 Se i /ty i . e . palace .

3 K eh- K eshan,the St raw-beare rs

,is the l

'e rsian name fo r what we eall the

Milky Way.

The Sc ri b e o f heaVe n is the plane t Me reury. The plane ts are frequentlyp e rsonified i n poe t ry ; as a rul e

,the Moon is figured as a fai r t uat h o r "il l,

M e rcury as a pe n inan , Ve nus as a b eaut i ful female min-d i e t,the Sun as a

no ve l e ig n , Mai a as a warri o r, jup ile r as n ve / lr,and Saturn as an ag ed man ,

ofte n an Ind ian,he be i ng lnanaph lo us, and tli e i e to i e dark .

5 The l’

iphe i e r, N iahttn ii, ia the t llulm l i iu e r of the Tag h i a, o i l o yal i iphe i ,

on the d e i i e ea o l ( to i l .

148

Venushad tuned her harp for that celest ial banque t fair,Brigh tly and merri ly she smiled for mirth and j oyan ce g ay.

Sti l l sp inn ing asshe wen t,the tambouri n ist Sun had hid

Below the hoop -shaped arch of heaven her radian t face away.I

W i th sc imi tar of gold inlay i n to the plai n had sprungThe champion Swordsman of the sky ’s far-reaching field of fray . 2

To ponder o’

er the we i gh ty mat ters of the uni verseH ad jupi ter the w ise made cogi tat i on ’s taper ray.

H igh on the seven th sphere did Saturn , str i cken sore i n years,Si t

,even as he w ere an Indian wat chman

,old and grey .

‘What meane th this celest ial pagean try P’ amazed I cried,

When 10,e’en whi le the i nward eye did all the scen e survey

,

F lashing in radiance all around on every hand,the Sun

O’er the hori zon blazed

,the Seal o f Solomon

,3 i n fay.

“

Then gazed the i nward eye upon th is sigh t so wonder-fairUn ti l the soul ’s ear heard the mystery there i n that layH ow naught had gi ven this array to the ce lest ial courtsEx cept the fortune of the King who do th the w i de world sway ! 4

Seated aloft upon the throne above all crowned Kings!Reared on high amid the dread imperial mellay !

j emsh id i n feast and fest i val ! Dar ius i n the fight !Kisra5 i n rank and just i ce ! A lexander of the day !

Sul tan of East and West ? K i ng of the Kings of land and sea !Darius of the ag e ! King Suleyman, v ic tori ous aye !

That Champion-rider of the realms of just i ce,

’fore whose steed’Tis soo thly mee t that K husrevs6 march i n gl i t tering array ;1 Here the Sun is figured no t as a sovere ign

,but as a tambour in ist , the

reference be ing of course to that luminary ’sapparent resemblance i n size and

form to a tambourine . The sun sp ins o r revol ves,and the tambour in ist makes

her i nstrumen t spin on her finger .

2 The plane t Mars.

3 W i th a secondary reference t o the Sul tan,whose name was Solomon

(Suleyman ) ; for the mag ic virtues of Solomon ’s Seal , see vol . 11,p . 3 9, n . I .

4This couple t is the guriz-

gah , or place o f fl igh t,i n which the poe t passes

from the exordium to the panegyr i c .5 ThisKisra is N ttsh irvan of the old Sasan ian dynasty of P ersia; he is thetype of a just King .

6 i . e . Kings, especially the Sasanian Kings of P e rsia,called by the Arabs

Ix isra(plural A kasira) and by the Greeks C hosroes.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

150

What t ime thy rubies’ image lay w i thi n the Spir i t ’s scryneThe mine had ceased to b e the home of gems of lustrous ray .

‘

Tangle on tangle o’

er thy cheek the curl i ng tresses fal l ;‘F or H ijaz have the Syr ians gir t the ir skirts, ’ one wel l migh t say.

L e t but the gardener see thy slender, wav ing cypress-form ,And ne ’er again to rear the w i l low on the lawn essay .

3

The dark of v ision may conce i ve those eyebrows black of thine ;While they

,the keen and brigh t of w it

,thy tee th imagine may.

The rose and j essamine bowed down afore thy cheek so fair,

’

The cypress of the garth rose up afore thy figure g ay.‘

The heart-throne is the seat of that high Sovran,love for thee ;

The soul-pav il ion ’

t is where i n thine imaged rubies stay .Thy beauty ’s rays have

,l ike the sun lai d hol d on all the ear th

,

F i lled w i th the cry of love for thee s Creati on ’s vault for aye

The tumul t of the plain of ear th hath moun ted to the spheres,

The shout ing of the Heavenly Host hath fall’n ' on earth to-day.5

No nightingale so swee t o f v oi ce as Baqi may appear,

N or may there any garden shine brigh t as thy face alway . 6

Thy beauty ’s rose do th make the garth of earth as Irem-bower,7

poe ts; here i t is sai d to b e so smal l as to b e i nv isi ble,l ike the soul

,which

i t further resemb les as be ing the source of the lover ’s l i fe .

1 When the caske t of my heart enshri ned the p ic ture of thy ruby-l i ps,that

,

and no t the mine,was the t rue home of prec ious stones.

2 Shami Syrian,also means‘

evening-l ike,

’ hence,dark

,and so

,app l i cable

to the hai r . H ijaz,besides be ing be ing the name of a region i n Arabia

,is

the name of a musi cal mode . So the l ine means: ‘The n ight-black locks,

dangling about thy cheeks,are as Syrians who have gir t the ir lo ins for a

dance to H ijaz’ (or to the air called H ijaz) . The coup le t is a good exampleof Baq i ’s fondness for the ibam .

3 The w i l low is ye t ano ther type of a graceful figure .

4The rose and j essamine,typ i cal of the red and whi te t in ts of a beaut iful

cheek , performed the suj tid , that is the prostrat ion p rac t ised in the Musl imworshi p , befo re thy face ; while the cyp ress

,typ i cal of the elegant form

, per

formed the q iyam,that is the standing up which occurs i n the same servi ce ,

before thy figure ; i . e . the symbols of beauty w orshipped thee .

5 The ghaze l ends here . The last couple t is i n amplificat ion of the last l ineof that p receding .

6 This verse is the taj o r crown,i n which the poe t menti onshisown name .

The Sul tan is addressed once more .

7 F o r Irem , the terr estial paradise,see vol . I

,p . 3 2 6, n . 5.

151

A ll round a thousand nigh tingales and many an hundred lay.‘

Come,let us turn us to the Cour t o f A llah : St i l l may wax

The glory of the Empire of the King triumphant aye , 2

So long as T ime do th for the radian t sun -taper at dawnA si lver candle-st i ck upon th

’ horizon edge display,3

Safe from the blast o f doom may st i l l the she l ter ing skir t of H imWho holds the world pro tec t the taper of thy l i fe

,we pray .

G lory the comrade,For tune

,the cup

-bearer at thy feast ;The beaker-sphere

,the goble t steel-enwrough t

,of gold inlayl4

I gi ve next a translat i on of the famous Elegy on Sul tan

Suleyman . I t is, as usual , i n the te rk ib -bend form . There

is one other stan za, the last o f all, whi ch I have not given .

I t is a panegyr i c on Suleyman’

s son and successor Se l im I I ,

such as i t was i n cumbent on Baq i’

,i n his capac i ty of court

poe t , to i ntroduce i n to a poem intended for the sovere ign ;

but i t stri kes a false note, and is out of harmony w i th , and

al toge ther unworthy of, the rest of the poem . The fi rst

stanza is addressed to the reade r .

Eleg y on Sultan Suleyman . [ 2 14]

thou,foo t- tangled i n the mesh of fame and glory ’s snare !

llow long this lust o f thi ngs o f T ime that ceaseless tlowc th e’

e r ?

l' lo ld thou i n mind that day which shall b e last o f l i fe ’s fai r sp ring,

When needs the tul i p-t i n ted cheek to autumn - leaf rrrust wear,

When thy last dwe l l ing-place must b e,e’

e n l ike the d regs’,the dust

,“

Whe n mid the bowl of chee r nrust fal l the st one T ime ’

s hand doth b ear .

“

l ie is a man i n t ruth whose heart is as the mi rro r clear ;

Pe rhaps an al lusi on to the immense rrrrrrrb e r of poe ts who arose i n Suleyman ’s tirrre .

2 in this couple t begi ns the p raye r fo r the pat ron,wi th which e ve ry qasida

oug ht to conclude .

The sun is compared to .r c n trd lc,while by the si l ve r r and lcstiek the

si lve ry li g ht of the srrhIro i-snd iq , o r t rrre dawn,ap pears to b e mean t .

The dark sky, studd ed wlt lr stars,in he re re gard ed as n ste e l b o \\ l i n laid

wi th gold, g i ve n to the h rrltan to e nhance the g lo ry o t his least .

5They used to th row rorid e the d re g s afte r d ri nkin g a cup o t n i ne .

0 A pe bb le thrown i nt o a beake r t i the sig nal to r a part y to b ri nk up .

152

Man art thou>Why then doth thy b . east the t iger’s passi on share?H ow long w i ll negl igence ’ssleep seal up the i nward eye

?

Boots no t the Royal Bat tle-Lion ’s fate to make thee ware ?

H e,Lo rd of caval iers in Fo rtune ’sKingdom ,

t o whose Rakhsh , 1

What t ime he caracoled,ful l strai t seemed ear th ’s w ide t ourney-square !

H e,t o the lustre of whose sword the Hunn ish paynim bowed ;

H e,whose dread sabre ’s flash hath w rough t the w i ldered Frank ’s despair !

Gen tly,e’en as the rose ’s leaf

,he bowed i n dust his face ;

And earth,the treasurer

,hath lai d him

, g em-l ike

,i n his case .

Good truth,he was the lustre of rank high and glory great

,

A King,Iskender-diademed

,of Dara’s armied state .

2

Before the groun d aneath his fee t the Sphere ben t low i ts head,3

Earth ’sshri ne of adorat ion was the dust before his gate,

B ut l onging for his gi ftsw ould make the meanest beggar ri ch ;Exceeding boon

,exceeding boun teous a Po ten tate !

The court of glory of his Kingly maj esty most h igh“ fas aye the cen tre where woul d hope o f sage and poe t wai t .A l though he y ielded to e ternal Dest iny ’s command

,

A King was he i n mi gh t as Doom,immoveable as Fate !

Wear ied and worn by you v i le , fickle Sphere,deem not thou him ;

Near God to b e,d id he his rank and glory abdicate .

What wonder if our eyes no more l i fe and the wo rld behold ?H is beauty sheen assun and moon di d ear th irradiate .

If folk upon the sun do gaze,the ir evne are fil led w i th tears

,

F or whi le they look, you moon-b righ t face b efore the ir mindsappears.

4

N ow le t the cloud shed drops of b lood and bend i ts form ful l low ;And let the palm- tree make its tw i gs w i th Judas-flowers t o blow .

5

Rakhsh was the famous charger of R ustem,the nat ional hero of Persia

,

whose w onderful adven tures and splendid vi c tories occupy a great por t i on ofthe Shah-Nama. Mat thew Arnold ’s poem on the fatal c ombat be tween R ustemand hisson Suhrab hasmade th isChampion ’sname fam i l iar to English readers.

‘

2 Iskende r A lexander the Great ; Dara Darius.

3 There ishere an al lusion to the curved appearan ce of the vaul t of heaven .

4An instance of Husn -i Taclil (or ae t iology : see vol . I,p

. the tearsthat fi l l the eyes when one at temp ts to look at the sun be ing ascr ibed tosorrow for the loss of the Sul tan

,whose glori ousv isage the splendour of that

luminary recalls to the mind .

5The flowe rs of the erg hawan , or Judas- tree,are crimson or purple-red

,

the colour of bl ood .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

154

0 hear t,this hour ’

tis thou that sympath iser art w i th me ;

Come,let us l ike the flute bewai l

,and moan

,and plai n t i ve si gh .

The no tes of mourning and of dole aloud let us rehearse ;And le t all those who gr ieve b e moved by this our seven-fold verse .

l

W i ll no t the King awake from sleep ? broke hath the dawn of dayW i ll no t he move for th from his ten t bri gh t as high heaven ’s display ”

Long have our eyes dwel t on the road,and ye t no n ews is come

From yonder land,the threshold of hismaj est y ’s array .

The colour of his cheek hath paled, dry- l ip ped he l ie th there,E

’

en as the rose that from the water swee t is fal len away .

The K husrev of the skies w i thdraws behind the cloudy ve i l,Oft as he minds thy grace

,for very shame he sweats

,i n fay.

3

My p rayer is ever : ‘May the babes,his tears

,si nk ’neath the sod

,

‘Or old or young b e he,who weeps no t thee i n sad dismay

W i th fire of par t ing from thee le t the sun burn and consume,

And tire himself i n wedes sad-hued shaped from the c louds’ deray .And let thy sword recall thy deedsand weep w i th tears of blood

,

Then from i ts scabbard plunge its length deep in the darksome clay .A y, let the reed through grief for thee and dolour rend itsspare

,5

And let the flag i ts vestmen t tear for woe and for despair.0

Thy sabre made the fone the anguish of i tsstrokes t o drai n ;Cut out the ir tongues

,so none who may gai nsay do th now remai n .

They looked upon that tal l and haughty cypress-tree,thy lance

,

And never did the ir Bans recal l rebe l l ion ’s name agai n .7

Each stanza of th is poem contai nsseven couplets, besi des the ‘bend .

’

‘

2 Suleyman died i n camp before Sz ig eth i n Hungary .3 Husn-i Taclil again : when i t rains

,the sun

,the King of the skies, issaid

to have cal led to mind the greater splendour of the King of the ear th,to

have re t ired behind his vei l of clouds,and there perspired for very shame .

Tearsare some t imes compared to babes,be i ng the offspr i ng of the merdumek

or mannikin , i . e . pup i l of the eye . Here those babesare t o die and be buried,i . e . the unsympathising man is t o have cause t o saturate the earth w i th histears.

5The g iriban is the ‘spare ’ or open ing down the front of a garmen t whichenables i t t o b e put on and off. I t is th is that they used to tear down when inw i ld sorrow or despair . The ‘spare ’ of the reed-pen would b e the sl i t up the n ib .

6 Compare the last l ine quo ted of Ibn K emal’sElegy on Sel im I (p . 19, sup ra) .

Suleyman was, l ike his fathe r, bo th a poe t and a sold ier .

7 B an,the Slavoni c t i t le (see vol . 11

,p . 9 1, n . here erroneously appl ied

to the l lung arian Magnates.

I SS

Where ’er thy statel y destrier placed his hoof,from far and near

Thronged nobles,l ief to y ie ld the ir l ives

,so thou shoul d glory gai n .

The bird,desire

,bides no t in wastes of Naught

,i t turne th back : 1

Thy glai ve to offer streams of blood for A llah ’s sake was fain .

A thwar t the face of ear th thou hurledst ri gh t from end t o end

Thine iron-girded champ ions,assweepsa sword amai n .

A thousand idol-temples hast thou ta’en and turned to mosques,Where jangled bel ls thou’st made ar ise the Cal l- to-Worshi p ’sstrain .

‘

2

A t length is struck the par t ing-drum and thou hast j ourneyed hen ce ;Lo

,thy first hal t ing-place is mid the Paradisal p lai n .

Praise b e t o God,for H e i n E i ther Worl d hath b lessed thee

,

And wri t before th ine honoured name bo th Mar tyr and Ghazi . 3f fi f fifi f

‘

r h k fi é k m i ar s a s > s s

Here are s ix ghaze l s from Baq i’

s Diwan

Ghazel. [ 2 15]

On the thorn of dule the bulbul waileth forth his plain t i ve lay ;Side by si de the thornsand rosebudsmid the garden-pleasaunce sway .

Slave un to thy paynim tresses’ haugh t behest,each heathen zone

Fast and fi rm is gi rt,thy crue l mandate

,Goddess

,t o obey . 4

I l ow t o ope those hearts that rosebud-l ike are all fulfi lled of b lood,

Wheresoe ’e r they he , do swee tlings from thy liple ts seek the way.

5

1 Thismyst i c l i ne comes i n strange l y he re .

2 Re fe rri ng to the C h rist ian churches turned i n t o mosques by Suleyrm’

rn,

fl C hant ve Shc hid,Champion and Mart y r. Whoeve r dies i n bat t le o r i n the

fie ld agai nst the unbe l ie ve rs is c rowned w i th mart y rdom,whi le the Musl im

champion wi l l b e re warded fo r his labours i n the ne x t wo rld . l'

rinee t’

aute n ie r,

who l i ved at the court o f Ahme d l l l,says in his H ist o ry of Turke y ; “The

Turks are pe rsuaded that he (Suleynran ) was a g reat favouri te o f heaven ,be cause he no t only lost. his l i fe at the siege o f Ssig e th, and so became Shehtd ,b rt t was also ( ilrtisi

,two e l lies b e i ng taken trrrd e r the e o ndue t of his re l i c ts,

and anne x e d t o the H t to rnun I‘irn p ire .

The 7.onn,aswe hrrve alrcadyse e n (vo l. I I , p . a”,

n . the paynimand is o lte n me nti on ed as a sym b ol o f i t e rrre l beaut y 's earl . H e re the rnean i rrr

ls t lrtrt. all the heart less l ove ly ones ha to reeo g n lse t hen in t he i r w r e re rg n .

5Whe n so rrowful,the he art. is said to b e st rulte rred o r r Io -red ( te ng ) ; “ he n

jo ylul, to b e o pe n e d o r e x pand ed'

l he heart ‘lrle e rl r ' whe n i t g rle r es.

The t lo rrq d lrle n rli trg lre rrt l is “he u t ed rr r rr lrtrd,

ro r are the ltp r .

156

L'

n to those thy locks the fragran t jac in th bows, the ir Indian slave ; l

Whi le the plo t where i n thy rosy cheek may bloom ’

s the garden g ay.

Is i t strange i f in thine absence hear t and soul for peaches2 long?

F or the frui t that ’s out of season si ck folk ever yearn and pray .

L ow the musk l ies, gory-shrouded , slain by yonder darl ing’

s mole :Deem not ye that the perfumers wrap i t round w i th crimson say.

3

Truth is th is,Baqi

,unri val led st i ll thy wondrous verse would b e,

Though the warlo cks all addressed them un to numbers from this day.

Ghazel. [ 2 16 ]

From all e terni ty the slave of Sul tan Love are we,0 L ife .

4

Of passi on ’smighty realm are we the K i ng of haugh t degree,0 L i fe .

Forbid no t thirst ing hear ts the water of the c loud of thy dear grace ;The core-bren t tul ip of this dreary w i lderness w e b e

,0 L i fe .

Fortune is ware that pearls i n us are hid,and so she reads our heart

,

And thus our v i tals b leed ; we are the mine of w it,perdie

,O L i fe .

L e t no t the dust of sorrow ever cloud the fountai n o f the soul ;W e are

,thou know ’

st,the glory of the C

Osman Empery,0 L i fe .

L ike Baq i’

s poetry , that bow l , my verse , do th c ircle all the ear th ;So now the Jami of the ag e at th is fair feast are we

,0 L i fe .

5

The fol low i ng l i tt le poem is very grace ful i n the origi nal

The jacin th or hyac i n th is the type of luxurian t locks; when dark- colouredi t may b e descr ibed as Indian .

2 Sheftalu means bo th a peach and a kiss (vol . 11,p . 3 7 1, n . I ts use

here is an instance of iham or amphibology,bo th meaningsbe i ng in tended .

3 The perfumers sold musk wrapped up i n b i ts of red si lk ; here , by Husn-iTa

clil

, Baq i says that th is w rap is no t really red si lk,but the blood-stained

shroud of ‘the musk,which has be en slai n by the be l oved ’smole i n disput ing

the palm of swee tness w i th the same .

4The ‘L i fe ’ addressed in the red if of thisghazel may b e the beloved,human

or Divine ; or possibly , the poe t ’s own soul .5Jami , the great P ersian poe t , deri ved h is name from his nat i ve t own

, Jam

i n Khurasan ; but Jami may also b e taken to mean ‘H e of the Bow l . ’ There5 a Tejn is b e tween this w ord and the jam (bow l ) i n the p receding line .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

158

Grieve not , Baq t, at the hand of Fortune , for the w orl d is thusTo the thorn the rose allo t ted

,i n the cage the bulbul

,see .

Ghazel. [ 2 19 ]

Tul i p-cheeks do wander o’

e r the meadows gay on every si de,

On through blooming gar th and garden,see

,they stray on every si de .

Lovers fai n of that brigh t face of thine bel ike are yonder streams;Stately Cypress

,thee i t is they seek for aye on every si de .

Dolour’s crue l hordes lie leaguer ’fore the c i ty of the hear t,

Camped around are Pain,and Anguish

,Stri fe

,Dismay

,on every si de .

R ivers of the tears I shed rolled far and w ide on every hand ;Ye t again this ocean

,sea-l ike , flings itsspray on e very si de .

Baq i’s poesy hath wandered through the Seven Climes of ear th ;

M ee t i t were and just they chan t this glorious lay on every side .‘

The next poem , the last of Baq i’

s whi ch I shal l quote , is

descri pt ive of autumn . I t is one of those ghaze ls, so rare

w i th the older wri ters whi ch treat throughout of a given

subj ect , resembl ing so far the exordium of a qasida.

Ghazel. [ 2 20 ]

Ah ! ne ’er a trace of spring tide ’s olden splendour do th remai n ;F all

’n from the treen

,the leaves bestrew the mead

,the ir glory vai n .

The orchard treeshave clad themsel ves i n tat tered derv ish wedes;The autumn blast hath torn away the hands2 from off the plane .

On every side the orchard trees cast down the ir golden hoardBe fore the stream, as though they hoped some boon from him to gai n . 3

1 This verse, and the maq ta’

s of no . 2 15and no . 2 16,are examplesof the

fakhriyya, or l i censed expressi ons of boundlesssel f-conce i t .‘

2 The palmated leaves. See p . 30 sup ra, n . 5.

3 The trees cast the ir golden hoard,i . e . the ir ye llow leaves

,in to the stream

,

as though they sough t to br ibe i t .

I59

Stay no t w i thi n the par terre , let i t tremb le i n the gale ;Bare every shrub

,this day do th naugh t or leaf or frui t re tai n .

Baq i amid the garden lie the leaves i n sad deray ;Meseems

,low ly ing there

,agai nst the w i nd of Fate they p lai n .

Baqi is the last great poe t of the Suleymanic ag e . Indeed,

as we have seen , the greater part of his l i terary career fal ls

w i th i n the peri od succeed ing the re ign of the L awgiver ; but

as i t was under that Sul tan that he won his reputat i on and

earned his t i t le of Poe t Ki ng , and as i t was i n connect i on

w i th him that his most splend i d successes we re achieved ,

he is just ly classed as one of the ban d of br i l l ian t w r i ters

who d i d'

so much to enhance the lustre of th isglo ri ous re ign .

The namesment ioned i n th i s chapte r and i n the pre ced ing

are of course those of the most d i st i nguished poe ts'

only.

W i th w ri ters spri nging up i n scores on eve ry si de unde r the

foster i ng hand of Suleyman , and w i th vast tracts of fresh

terri tory be i ng added to the Empire , i n many of which the re

wasa more o r lessTurkish populat i on w i th itsdue p roport i on

of poe ts now to b e reckoned as Ottomans, i t has be come

mo re lm p e less than eve r to attempt in a work l i ke the present

anyth ing app roach ing a comple te l ist ofe ven the mo re respec

table among the e ndlessw ri te rswhose namesc rowd the pages

of the ol d biographe rs. Conseque ntly not a few poe tshave had

to b e passed ove r who , had the y appeare d somewhat earl ie r,

would have re ce i ve d an ho nourable me nt i on in our histo ry .

The re are,howe ve r, o ne o r two po e ts who ,

whi le hard ly

cal l ingr fo r any d e tai le d n o t i ce ,o ug ht no t to b e al to ge the r

ove rlo o ke d . Amo ng these is the c razy J e l il i o f “rum who

wro te two mesne v ts,o ne o n the sto ry o f l . eyl . i and Me jm

'

m .

the o th e r o n that o fKhusre v and Shtrtu, as we l l asa numbe r

| I"rom n pe n c i l-no te in the marg i n of the uumuue i tp t it n | l |wut l that the

Autho r i n t e nd ed at thisp o ln t to add so me re nun In on lhtq t'

u in tlnem t‘ t ln o ng ho nt

the whole of the t'

luuuleul and the hunt pul l o f the l’

i nn o t io n I'e i im l. t i n ]

160

of ghaz e lswhich he seems to have col lec ted under the t i t le

of Gul- i Sad -Berg , The Hund red -L eafed Rose . H is reporte d

translat i on of the Shah-Nama is probably a myth,see i ng

that , asQinali- za'

de says, no one has eve r seen or heard so

much asa si ngle couple t from it . Mtlcfd l of Qalqand elen nearUskub is a romant i c poe t of some note . H e issai d to have

w ri tten a ser ies of seven mesnev is as a Response to the

Khamsa of Ni zam i, three of which are men ti oned by name

i n my MS . of L at i fi : K husrev u Sh ir i n ; Gul u N ev-R 132 or

Rose and N ew-Year ; and ShemC

u P erwana or Taper and

Moth . Von Hammer givesan abstract of the second ofthese,

and the Bri t ish Museum possessesan i ncomple te MS . of the

third .

2 They are l ove-stor ies of the usual type , the one deal i ng

w i th the adventures of Pri nce N ew-Year and Pr i ncessRose,

the other w i th the history of the Dervish Moth and the

Syr ian Pri n cess Taper . Among lyr i c poets we have E mri’

,

Gharam i’

, Rah i’

m i’

, and F e vri’

,the last of whom is i nteresti ng ,

si nce he wasa Hungarian or German taken prisoner i n chi ld

hood by Turkish marauders. Among chron ic lers there are

Shukri’

the Kurd , who wrote a r iming history of Se l im I ;

Nigari, a naval officer, who descr i bes the vi ctor ies gai ned

by the Turkish Admiral S inan Pasha over the Spanish flee t ;and N id zi

’

r’

, who si ngs the tr iumphs of the Admiral Pi yalaover the Chr ist ians at Je rba.

1 The N ew-Year’s Day (N ev-R 112 ) here mean t is the vernal equi nox,when

the Sun en te rs the fi rst po in t of Ar ies,about the 2 I st of March . I t is the

first day of sp ring , and was i n ancien t t imes (and , i ndeed , st i ll is) a greatfest ival among the P ersians. The Turks also occasionall y observe i t .

‘

2 The Bri t ish Museum Catalogue,the general ac curacy of which canno t b e

p raised too highly , follow ing Von Hammer , at tributes this poem to ano therMu idi who flourished somewhat later ; but as Lat i fi , who knows no thing ofthis later w ri ter, at tributes a Shemc u P erwana to Mucid i of Qalqan-De len ,the on ly poe t of the name he men tions

,and asQinali-zade , to whom the

later author is known , does no t credi t him w i th any mesnevi at all,I canno t

help thinking that there is here some sl igh t confusion .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

162

Besi des be i ng a biographe r of poets, L at ifi wrote a good

deal of verse himse l f, much of which reached a very fair

average , as is shown by the Naz iras of his own which he

appends to many of the poems quoted in hisTe z k ira. H e

wasa great lover of books to the praise of which he devotes

a consi derable port i on of his pre face , and we cannot take

leave of him more appropr iate l y than by quot ing therefrom

the fol lowing ghaze l , which I commend to the not ice of anyfuture compi le r of a “Book L over ’s Enchiri d ion .

Ghazel. [ 2 2 1]

Aye of gentle hearts the close compan ion l ief and dear’s a book .Ever

,leal a fr iend

,a comrade midst of woe to cheer’s a book .

L ike asall the fool ’s diversion l ies i n weal th and high estate,

Even so the man of learn ing’sun told treasure-gear’sa book .

Be t ter to the w ise one leafle t than a thousand mines of go ld ;Ye t the fool one groat w i ll give no t

,of what p rofi t here ’sa book ?

Lo , i t make th flower-l ike bloom his hear t which as the bud was closed ; 1Soo th the hundred-leafed rose 2 of his brigh t earl y vere ’sa book .

H e hath found the friend w i thouten faul t of blame w i thi n the world,3

0 Lat ifi, he whose cherished ever constan t fere ’s a book . 4

1 See vol . I I,p . 205, n . 3 .

2 The gul-i sad-berg or hundred- leafed rose isour cabbage rose . Here there

is of course a reference to the leaves of a book .

3 Referring to the proverb : ‘Whoso seeke th friend that ’s faul tless,friendless

w i ll on earth remai n .

’

4 [ In the manuscri p t at this poin t the author haswri t ten,

“Put accoun t ofcAshiq Chelebi here .

” Such a ful l and cri t i cal accoun t ashe,no doub t

,w ould

have w ri t ten i t is beyond my power t o give,and I must con ten t myse l f w i th

briefly recording the fac tsconcern ing him given by Hajj i Khal ifa and ProfessorNaj i . The lat ter states

,at p . 2 03 of his excel len t E sdmz

’

,or Biographi cal

D ic ti onary (Constan tinople . A . H . that cAshiq Chelebi was born at

P erez in i n 924 and that,after comple t i ng hisstudies

,he l ived for

some t ime at Broussa, where he was employed in the administrat ion of theq afor rel igiousendowments. H e wassubsequen t ly a judge at Constan tinople ,and final ly died at Uskub in 979 (157 1 H e translated in to Turkish the

163

The i n terest which we as students of the l i terature have

h itherto taken in the geographical changesaffecting the Otto

man Empire , comes to a natural c lose w i th the re ign of

Sul tan Suleyman . F or by the absorpt ion i n 970 (1562— 3 )of the t i n y Pr i nc i pal i ty of the Ben i

’ Ramazan of Adana,which up t i l l then enj oyed a nominal i n dependence , the

un ion of Turkey proper is comple ted . Hence forward the

Empire consi stsof a sol i d Turkish c ore surrounded on every

si de by a fri nge of conquered fo re ign provi nces. I t is th is

Turkish core,the boundaries of wh ich are not very sharply

defined , but wh ich may b e consi dere d as co -extensi ve w i th

those d istr i c ts where the Turkish e lement forms the staple

of the populat ion , that consti tutes the true Turkey i n con

trad ist inc t ion to the Turkish or Ottoman Empire ; and whi le

the fr i nge of conque red fore i gn prov inceshasbeen cont i nual ly

undergoing change , now be i ng extended i n one d irect i on ,

now be i ng cut short i n another , the Turkish core of the

Empi re has remai ned unal tered and untouched . N ow i t is to

this core , as the centre of Turkish l i fe and cul ture , that our

Imam Ghazal i ’s e t -mcsb t’

tk ff nasa’ ihi’l-Mult’tk,and produced some ve ry

fai r poe t ry,of which Professor Naj i c i tes one couple t . Re fe rence is made t o

his vari ous l i te rary p roduc ti ons i n the follow ing art i cles of Hajj i lx'

halifa'

s

great bibl iograph ical d ic t ionary : N os. 2 3 66 , 2 8 15, 477 2 , 553 6, 6553 , 6585,7 303 , 7490, 7697 and 12059 . [ from these refe rences we learn that his p rope rname was Muhammed b .

(

A lfal-lliqaci,and that he d ied (as state d by N ziji )

i n 979 . H is o ri gi nal Wo rks in clude h is Biography of Poe ts (prope rly ent i t ledMesht’tciru b

alt-Shucara) , a D iwan (apparen tly ve ry rare,si nce l lajj i Khaltfa

says that he had se e n seve n couple ts from i t c i ted in the Zabde ) , and a Shehreng lz , o r

“Ci ty-thri l le r.

"In t ranslat i ons he was st i l l mo re p ro litie , fo r besides

the Turkish v e rsi on o f ( ibaz t’d t'u above -men ti on ed work,he p roduced Tut hish

t ranslat i ons of the ( Io mpe nd io tm H ist o ry of e l-Me d tna byt

llmur e l-llalil e r

|< ttml ; o f Muhiyyu’d-I tln Muhamme d b . e l-lx'

hut tb'

u lx'

awm'

I-A khyar ; o f Ib nTrytn iyyn

’s ea-Hiyt

’

tue tu'

ah “ whe re i n he sought to make known hiscase to Sul tan He llm

,and his i nab i l i t y to t lll t lltt lut‘ his jlt t llt llll Inm tlo nfi

"

o l the l"o t t y '

l'

rnd itlo |m of Ib nu'

l-Muhle nib o f Itr lg tnd e ; and o l the l'

t lmno n

l'

e o ny (eah-Sluup‘

t’

hp t'

n-Nu'

mnn iyye ) of Tush-Kyttp t ttltt-l ttde , to uhh h he alnoadd ed an A ppend i x o l

‘ Ze yl . It lh ]

164

attent ion w i l l b e almost exclusi ve ly confined ; i t is but very

rare ly and as i t w ere by acci dent that our enquir ies w i l l

lead us beyond its l imits i n to those surround ing landswhich

the fortunes of war may have thrown i nto the possessi on

of the Ottomans. I t woul d there fore b e needless for our

present purpose to fol low those endless shi fti ngs of front ier

on every hand which hence forward make up the h istor i cal

geography of the Turkish Empi re .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

166

than i t has been s in ce the Archai c Peri od ; some t imes i t is

mysti cal as i n Huda’ i , some t imes ‘Muhammedan ,’

i n the most

l i teral sense , as i n the popular l i tt le work of Khaqan i . The

qasida, which is to reach its highest deve lopment at the

hands of N efc

i and his fol lowers , begins to b e more ser i ously

cul t i vated . But the most obv ious change is the dec l ine of

the romanti c mesnev i . N ever agai n doesa poe t come forward

w i th his ‘Response ’ to Nizami or j ami ; i t is no longer an

obj ect of ambi tion to r i val the great Persian masters on

the ir own ground .

C

A ta’

r’

i is the only post-Suleymanic wr i ter

who attempted a Khamsa ; and the earl ie r poets woul d not

have reckoned his work a Khamsa at all. I ndeed,from this

t ime long mesnevis of every descr i pt i on begin to pass out

of favour ; the process is very gradual , and many important

works st i l l conti nue to b e wr i tten , but none the less,the

change has begun . The mesnev i form of verse doe s not

decl i ne i n popular i ty,but the l ong poems of earl ier t imes

slow ly give place to shorter works, e thi c , d i dacti c , or anec

dot ic , but rare ly roman tic . At first about the t ime of Murad

IV , these shorter mesnev is, fol low i ng the lead of a contem

porary Persian fash ion , general ly take the form of what was

known as a Saqi-Name o r Cup-bearer-Book , that is a mes

nev i in whi ch the pleasures of w i ne and musi c and the

charms of the cup-beare r are treated i n a manner more or

less myst i c or al legor i cal, accord ing to the temperament of

the wr i ter . Very soon the scope of these shorte r mesnev is

is w i dened , unt i l the Saqi-Name si nks i nto the background ,

and final ly d isappears al together .

The thirty years immed iate ly fol low i ng the death of Suleymain form a somewhat barren tract i n the fie l d of Ottoman

poe try ; not that poe ts we re lacking i n number or that the

qual i ty of the ir work was low, the all-powerful i nfluence

of Baq i and the example of the great Suleymani

167

were suffi c ient to ensure correct and care ful exe cut ion,

but the si ngers themse l veswe re for the most part un inspired ;

the ir verses, though techn i cal ly good , are flat and i nsi p id,

and read l ike the exerc ises wr i tten by col lege students on

some given theme . On ly two poe ts of real eminence, N ev

c

i

and Ruhi , flour ished dur i ng this t ime ; but be fore consi deri ng

these and one or two others of secondary importance , let

us turn for a few minutes to Sul tan Se l im II h imse l f and

his son and successor Murad I I I .

Se l im I I , who was born i n 930 (1524) and d ied in 982

(1574) after a re ign of e ight and a hal f years,is perhaps

the most graceful of all the Imper ial poe ts. H e does not

seem to have w ri tten much , but all that he d id wri te , (at

least all that has come down to us) i s pre tty i n the affected

and art ific ial manner of the day. This Sul tan was not so

great a poe t ash is grandfathe r the F irst Se l im ; the substance

of his work is not so powe rful,the bul k of i t noth ing l ike

so great ; but i t i s more e legant , and moreove r i t is all i n

Turkish . A s a ruler, Se l im I I wasfar beneath the great men

who p recede d him ; but whi le he was less ente rprisi ng than

they, and mo re add i cted to enervat i ng and degrad ing plea

sures, he none the l ess kncw how to grapple w i th d isaste r,

and showed h imse l f a true so n of c

Osman when the hour of

dange r came . The most o bvious of his fai l i ngsearn ed fo r him

the n i ckname ofMest’ Sul tan Se l im o r Sultan Se l im the So t ;

but i f C

/\bd l is to b e be l ie ve d , i ndulgence i n st ro ngr d ri nk

d id no t p re ve nt his b e i n g acco m p l ished bo th i n musi c and

i n arche ry as we l l as i n po e t ry .

The two fo l lo w i ng g haz i' ls w i l l sutlice to sho w his s tyle .

168

Ghazel. [ 2 2 2 ]

Unve i l thee, brush asi de those tresses fine, loveL et beauty ’ssun and moon unclouded shine

,l ove .

l

Cast one look from those gay and wan ton eyen,

Come,madden W i th de l ight thisheart 0 ’ mine

,love .

Sucked I thy l ip, ’ twere wi ne to the si ck sp iri t ;Come thou

,have ruth and answer

,leech benig n , love .

2

Beware the E ye3 smite no t thy beauty ’sfloret ;

So keep thee from the ri val ’s glance mal ign,l ove .

0 hear t,i t w ere L i fe’sWater mid the darkness; 4

Concealed,an ight

,quaff thou the ruby v ine

,love .

0 dear one,g ive Se l im thy w ine-hued li ple t

,

Then by thine absence turn my tears to W i ne,love .

5

Ghazel. [ 2 2 3 ]Hand in hand thy mole hath plo t ted w i th thy

.hair ;

Many a hear t have they en tangled in the ir snare .6

Thou by nature art an Angel whom the LordHath yclad in human shape of beauty rare .

When he deal t the dole of union ’mong the folk,

God to me gave absence from thee for my share .

That the D raughtsman of all migh t had l imned thy browsF rom nunswri t on gleaming :radiance , one would swear .

7

1 This repeats the first l ine,and simply means‘le t thy brigh t face appear

unhi dden by thy dark hair .

’

2 The beloved is here addressed as a physi c ian and besough t to cure the

love-si ck poet .3 The Evi l E ye .

4F or the legend of the Water of L i fe in the Land of Darkness,see vol . I

,

p . 172 n . 1 and pp . 28 1 sqq .

5That is,make my tears red

,the colour of w i ne

,and turn them to tears

o f blood .

6 The hair represen ts the meshes of the snare,the mole

,the grain or bai t .

7 The tacliq form of the le t ter min 0 isshaped some thing l ike an eyebrow

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

170

root of the evi l i s st i l l there , and there i t must remai n unti l

some reme dy more drasti c than any yet attempted isappl ied .

The wr i t i ngs of Murad I I I are almost ent ire l y myst i cal ,

some t imes eve n ascet i c . Thus he wrote a p rose work which

he cal led F utuhat -us-Siyam or The V i c tor ies of Fasti ng . H i s

D iwan,whi ch contai ns verses i n Arab ic and Persian aswe l l

as i n Turkish , has no great meri t as poetry . Here i s one

of his ghaze ls.

Ghazel. [ 2 24]

Upon God’s favour I my trust do p lace .

H ow sore my yearning for H is blessed grace !

Since I have set my hear t r igh t w i th the Lord,

A l l of my hope upon H isaid I base .

I lean no t upon legions or on gold ;Unto the HostsUnseen I leave my case .

F igh t on,O val iant Champions of the Fai th !

I too do bat tle for the F ai th always.

Fai n do I h0pe my prayer accep ted b e ;F irm fai th do I in its accep tance place .

Muhammed I I I , who succeeded his father Murad i n 1003

(1595) and d ied in 1012 wrote a l i tt le poe try under

the name ofC

A d li, a makhlas whi ch had been already used

by Sul tan Baye z id I I . The work of th issovere ign is how

ever , of l i ttle i n terest , and need not here de tai n us.

Hub b i Qad in , or Dame Hub b i, wasn e i ther a very great

nor a very famous wr i ter, but she deserves ment i on i n a

work l ike the present as be i ng the only Turkish poe tess ofwhom i t is recorded that she wrote a romant i c mesnev i.

This lady , whose personal name wasC

A yishe , wasborn e i ther

17 1

i n the capital o r i n Amasi ya, and was the grand -daughter

of a we l l -known Sheykh named Yahya’

. She wasmarr ied to

Shemsi Che leb i, a grandson of the famousSheykh A q Shems

ud -D in,who had been the Khoja or tutor of Se l im I I p re

v iously to hi s accessi on . In consequence of her husband ’

s

posi t i on , Hub b i was presented to the Pri n ce , and soon b e

came one of his famil iars , acquiri ng over him so great an

i nfluence that after he had become Sul tan many persons

desi rous of the Imper ial favour used to beseech her i n terest

and i nterce ssi on . Qinali-zade , i n speaking of her poetry , says

that she is to b e preferred to all other women who have

essayed the poe t i c art , and that she was the most e l oquent

and highly gifted of her se x . There i s , adds the cr i t i c , no

th ing e ffeminate about her work , which is truly vir i le , and

she i s al toge ther uni que . Besi desa mesnev i ent i t led Khurshid

u Jemshid ,

‘ wh ich contai ns ove r 3000 couple ts, she wrote

a number of qasidas and ghaze ls. One of he r poems of the

latter c lass, i n whi ch the l i nes are al ternate ly i n Turk ish

and Arabi c ,2 is c i ted by Ahmed Mukhtar Efend i i n his

pamphle t ent i tled “our Poe tesses

”

(Shac

ir Khanimlarimiz ) .

The date of Hub b i’

s d eath is un recorded .

c‘

i,the friend of B aq i, was one of the most p romi nent

men of his day, and had mo reove r the si ngular fo rtune to

b e.

succeeded by a son who wo n fo r himse l f an eve n mo re

d ist i nguishe d posi t i on in the h isto ry o fO ttoman l i te rature .

Thisson ,who was a go o d po e t and whose acquai ntance we

shal l make e re lo ng ,isge ne ral ly kno wn asNev‘i-azi d e

that i s , the so n o f cc

i. Am o ng his wo rks is a eo n

t inuat io n o f that b io g raphy o f l earn ed me n C o m p i led by

Tash-K i ip ri-zad e and kn o wn as The ( Irimso n I'

e o uy. In this

1 Ahmed i has n poem e n t i t led Jl’ ll t‘t llll l u K hursh id .

T his k ind of b i l i n g ual poem (what e ve r the tw i n lang uag es emp loyed mayb e ) is known as nm lemmn

'

(“

pan h \VH I l«

17 2

book c

A t zi’

i has i nserted a l ong and appre c iat i ve account of

his father , which forms an exce l lent and trustworthy source

of informat i on .

N evc

i,

o r to gi ve him his ful l name , Yahya the son of

P irC

A li the son of Nasah , was born at the l i tt le town of

Malg hara i n Rume l ia i n the year 940 (153 3 A t first his

father , the Sheykh P irC

A li, super i n tended hisstud ies, but

when he reached his tenth year he j o ined the classof Qara

man i- zade Muhammed Efend i , where he had for fe l low -pupi ls

Baq i,afterwardsthe famous lyr ist , and Sa

C

d -ud -D in afterwards

the great historian . On the complet i on of his course N evc

i

ente red , aswas i nevi table , the body of thec

ulema. H e re ce i ved

his first charge , that of muderris or pri n c i pal of a Gal l i pol i

co l lege,i n 97 3 (1565 and wasgradual ly promoted , unti l

i n 99 1 (1583—4) he was appointed to the col lege of the

Sul tana Mihr-u-Mah i n Constant inople , which posi t i on he st i l l

he ld when Qinali~ zad e wrote . H isnext step wasto the Plane

tree Col lege (Chenarl i Med resa) , one of the Eight Col leges

reckoned in the Court of the Eight dependent on the Mosque

of Muhamme d the Conqueror .

’ This was fol l owed i n 998

(1589—90) by the Cad iship of Baghdad ; but b e fore Nev‘

i

had se t out for his new post , Sul tanMurad nominated him

tutor ' to hisson P ri nce Mustafa . The poe t acqui ted himse l f

so we l l i n th is charge that , as they grew up , the young

P ri nces Bayez id ,C

Osman andc

A b d -ul lah , were made over

to his care . B ut when Murad d ied in 1003 (1595) the first

thought of the new sove re ign was to have the whole of his

n ine teen brothers bowstrung w i thout de lay . This, by the way,

was the last , as i t was the largest , sacr ifice ever offered to

what Creasy cal ls the Cai n-spir i t of Muhammed the Con

queror’

s maxim . Hence forward when a Sul tan ascended the

throne he d i d not murder his b rothers; he shut them up i n

See vol . 11,p . 2 3 , and pp . 3 94—400 .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

I 74

of his e legant expressi on .

’ Concern ing his mesnev is I have

been able to d iscover nothi ng beyond the fact ment ioned by

hissonc

A ta’ i that he composed two wh ich bear the names

of Munaz ara- i Tut i u Zagh,or The Content i on of the Parrot

and the Crow ,

1and Hasb-i-Hal or The Plai n t . H is lyr i cs

form a complete D iwan .

F i l ial reve rence and affe cti on may possib ly have somewhat

i nfluenced c

A ta’

r’

i when he wrote of his father : ‘the flaming

sword of his ve rse is tempe red w i th the swee t water of the

fount of ecstasy , and his every l i ne is a gleaming glai ve

drawn from the furnace of d iv ine l ove .

’ ‘H e mingled the

real and typal l oves2 even asfire and water, thus is each of

his q itc

as l ike a ruby-fragment of g em- l ike c irculat ion , and

each of his peer less couplets l ike a regal pear l , the ornament

of the crown of gladness. Even asthe poems of Baqi Efend i

are ful l o f art and adornment , forming a str i ng ofreg al pearls

w i th the ir shin ing words, so doth the speech of this wri te r

by reason of its fire showe r sparks on the touchwood of

lovers’

hearts, and because of the greatness of its passi on

and ardour br i ng comfort to the hapless lover and to the

heart-wounded . In truth , even as the qasidas of Baqi Efendi

are the envy of the Suspended Poems,

3and ashiswondrous

couple ts dumbfounder mirac les, whi le the sun-br ight sword

of his e loquence is hung on the gi l ded nai ls of the stars, so

are the ghaze ls of this wri ter the couple t-royal 4 of rhe tori c

1 Compare pp . 13 6—13 7 sup ra.

‘2 In the techn i cal language of the myst i cscZashq

-i haq iq i, or real love,stands

for love of God , while Cashq

-i mejaz i, or typal love,means love for a mistress

or o ther ear thly obj ec t . This typal love is the br i dge by which the real loveis reached

,as i t issaid : “ w ell s

rlazs

3 The Suspended P oems (mucallaqat) are seven very famousan cien t Arabicpoems. [ Concern ing the mean ing of the name , See Sir CharlesLyal l ’sAncien tArabian P oe try

,p . X L I V E D . ]

4 Sheh-Bey t, or Couple t-Royal , is the techn ical name fo r the best verse ina. ghazel .

I 7S

and exce l lence , and his heart-d e l i ght i ng phrases the charms

of l ove and affecti on , whi le the leg of the compass of his

e legance and grace hath planted foot wi thi n the c ircle of

l i c i t magic .

’

A l though the style of N evc

i is pedestr ian , and hismanner ,

formed on that of Baq i, rhe tori cal and art ific ial , hiswork is

not w i thout consi derable meri t . H is d irge on Murad I I I and

the Pri n ces, laboured and obscure as i t i s,is not lacking

e i ther i n d ign i ty or pathos; and the care w i th which he

e laborated his qasidas he l ped to pave the way for N efc

i i n

the next gene rat i on . In hishistori cal romance ofJezm i, Kemal

B ey speaks i n high terms of N evc

i’

s poe try,and Professor

Naj i al lows that he wrote a good d eal which can b e read

with pleasure even at the present day.

N evc

i appears to have been aman of very upr ight character

and very amiable d isposi t i on . A l l the authori t ies un i te i n

praisi ng hismany pe rsonal good qual i t ies .

c

A hd i te l lsus that

duri ng his resi dence i n Ad rianople and i n Constanti nople he

rece ived many kindnessesat the hands of N evc

i, whose soc ial

and conversat i onal gi fts he highly extols.

The fol low i ng are the open i ng stanzas of the Elegy on

Sul tan Murad I I I and the Prin ces.

From the E leg y on Sul tan Murad Ill and his Sons. [ 2 25]

Sin ce th is wond rous magi c-fanal sphe re 2 began to turn,ah me !

Since the l ’ai n ie r o f all fashions l imned the d raught,e x iste ncy ;

Sib r-i halal,l i c i t magi c

,is natural o r whi te magi c

,and Was a legal and

honourable stud y ; i t had no conne ct i on wi th t hat o the r b ranch of occul tsci e nce whi ch was he ld to d e pend on d emoniacal age nc y , and was uubm ful.

The t e rm ‘l i c i t magi c ‘ is o fte n used to d enote the charm o f e loquence . [ In a

penc i l note on the manusc ri p t the Autho r he re re fe rs t o IWo n N “ tn the

first. vo lrtme o f S ir R . llur' to n'

s t ranslat i on o f the A rab ian Nig hts, p p . at“ )

and 2 9 3 . Mi n ]Mag ic-lanai (Win ds-l Klrnyrtl) . The name (un its (from the t ire e lr N u t ) is

g lVo n by the Turks to the g lass o r g auze shade o fa lamp . Some t ime-r this

176

Si nce the sons of man , obedien t , first began their cease lessstreamFrom the e lemen tal Mo thers Four, as bade the Sires’ decree ; 1

Since upon this earthly carpe t ’s2 turn in g bow l there hath been playedFortune ’s game of draugh ts and that grim chess of ruthless Dest iny ,Neve r ye t hath ta’en the player , Dust , a man l ike th is. I ween ,Never hath that queen

,the crafty Sphere

,made such Checkmate to b e ,

N eve r hath imaginat i on ’s mirror shown a scene l ike this,

Never hath the p iercing v ision gazed on augh t so dread to see ;Never ye t hath pai n ter p i c tured efli g iesso strange and sad

,

Ne ver yet hath poe t w ri t ten of i ts l ike i n p oesy .Yea

,i ndeed

,i ts di ce hat h w rough t the Worl d of Grow in g an d Decay 3

L ike some wondrous toy where i n lie h id bo th good and v il lai ny .If the King Sun had vi cegeren t

,Saturn ’ twas w i thouten fai l ,4

While the blood-l ike dawn-crepuscule seeme th Mar t ian,veri ly . 5

When they see the love th is hear tless beldam 6 t oward her chi ldren bearsThose among them who are manful break the bonds that ’ tw i x t them b e .

Though a few shor t days thou turn above them,

’

1ye t at length , 0 Sphere ,

L ike the mil l,to dust thou g rindest every grain made o

’

er to thee .

Woe for thy fe l l hand,O trai tor T ime

,unlovely and unrigh t !

Weak are even K ings and Princes ’fore the Sul tan dread,thy migh t .

There is ne ’er a Jem,3 O Sphere

,who hath no t quaffed thy bow l of bane ;

There is none who from thy c ircl ing cup of anguish do th no t drai n .

Thou hast every hear t affli c ted,making each some sorrow ’

s prey ,Ne ’er a si ngle one is free from dole on all this w oeful p lai n .

is pain ted w i th figures and so arranged that i t revolvesw i th the heat of thelamp , when i t is cal led fantis-i Khayal magi c shade (or fanal) , or fantis-i '

gerdan revolving shade (or fanal) . I t is to such a shade or fanal that therevolv ing sphere

,the turning Whee l of For tune

,is here compared .

1 See vol . I,p . 48 .

2 A p iece of leather,l ike a rug or small carpe t

,such as isst i l l some t imes

used in the East as a chess-board .3 The pair of di ce used i n games of chance .

4 Saturn bei ng the most i nauspici ous of all the plane ts,the ‘greater in for tune .

’

See vol . 11,p . 125, n . 1.

5 Mars, the ‘lesser infortune,

’is figured as a warrior ; t o him therefore the

blood-red hues of sunse t and sunrise are appropr iate .

6 The Sphere,o r the ear th .

1 i . e . w i thout hur t ing or crush ing them .

5 Jem or Jemsh id , the anc ien t legendary K i ng of Persia,here stands for

any King .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

178

Mansion Qasida. [ 2 2 6]

Is i t ‘ t ower of Eden , mead of Irem , or rose-garden g ay?

Is i t Salem ’sshrine

,or Mekka’s temple

,or the heavens’ array ?2

’Tisa heaven

,but a heaven free from every shift and change ;

’Tis a rose-bower

,but a rose-bower where there rules no t Autumn ’s sway .

See,the shadow of i ts royal roof’s the huma’s loved parade ; 3

Lo,i ts l ofty arches’ eaves an awn ing for the sphere display .

Out beyond the Six D irec t i ons do th its vast pav il ion stre tch , 4

F ar the l imi t of i ts cour t-yard reache th in to space away .A l l i ts columns ranged around are P i l lars of the State

,5 but st i l l

S tand they on on e foo t,w i th skir t in girdle

,serv i ce promp t t o pay.

Every maker,5who beholds the art its measured l i nes7 declare

,

Fai n would br ing his mai den fancies there as offering to lay.

L i t its lan tern ’s lustre from the stanza br igh t of A nvari,

Whi le the l ines adown i tsw i ndows Jami ’s fair diwan pour tray . 8

Reared have they a dome so l ofty,spread a banque t so selec t

,

That no t e ’en the Four th Estrade 9 may there as cande labrum ray.

Ne ’er a way can find the Sun t o w in that feast selec t un to,

Thus he turnsh is beams t o ropes that through the w i ndow passhe may.

1 I t,i . e . the palace .

2 That is,the array of the starry sky.

3 F or the huma,the bird of happy omen

,which never al i gh ts

,see vol . I ,

p . 3 3 1, n . 5.

4F or the Six Direc t i ons,see v ol . I

,p . 43 , n . 3 .

5‘Pi l lars of the S tate’ is a common term for the Ministers of the Empire .

3 ‘Maker,

’ i . e . poe t .7 The ‘measured l ines’ of the bui lding ; and as secondary i n ten tion

,the

‘measured l ines’ of a poem .

8 This hope less couple t is ful l of ihams or amphibol ogies; there is a playin the first l ine on the word ‘bey t ’ which means bo th ‘house ’ and ‘couple t ’

(th is I have feebly attemp ted to follow by the render i ng also onmisra

c

,

’ meaning ‘fold ing-pane l ’ and ‘hemist i ch,

’and on ‘diwan ’ meaning

couch ’ and ‘col lec t ion of poems,

’ bo th in the second l ine . The mean ings ofthe namesof the two P ersian poe tsare l ikew ise consi dered : A nvari H e of theMost Shin ing ; Jami H e of the G lass. The l i teral translat ion would run thusThe ray of i ts lamp-n iche iskindled at the {

house l ofJH im Or’b eMOS ’ Shir’mg ’

coup le t‘ lA nvari ;j fo ld ing -

panel l couch H im of the G lass.The] hemistich f

of i ts glass(W in dow ) dep i ctsthe {d iwan}0f {] am i .9 The Fourth Estrade is the four th P tolemai c sphere

,that o f the Sun . See

vol . I,p . 43 .

I 79

Since that c onstan t i n i ts censer fragran t w ood of aloes burns,

Gather disembodied sp iri ts at i ts ban que t e very day.

1

Should the warder from i ts turre t cast adown his worn-out cap ,

L et the Indian Saturn don i t ashis crown of glor ious ray.

2

Though the Moon do th p row l by n igh t- t ide,seeking to i ts hal l t o

Reache th no t unto its turre ts that lasso the Milky Way.

Joseph-featured ! Asaph-natured ! 3 Weal and Order o f the Realm !Cream of all the W or thy ! Lamp and E ye of Heaven ’s subl ime display ‘

Noble Pasha,radiant-minded

,gir t w i th splendour as the Sphere !

Lord of c ounsel,sage and chief of youth ful fortune

,blessed aye !

Of thy threshold makes the huma o f fai r luck a l igh t ing-place,

Though ’tis known of all the huma ne ’er i n any nest do th stay .

4

Gran t th ine ai dance un to N evci,so he ’ ll b e the t ime ’s Z ah ir ;

Sul tan Suleyman hath made Baq i the Selman of the day.5

C

A z iz i of Constant i nople is not a poe t of any fame,nor

woul d he have been ment i oned i n th is place , had he not ,

i n an ag e when a rampant and aggressi ve misogyny was

reckoned honourab le among those who affected l i terature o r

sc ience , had the si ngular courage to w ri te a Sheh r-eng iz i n

praise , not of the Ganymedes, but o f the Ph ryn es of con

1 Fo r i ncense is burned i n the i n vocat i on o f disembodied sp i ri ts.

2 The idea he re,apart from the glo rificat i on o f the palace

,is that the turre ts

are so l o fty that thy reach highe r than the most d istan t plane t,on which

would al igh t anything th rown earthwards from them ; Ahmed l ‘asha has e x

p ressed the same no ti on i n his l'alace -(Jasida (vo l . I I , p . 60

,no t es 2 and

The gl oomy and i nauspic i ous Saturn is he re,as o ften

,made i nt o a dusky

lnd ian,se e p . l47 , n . 4

7! As j ose ph is the t y pe o f yo uthfrrl b eauty , so Asaph , Solomon’

s t i ranrl

Vez i r,is that of min ist e rial w isd om . These v e rses are

,o f course

,add ressed t o

the g re at man, p resumabl y the b rrihle r o f the palace , i n “ llnsr' honour N e v

’

t

wrote this qasida.

4 [ The l in e ! is | t l'n lrtllrly llri lt lci llg lle t t‘ H f llt r‘ fr i llrnt llt g V e rse of l lrl l’

t

o0 ‘ o

tg

r

a m m es, at, Linus ‘eh? ,

L; ro O)“ m ’

,a. . has

He r: R osurrz we ig -Sr' hWrrn nrru

'

s e rl. , V o l. t, p . u . tfl r. |

o l I"r1| yri b rrrrrl Se lrrrr‘

rn o l S ri ve ,

us t'o lrve rrlio nul ty pes o f po r

' t ir'

l i lt ’ l\t r i r rlrl l'r‘t nlm; lt r t t

‘l 'l “ ltn Nr‘H t‘rl

180

temporary Stamboul . 1 L i tt le is known of C

A z iz i himse l f ;

Qinali- zade , to whom he sent some rather common -place

verses for i nsert i on i n his Te z kire , speaks of h im as hold ing

the posi t i on of Kyab ya or Steward to the Wardens of the

Seven Towe rs, and dec lares that his stud ies i n the art of

wr i t i ng poe try have been crowned w i th success. When we

have added to these few part i culars the facts that his name

was Mustafa and that he was a nat ive of the capi tal, where

he d ied , accord ing to R iyaz i, i n 993 and was bur ied

just outsi de the gate of the Seven Towers, we have come

to the end of our i nformati on conce rn ing his personal i ty .

1 The words of C

A ta°i when speak ing of B aqa

’

r’

i i n his con t i nuat ion to theCrimson P eony show the exten t to which the learned classwas at this t imepermeated by misogyny . B aqé

’i,who died in 1003 (1594 wasa man of

some p rominen ce i n the ranks of the Calema

,and no doub t c

A ta’

i though tthat he ough t to have been more sol i c i tousfor the honour and the tradi t ionsof that august body than to have wri t ten the fol low i ng couple t

,i n which he

has no t only the efl’ron tery to men t ion w omankind,but the impudence to

assume that the desp ised se x can have some charm for the ir l ords

I“)

”inf“

! u liiir

. )59 ire-5

3- 3

JJ JJ-Q)

am id add : eX Aafi w rin

g : af

I f ladieswhen they fare abroad are alway ve i led,appears i t strange ?

F or highway robbersshroud the face when forth in quest of p rey they range .

The biographer accordingly seeks to scathe the offending wri ter for this au

dacious outrage agai nst the propr ie t ies,as understood by the

culema

,w i th

these shameful words,which in real i ty reflec t disgrace only on h imsel f and

h is caste : G o a/cor ) M3 , o ij m f Jaye 05g 6

b gaff 3

,

g ag g le draw s

, ”(as (p asts , til/

m g ist

c an}! ex p atsMa x ; c astsf, a? t h an g

iant.

3 L}, w olf L g}? u

’b ld ls; o& 3. i AL} !

S’Df

’f Cer tain Eastern r ievers ve i l the l ower par t of the face whenout on a foray, just as highwaymen in this coun try used t o w ear a mask . The

al lusion in the verse is of course t o the yashmaq or ve i l which Turkish ladiesalwayswear when out of doors.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

18 2

pe rsonal pe cul iari ty, such ashe r abundan t hai r, o r her pre tty

hands o r ankles, i n w hich case advantage is taken of the

sobri que t , as w e l l as of the gir l’

s real name and he r fathe r ’s

trad e , to supply mate r ial for that runn ing fire of equi voques

and playful al lusi ons of e very desc r i pt i on w hi ch isso cha

rac te ristic of the Sheh r-eng iz . I t is also worthy of note that

asw i th the youths,so w i t h the gir ls

, the namesare i n every

case Muhammedan ; Greek , Armen ian , or Jewish names do

not occur i n poetry in such conne ct i ons t i l l a consi derably

late r pe ri od . Mesihi and Zat i’ gave the i r boys on ly four l i nesapiece , but each of c

A z iz i’

s girls has a stanza of six l i nes

to he rse l f.

These are the twe lve verses gi ven by Von Hammer

From the Shehr-eng iz . [ 2 2 7 ]

Mihman,the Barber ’s Daug h ter .

I

Mihman,the barber ’s daughter

,too is there ;

B e heart and soul a sacrifice for her !I n whatsoever hut that M oon on e n ightIs guest

,she makes i t as a star fo r l igh t .

A l though that w in to her I never may,“The ‘guest ’ do th eat no t what he hoped

,they say.

2

Long-Haired Zeman .3

Among these l o ves Long-Haired Z eman stands for th,

A ‘many-headed ’ Tormen t of the ear th .4

I Muz eyyin-Q i zi Mihman Guest,the Barber ’sDaugh ter.

‘

2 Von Hamm er p rin ts th is l ine)t ) sli A

f" Mg d

zal d a ir s, which hasne i ther meaning nor me tre . Readin g y a. ) (for i n p lace of

f' i’ we g et

“The guest eats no t what he hoped,

”whi ch is a proverb

,

‘eats’ be ing used

i n its common sense of ‘ge ts.

’ This proverb,which means

,

‘the travel ler must

eat what he finds, not what he wan ts,

’

or,i n o ther words

,

‘Beggars canno tb e choosers, ’ is no t uncommon

,and is gi ven by E bu ’

z - Z i yaTevfiq B ey i nthe al ternat i ve form z

j g Lg'

si g ck aojl 9L“ .

3 Sachli Z eman (Long Hai red T ime or Fortune .

4A beauty is often called a‘Tormen t ’ or a

‘Tormen t of the Ear th .

’ A‘many-headed Tormen t ’ means a very great t ormen t

,the or iginal i dea be ing

183

L i ke ‘Fortune ’ fel l and tyrannous isshe ;H er l overs as her ‘hairs’ i n number b e .

H er‘l ocks’ take tribute from the heart ’s domai n ;

The ‘tresses’ on her neck have turned my brai n .

P enba cAyn i .

I

Penba c

A yn i, a jasmine-breast , is there ;H er body is as ‘co t ton ’ soft and fair.

I n the soul ’s garth her form ’s a sapl ing mee t

,

H er mouth a‘foun t ’ of water pure and swee t .

I deemed her friendly,but the dear d id say,

‘After what k in d may fire and ‘co t ton ’ play 2

Mai d CAyisha.

3

One is Mai d CAyisha, a beauty rare

,

W i th loveli ness and cheeks l ike C(A z ra fair .

4

Ne ’er hath the starry mo ther sphere brough t forthA ‘daughter’ l ike to he r upon the earth .

I shal l no t b lush al though her slave I b e ;N or son nor

‘daugh ter’ shal l the bashful see .5

Jenne t . “‘l leaven

’is the frame

,

‘K evscr’ 7 the l i p o f one

May ‘God ’ i n g race ac co rd her t o me soon !What though 1 pair he rs w i th the ‘houris” eyes

,

l l e r beauty mocks at highest

that o f a D ragon w i th many heads. Incid en tal ly refe rence ismad e t o the hai rof the g i rl ’s he ad , whi ch was

,apparentl y

,he r g reat charm . [ A penc i l-not e o f

the Autho r’s se ems to shew that frrrthe r i n fo rmat i on incl i ned him to take the

wo rd he re t ranslate d ‘many-headed ’ as‘muc lr-Iread ed , ’ i n the sense o f‘in te llig e n t ,’

‘fe tn rne de lCte .

’ico .l

I’e n ba Ayn i F oun tai n o f ( lo t t on .

2 We have se en this p rove rb b efo re,Se e V o l, I I , p . 256 an d n . t .

3 His”Ayisha Maid (o r I trrng hle r)

‘

Ayishn .

the he roi ne of the ro mnn r'e o f V r’rm irl rrrrd

cAvril ; t h e re is n te in is

he re b e twe e n the name “Amt! (whic h means ‘v i r'gi n

,and the w o rd

l imi t r' he e lr .

Jul) ! “fl

-5J a il)! Uls- l Ln " l

’

he bashful wIlI have ne i the r so n no r

daug hte r, ’ is a p ro ve rb, mur lr IIIr t ‘ o ur ‘I"rrln t heart ne v e r “ on fai r huly . ’

j o nne t l lc rrve n,l'

rrrud ise .

1 Ke vse r,the ri ve r hr I ’rrrad isu. Se e vo l. I , p . y r

.

184

W i th whomsoe ’er foregathe rs yonde r “foe , l

l le ’s of the ‘blest ’ t hough yet on ear th,I trow .

cAyisha, the P oul terer ’s Daughter .

One is hight,the poul terer’s chil d ;

A l l,high and low

,for her are wode and w i ld .

I n the soul ’s garden the hear t ’s ‘dove ’ is she,

F or the neck-c ircl ing r i ng 2 her ankle t see .

What should I do but lo ve that W i nsome dear ?

F or plump her body is and whi te and clear .

Lady J iban .3

One is a moon-face whom Jihan they name ;She

’s l ike the ‘world

,

’ false,o f hear t-r iev ing fame .

A l though the ‘worl d’ do th naugh t of fai th display,

From yon swee thear t the soul ne ’er w i ns away .L e t m e but b e w i th her i n happy case

,

Then b e the ‘world ’ divorced from my embrace .

L acl-Para.

4

Again L aCl-Para is the name of one,

A mai d hard-hear ted as a‘fli n ty stone .

’

H er mouth a ruddy ‘ruby ’ is i n truth ;

In grace her tee th,her w ords

,are

‘pearls’ for soo th .

What though my heart b e subj ec t un to her,

H er‘rubies’ 5wor th a

‘Coral-b lessi ng ’ are .5

1 A ‘woe,

’ l ike a‘Torment

,

’ means a beauty . There are two un translatablepuns i n this l ine ; the word for ‘foregathers’ meansalso ‘r ises(from the

that fo r ‘woe’ means also ‘

resurrec t i on .

’

‘

2 The r i ng round the ne ck of the ‘r ing-dove .

’The original has i n this l ine

it ); forOdjf neck

,which is a mistake .

3 Jih z’

m Ban i Lady of the World .

4 L a‘l-Para Ruby-Chip .

5 H er l i ps.

Merjz’

i n du‘asi coral b lessing . This expression is no t explained in any

o f the dic tionaries,and Von Hammer’s no te

,

‘Ein b eriihmtes G eb e th vonR ub inen g rab er

’

,is unsat isfactory . The follow in g explanat i on was given to me

by a Turk ish friend . There is i n Constantinople a p iece of rising groundcal led Merjan Yoqushu i . e . Coral R ise

,which has b een for generat i ons, and

st i ll is a favour i te haun t of beggars. These w ere i n the hab i t of i nvoking allmanner of b lessings on anyon e who gave them an alms

,and thus a

‘Coralb lessing ’ (for a

‘Coral R ise blessi ng ’ ) came popularly to mean any extravagan tp ro testat i on of grat i tude o r devo t ion .

CA z iz i

’

s use of the expressi on may b ee i ther complimen tary or i roni cal .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

186

In quaffing beauty ’s w ine , however fain ,None ’n eath the heavens can her b eaker I drain .

Though beauty ’s sea do th many sw immers bear,Not one of those can reach her ‘

ankles’ fair .

A l though Ruh i’ of Baghdad is one of the best poets of

th is t ime , he is not ment ioned by Qinali-zade ; so that i n

all probab i l i ty his fame had not ye t reached the West when

that care ful b iographe r compi led his memoirs.

C

A hd r’

,how

ever, al though he wrote more than twenty years earl ier than

Qinali- zade , knowssome th i ng about Rub i, probably because

the poet was, l i ke himse l f, a nat i ve of Baghdad . This bio

graphe r te l lsus that Ruh i,w hose pe rsonal name was

C

Osman ,

was the son of’

a Rumi or Western Turk who came to Bagh

dad i n the sui te of Ayas Pasha whom in 948 (1541) Sul tan

Suleyman sent out as governor of the provi nce of whi ch

that c i ty was the cap i tal . This man sett le d in Baghdad ,

j o ined the local volunteer corps, and marr ied a nat i ve wi fe ,

by whom he had at least one son , Rub i the poe t . Whenc

A hd r’

w rote , Ruh i'

wassti l l l i v i ng i n Baghdad , a tal l hand

some young man w i th a remarkable turn for poe try and a

great fondness fo r frequent i ng the soc ie ty of learned men .

H e was i n the habi t of visi t ing all the de rvishes and poe ts

who came to the c i ty,to cap verses w i th them and to d is

cuss l i te rary quest i ons. So farC

A hd i’

; from Von Hammer,

quoting R iyaz i and R i za, we learn that R t

'

rhi eventual ly

turned dervish himse l f, enter i ng, as became a poe t, the order

founded by the i nspi red J e l al -ud -D i’

n just be fore the dawn

of Ottoman poe try . After th is he spent most of his t ime

i n wander i ng from town to tow n i n company w i th a band

of brother Mev lev is, amongst whom were one or two who

acquired a momentary reputat i on as poe ts. After remai n ing

fo r a t ime i n Constant in ople a Sheykh of the Mevlevi Con

1 There isa ibam in this l ine,the word ayaq meaning bo th ‘beaker’ and ‘foo t . ’

187

ve nt at Galata, Ruh i made a pi lgr i mage to the tomb of the

founde r of his order at Qonya. Then ce he went on to Da

mascus, where i n 10 14 (1605—6) he d ied and was bur ied .

Ruh i le ft behi nd him a comple te D iwan of myst i c verses

of the usual style ; but his reputat i on to -day rests almost

exclusive ly on a we l l -known Terk i’

b -Bend which st ill enj oys

a not unmer i ted favour i n Turkish l i terary ci rc les. I n th is

poem,whi ch consists of seven teen stanzas, he runs al ong

the whole gamut of moods known to contemporary poe try ,

beginn ing in a sp ir i t of lofty and profound myst i c ism , and

pass ing on through a phase of b i tter defiance of all accepted

convent ional i t ies, to end i n a tone of contented resignat i on .

F rom the last stan za we learn that the poem was wr i tten

i n Damascus. Whe ther Ruh i ever v isi ted that c i ty i n the

course of his ear l ie r wander i ngs, we do not know ; i f n ot,

th is Terk ib must have been w r i tten very short ly be fo re his

death .

H e has anothe r i nte rest i ng poem w ri tten th is t ime i n the

Qitc

a form in wh i ch he charges the bree ze , i f i t should pass

by Baghdad on its j ourn ey , to l ook down and see how his

friends the re are ge tt i ng on . I lc the n ment i ons these by

name , some thi rty o r so i n all (many of the names occur

i n C

A hd i’

s Te z k ire ) , giv i ng a d esc ri pt i ve couple t to each .

No ne of these are of muc h acc ount no w exce pt pe rhapsc

A hd t the biographe r, o fwh om he says:

‘lrurlr A hd i irrrlite fai r ghaze ls l i ke the rose?‘l lo w fal e th that N ight i ngale o r the r

‘

o se bo wc r of cul ture?"

A l tho ug h the fam e o f these ve rsitie rs has l o ngr s in c e passe d

away , Ix'

r'

rht'

s l ist is ful l o f i n te rest , fo r“ it g i vesus a g l impse

o f l i te rary so c i e ty in llag hd zid t h re e hund re d years ag o .

”

f‘)

Gava n

,“ Juli” sl u k é n c

"(je t

,

( 1

188

Un l ike most of the poe ts whose works we have been

consi der i ng , Ruh i'

appears to have lai d more stress on his

matte r than on his style . H is language isplai n and straight

forward , w i t h l i tt le or none of the usual strai n i ng after

art ific ial embe l l ishments. Sim i lar ly ,his vocabulary is some

what meagre , and he constan t ly repeats the same word ; i t

woul d seem that when he had foun d a word o r phrase which

suffic iently expressed his mean ing he used i t agai n and

agai n , w i thout car i ng to hunt for another for the sake of

mere varie ty .

Ziya Pasha bracke ts Ruh i not very happi ly w i th Ham i,a consi derably late r poe t , who has l i tt le i n common w i th

the author of the Terk i’

b beyond the fact that he too was

born i n one of the eastern provinces of the Empire .

‘Si nce

both ,’

says the Pasha, ‘came from C

I raq , they were men of

heart and l ords of spee ch ;’

a not very happy remark, by

whi ch the w r i ter probably mean t noth ing more than that

the poe t i c and mysti c temperamen t was common among

men from the confines of Persia, but whi ch Kemal B ey

turns i nto r i d i cule , saying ,

‘i t woul d seem then that i f the

State shoul d w ish to found an academy of l i terature i t w i l l

have to en rol as membe rs all the Kurds and Baghdad men

i n Constanti nople .

’

Ziya , how ever hastens to ad d that whi le

both those poets have some beaut i ful w orks,these are l ike

rare flowers i n a meadow, as more than the hal f of the i r

Diwans is fi l led up w i th taste less padd ing . I t is the grace

of his Te rk ib ,

‘ he cont inues, that has confe rre d fame on

Ruh i’

; fo r al though by careful study the gemsmay b e sepa

rate d from the w orthlessstones,his wo rks of value are but

few,whi le all the rest is me re ly ‘old w i ves’ blessi ngs!

’

A s Ruh i ’s Te rk ib -Bend is too l ong to b e given in its

entire ty, I have been re luctantly compe l led to omit several

Both Saimi and Z i yaPasha composed celebrated naz iras to thisterk ib -bend .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

190

That w i ne whereby the hear t and eye of Jem t do radiance gai n .

0 master,2 see thou boast thee no t o ’

er those who l ose themsel ves;F or every dervish of that realm ’

s a king sans troops or trai n .

Bec ome thou dust,3 that God may raise thy d ign i ty aloft ;

H e is the un i verse’s crown who dust for home hath ta’en .

Come,t o the tavern let us straigh t repair i n his desp i te

Whose back is bowed beneath the load of formal can t and vai n .

Hand round the w i ne,cup

-bearer,we are those of whom they say

‘They are rakes who at the Primal Feast the morning-draugh t did drain .

’

Hearken this couple t on the ir pligh t the whi ch Peyami sang,4

H e who is chief of all the fr iends who chan t the P ersian strain,

‘The rakeswho drank the morning-draught at A -lest ’s Feast are we ;‘We

’re first o f all who quaff the bow l

,of all who drunken b e .

’

A j oyous nook for mirthful souls had been this ear th,I trow

,

H ad Adam only heedful looked his walk to whi les ag o ,

Were part ing no t the end of un ion,si ckness that of heal th ;

Did w ine not turn to poison,feast i ng in to mourning flow .

W i th in this flee t ing w orld the one who pleasan t l ives is heTo whom ’

tis equal come there happ iness,or come there woe ;

L et him b e ever comrade o f those rakeswho quaff the bowl,

L et him put forth hisstrength , or b e i t less or b e i t mo .Sti ff, how shoul d the man of weal th i n peace and j oyance l ive ?I f but one groat thou take from him

,ful l sad his hear t do th grow .

This much is c lear,that one ’s last rest ing-place must b e the dust

,

Al ike i f he do lack a groat or i f h isweath o’

erflow .

Cup-bearer, hand as w i ne and let us dr ink in his desp i te

Who b rag g eth i n his i gnoran ce of that he do th no t know .

A l l they who do the tavern-folk ’s elat ion blest gainsay,

By their own reason seek to w in t o Truth,ah

,w el-a-way !

Behold the zealo t who woul d fai n the guide and teacher play ;B ut yesterday he wen t t o school

,he

’

d master b e to-day!The tavern he would over throw

,he

’

d lay i t waste forsoo th ,

Jem, the ancien t King ; here, the myst i c revel ler,or the poe t ’s soul .

2 The master is l ike the zealo t of the p re ceding stanza, or perhaps herethe reader .

3 Humble and l ow l y as dust .4 There was a Turkish poet of this name who l i ved under Murad I I I , also

an Indian poe t at the court of Akbar .

19 1

The whi le the hapless seek therei n mi d w eal and peace to stay .

Not e ’en one momen t let him cease to grasp the rose-l ike bow l,

Who hopesw i th in this house of woe t o hold hissp i ri t g ay.

L e t him become the humble slave of some fair Cypress-form,

Who seeke th freedom in the world from dolour and dismay .

R id ing for l i fe on sorrow ’

s hi ll the l o ve-bemaddened hear t‘I overthrow the l oud renown of F erhad ’sw oes, ’ do th say.

1

H is l i v ing calm in absence,yearni ng no t for un i on ’s j oys

,

Is that he seeks to school h im to the Loved One ’s crue l sway .Much hath he wandered far and w i de

,but found no p lace t o rest

,

So t o Baghdad at length he th inks once more t o bend his way.

Baghdad ’s the shel l,its pearl the Pearl of N ejef is perdie , 2

Beside the which all gems and j ewelsstones and po tsherds b e .

That Pearl Unique whi ch ne ’er may mee t w i th ri val or w i th peer ;The she l l o f Be i ng n e ’er shal l pearl uni que as this one rear ;

That noble soul may just l y vaun t his magnan imi ty ,Whom ne i ther th is w orl d nor the nex t insp ires w i th hOp e or fear ;Who comprehendeth that beknown to his essen t ial self

,

The riddle of the tex t-books read in college of the sphere ;To morrow Heaven and Earth shal l w eep fo r yonder zealo t ’s pl igh t

,

Who w i l l n o t take from cA li

’

s hand and d rain the beake r clear ;‘The sec re t o f the Scri p tures Four 3 l ies i n one Poi n t

,

’sai d he

,

‘Whe re i n 4 the secre ts of the l ibrary of th ings appear ;‘That l’o in t am I

,

’ 5sai d he ; ‘then turn,behold its mystery

,

lt’

e rhad,the i l l-fated lo ve r o f Sh iri n ; he re , any l ove r .

2 A t N ejef, no t far from Baghdad,is the tomb o f the l

’ro phe t

’

s cousi n andso n in-law

LA li

,the chi e f sai n t o f the Shi

ca sec t of lslzim .

The l’e n tatcuch,the l'sahns

,the ( lospe l, and the Ko ran

,which are the

hour Sc ri ptures acknowl edged and re ve re d hy Islam .

4 l. e . i n those I“o ur Sc ri ptures.

5 [ This al ludes to a ve ry we l l-known sayi ng asc rihe d by the Sh i‘i t es to‘A l i

“A l l that. is i n the Q nr'

an is i n the |"x‘lliha (o pe ni ng chapte r ) an d all t hat

in i n the is i n the llism i'

lldh,and all that is i n the Itismi

'

llah is i nthe H. (Ha) o f the llimo i

'

lhih,and all that is in the ll. o f the Miami llah is

i n the l'o in l (o r d o t ) whi ch in und e r the | i .,and I AM ‘

l t l lf. ro lN l'

“ hich isIl l t llt‘ t‘ the li .

" MI L ]"A ll itt also t

‘t‘lm t lc t l lo have N ttlt l

w o n t l r.

t i“? talnl Lie? “L5

“Jame Jar: J yLw

u

“ Auk of In c e re ye ho w th e fo l V e l i ly he re (poi n t i ng: to lt i 'n li l t‘lt ’d l l“ ti l l1

h t i o wle i lg o .

"

192

‘F or I am named w i th all the Names o f all- that b e , ‘ my fere .

’

Since that the men of hear t desi re the moral of the tale ,What is i ts purpose ? Learn and understand , O sage an d seer .

Jargon and sophistry isall, w i thout , w i thin , forsoo th ;A Poin t is then Root of the Word , the F irst , the Last, i n truth !

There is no durance i n the luck or i ll-luck of the sky,There is no tro th among the age ’s folk or low or high .

B e not dece i ved then by i ts luck , or by i ts ill~luck ta’en ,Say no t that woe i n its i ll-luck , j oy i n its luck do th lie .

Incl i ne no t to the high thereof, 2 nor treat w i th sco rn the low ;Say no t that meannessw i th the low

,gifts w i th the high aby.

Strive ever that thou ne ’

er may ’st l ook un to another ’s hand ,F or naught of gai n to thee from me

,t o me from thee may hie .

Thou seest upon o thers’ shoulderssat ins and brocades,Wai l n ot

,

‘O’er mine an ancien t coat of homespun hangs aw ry ! ’

F l ing all such thoughts aside and b e the seer of the ag e ,

Know him for head- turned through whose head such whimsand fanc ies fly .Heed not the morrow ’

s case,drink w ine

,gaze on the fair one ’s cheek ;

A v ision on the morrow ’

s pledged to lovers true forby . 3

If mir th reach forth the hand,l ose no t one momen t

,grasp i t t i gh t ,

The world do th meri t no t that man shoul d heed i tsmean desp i te .

ra g a- as ate -za aia aa aae ar a a x ar s ae aa aa a:

Out on the thorn of Fate ! out on its rose an d on i ts mead !Out on the ir r ivals! out upon the ir l oved ones harsh of deed !And all those j oys arising from the deaden ing pow ers of w i ne ,Out on the i r w ine and t opers! out on the ir drunken creed !See ing the w ilderness o f death ’s the goal of all that l i ves

,

Out on the caravan ! and out on him who doth i t lead !\Vhat should we make of rank and state

,si nce high is the ir repute?

Out on the buyer,on the sel ler to the lose l breed !

And yonder world where in the op ium-eatersmysteriessee,

Out on the ir w onder-visions! out on their myst i c screed !

[ i . e .

“ I am God,

‘to whom be long the Most Comely E D . ] Seevol . 1

,p . 61 .

2 Of the ag e .

3 Myst i c ; the v isi on of the Divine B eauty which w i ll b e behe l d of allthose who truly love .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

l94

Khaqan i presented i t to the Grand Ve zi r who , be i ng highly

pleased w i th i t,showed i t t o several of the great men of

the state , all of whom we l comed i t w i th no less favour than

himse l f. W ishing to do some th ing to reward the gi fted w ri te r,

they invi ted Khaqan i’ i n to the ir p resence and asked h im

what might b e his desire . The poe t , who he l d an appoi nt

ment at the Porte , but , l i ke most of the Khojas or govern

ment master-cle rks of those days, resi ded near the Adrianople

Gate,at the other end of Constant inople , repl ied ,

‘I am

now old,and no longer able to come every day from the

Adrianople Gate to the Porte on foot ; might I b e permitted

to ri de?I seek no othe r reward in th is wor l d .

’ I t was con

t rary to the e tiquette then prevai l i ng that an official of

Khaqan i’

s grade shoul d r i de w hen on duty , so the min isters

coul d not comply w i th the poe t ’s request i n that form , but

they accompl ished hisw ish by presenting him w i th asui table

house close to the gove rnment offices.

Khaqan i d ied i n 1015(1606— 7 ) and was bur ied i n the

cemetery of the Adrianople Gate Mosque , where his last

rest ing-place may st i l l b e seen , surrounded by an ol d i ron

rai l i ng and ove rshadowed by an anc ien t tree which throws

a me lancholy shade over the desolate and neglected l i ttle

graveyard . Of the dozen or so tombstones there , K haqani’

s

al one remai ns erect ; the ground beneath the others has

subsi ded more o r less, so that they all i nc l i ne at d ifferent

angles, and when the wre tched l i ttle lamp suspended over

the poe t’

s grave is l i t on Thursday and Sunday n ights,

the

fai n t and fitful gleam dimly l ighting this dreary place p ro

duces an e ffect strange l y we ird and sad . On the stone ,rounded and green w i th ag e , which marks the spot where

The nightsbe tween the Thursday and Friday and the Sunday and Mondayof every week are special ly honoured in Islam

,the one i n memory of the

concept ion , the o ther of the b ir th , of the P rophe t . I t isa cust om w i th cer tai np ious people to l i gh t lamps on these n igh ts ove r the graves of holy men .

I QS

Khaqan i l ies, may st i l l b e trace d the legend p rayi ng the

visi tor to repeat the Fat iha for the soul of h im whose ashes

rest ben eath . The mason who carved thislegend hasblunde re d

i n the most amaz ing manner over the dead man ’

s name .

H e cal ls him H i la Khaqan i, imagin i ng apparently that the

name of the poem (which he coul d not Spe l l ) was that of

the poet

K haqani’

s famous mesnev i , whi ch'

is not very long, is a

paraphrase of an Arabi c text known as E l-H ilyat-um-Nebe

v iyya, The Prophet i c Physi ognomy, wh ich descr ibes the

features and personal appearance of the Prophe t . ThisArabi c

text gives the trad i t i onal account of the Prophe t’

sappearance

i n the s implest fashion : ‘the Prophe t of God (God blessand

save him ! ) was br ight o f blee , black of eyne , r igh t goodly,

bloodshot of eye , d rooping of eye lash , w i de’ tw een the eye

brows, arched of eyebrow ,aqui l i ne of nose , w i de

’ tw ixt the

tee th ,’

and so on,ment i on i ng each de tai l after the manner

of a catalogue . K haqan i’

s plan is t o take each of these

phrases,‘bright of ble e

,

’ ‘black of eyne ,’

e tc . and w ri te on

i t a versified commentary o f from tw e lve to twenty c ouple t s .

A s befi ts the theme , a large numbe r of untranslated A rabi c

quotati ons,bi ts from the Ko ran and the l lad is, are i n tro

duced th roughout the poem .

A l though i t has no g reat me ri t as poe t ry , the wo rk has

always be e n popular o n acc ount ofitssubj e ct . I t waspri nted

i n C o nstan ti no ple i n 1264(1847 and Ziya l ’asha quo t es

almost the who le o f i t i n the thi rd vo lume o f his Tave rn .

Speaking o f Khr’upin t i n the p re fac e to that antho l o gy ,

the

l ’asha says,playing o n his nam e

,t hat he was the Khm pin

o f the wo rl d o f ve rse , w i t ho ut pe e r o r l i val i n all l\’ ll l l l (i n

his o wn sphe re , is sure ly und e rsto o d ) , that tho ug h his l lilya

is b ri e f, e ve ry wo rd i n it fro m b e g i nn in g t o e nd is a p eanl,

that i t is w ri t te n i n a style scarce ly po ssi b le to i mi tate . and

196

that i t isbeyond doubt a miracle achieved through the grace

of the Prophe t . This panegyri c seemssomewhat ove rdone

and not a l i ttle far- fe tched . Seve ral passages from Khaqani’

s

poem have passed in to proverbs, notably the fol low i ng couple t

i ncul cat ing submissi on to the D ivine decree

Stri ve no t,for i t hath been cut by this sword

‘H e shall no t b e quest ioned of what H e do th .

’

Besi des his H ilya, Khaqan i le ft a Diwan which isw i thout

i nterest .

The fol low i ng extrac t from the pro logue t o the H ilya gives

a tradi t ional account of the beginn ings of creat i on .

From the H ilya-i Sherifa. [ 2 2 9 ]

In br ief,that King of E terni ty

,

That Lord of unfading empery,

To Whom are the secre ts of earth revealed,

And every atom that l ies concealed,

To wit,the King of the unseen ve i l

,

The Judge,the Just

,w i thout let or fai l

,

L ike the treasure hid,2 from e tern i ty

H ad bode alone w i th H isUn i ty,

To wit,H is G lory no need had known

Of homage by man or by ange l shown,

When constrai ned the unfe t tered Sel f of H isThe cause of the creat i on of all that is.A t that same momen t Love had b ir th ;In a w ord, a L i gh t 3 shone glori ous forth .

v

‘

v 1 O 4

3 o 0 t G J O 3

The phrase Ljsx fu L“ : Ji m -t 55, H e shal l n o t b e questi oned of what H e

doth , is from the Koran,ch . X X I

,v

. 2 3 .

7 An allusi on to the well-known Tradi t i on beginn ing : ‘I was a H i ddenTreasure3 This L i gh t is closel y connec ted

,i f no t i den ti cal

,w i th what is cal led the

Li gh t of Ahmed (or Muhammed) which is usuall y sai d to have been the firstth ing c reated .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

198

Ful l sheen was the radiance of h is face,

H is cheekswere lustrous w i th lustre ’s grace .

One of hear t w i th the rose was his face ’shue ;L ike the rose

,un to ruddiness i t drew .

Yclad his face i n the l igh t of de l igh t,

’Twas the Chap ter of L i gh t 1 or the dawn of l igh t .The scr i p ture of beauty was that fair face ;The down on his cheek was the ve rse of grace .

Shamed by his v isage brigh t as day,L i fe ’s Foun tai n hi d in the dark away . 2

Wel l may the comrades of j oyance call

‘The sheen of h is v isage conquers all !’

Yon radiant face shone i n the sky

The l ight of the harem-feast on high .

The P ortrai t-pai n ter of Nature gaveThe le to all beauty that man may have .

When the sweat upon that Sul tan st oodH e was forsoo th l ike the rose bedewed .

3

At the end of the last chapter we had to say farewe l l t o

L at i fi, and now the t ime has come when we must take leave

of the biographers C

A hd i and Qinali-zade .

Ofthe former of these I have al ready spoken suffic iently ;4

i t is enough to ad d here that al though hisR oseb ed of Poe ts

was or ig inal ly compi led i n 97 1 (156 3 the manuscri p t

be longing to the Bri t ish Museum ,made use of i n wri t i ng

the foregoing pages,represen ts a later and much enlarged

rescension of the work . Dates late r than 97 1 occur i n several

o f the not ices, the latest of all be i ng 100 1 (1592 W e

know , on the author i ty of R iyaz i, thatc

A hd i d id not d ie

t i l l towards the end of the re ign of Murad I I I , and as this

1 Stira X X I V of the Koran is cal led the Chap ter of L igh t .‘

1 Ano ther al lusion t o the my th of the Foun tai n of L i fe i n the Dark Lan d ,which has been interwoven w i th the A lexander legend .

3 A s in note 3 on the last page .

4 Ch . I,p . 8 sup r a.

I 99

Sul tan d ied i n 1003 i t is qui te l ike ly that these

addit i onsmay have been made by the author himse l f.

Qinali- zade Hasan Cheleb i l was born a t Brusa i n 953

(1546 his father , Qinali-zadec

A li Che leb i,be i ng pr i n c ipal

o f the col lege of Hamza B ey i n that c i ty . Hasan embraced

his fathe r’

s professi on , en tered the ranks of the C

ulema, and ,

after an act ive and honourable career asmude rr isand judge

i n many towns, d ied as cad i or judge of Rose tta i n Egypt

on the 12 th of Shevwal 1012 (15th March Qinali- zad e’

s

Te z k ire , which was comple ted i n 994 and ded i cated

to Khoja Sac

d -ud -D in, the t i tular

‘

Preceptor of Murad I I I

and the author of the famous Crown of Chron ic les, contai n s

not i ces of over six hund red poets,d i v i ded in to three P asls

or Se cti ons , the first of whi ch treats of the Sul tan -poe ts;

the second , of those membe rs of the Imperial family who

wrote poetry , but never ascended the throne ; and the th ird ,

of the poe ts of all othe r c lasses, from the ear l iest t imes

down to his own day. This work which I have so often

quoted i n these pages, is gene ral ly cons idered the best o f

all the Turkish Te z k ires, and i t is of great value , not on ly

from the mass of b i ographi cal de tai ls which i t c ontai ns, but

also on account of the great numbe r and varie ty of its

quotat i ons from the seve ral po e ts. The autho r’

s style is

unfortunate l y turgi d i n the ext reme ; m ean i ngl ess ve rbosi t y

and e ndless ro domontad e se ri ousl y i nte rfe re w i th the pleasure

at least o f the mo d e rn read e r ; but no d oubt Q inali-za'

d e

l lasan (lhe lehi was a ve ry tin e w ri te r i n his o wn eyes and

' l ’hut is,Murd e r lltth tt l l t j i iu

‘d i-uo u. A ee o rd ing to l

'

l t lft‘hMH‘ Nail, the stu

name i.llllfl ll whie h tueuuu l Ie n ou-uui u-mvu

,mm eo ui e try in the fol low ingt

manne r. The Ido g luldu'

r'

u |urte ruul g rum ll'

uthe r,t tur L o rd ' A hd ul Qud ir the

l lum id l (o r l luui ld mun ) , ut o ne t im e t ilulur tuto r to Muhuuuued the t'

o uque ro r ,

wuu t tuln t lu lttt to r the luviulu Way in uhleh he n ind e use o t the d ye t ulled

hemui, | i ro huh|y Io r ntuiulo g ht ; lN '

tt l t l. l lem e he g o t the uh luuuue o t t‘

thutll,

o r the, l lt ' t t t ltl-t t t tt t t , uod no hhu d em e nduutn he ruute tg tmt ll rud e .

200

i n those of his contemporar ies, and moreover w oul d i t not

behove the most learned and cul tured of the biographers of

the poets to accompl ish his task i n what d i d duty as the

grand style?Qinali- zade issevere upon L at i fi fo r hispart ial i ty

to his nat i ve town ; but he has himse l f been taken to task

for the undue promine nce w hi ch he gives to hisown family ,

every member of whi ch he e nters i n his work as a poe t .

The longest noti ce i n the whole book is that devoted to

the author’

s father C

A li Che leb i , who , al though a learned

and scholar ly gentleman , was not a poe t of the very sl ightest

repute . B ut when all is to ld , the faul ts of th iswork are few

whi le its mer i ts are many ; and i t is w i th no l i t tle regre t

that I part company w i th its careful and i nstruct i ve , ifsome

what l oquac ious, author .

The work of Qinali-zade c loses the ser ies of what we maycal l the ane cdotal Te z k ires. I n his book

,as i n L at ifi

’

s and

C

A shiq Cheleb i’

s, we find a large number of stories o r t ra

d it ions regard ing many of the poe ts, w hi le the later b iog ra

phers, R iyaz i, R i za , Safé’

i,Sal im

, and Fat in , con tent them

se lves as a rule w i th a mere statement of the leading events

i n the i r authors’ l i ves . Possib ly the fact that many of the

poe ts conce rni ng whom these later biographers wrote were

contemporar ies of the ir own and al i ve when the ir Te z kires

w e re issued , may have had some th i ng to d o w i th th isre t i cence

which natural ly tends to d imi n ish the i n terest o f the ir work .

Another poin t of d i ffere nce be tw een them and the ir prede

cessors is the extreme simpl i c i ty, somet imes e ven bal dness,

of the ir style .

C

A shiq and Qinali-zade , at any rate , are mode l s

o f affected ve rbosi ty who go out of the ir way to fi l l a dozen

l ines w i th what were be tte r expressed i n two ; whereasR i zaand Fat in neve r use a word beyond what is required to

convey the ir mean ing .

R iyaz i’

stands midway be tween the two groups; he occa

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

202

b e tween 1000 (159 1—2 ) and 1050 (1640— 1) but i t is, accord

ing to Von Hammer,much more meagre and much less

sat isfactory . Adr ianople was the b irthplace of this author,

whose personal name wasMuhammed , but who wasgene ral ly

know n as Zehi r-Mar-zade o r Poison-Snake -son . H e d ied in

1082 (167 1 leav ing besi des his Te z kire a by no means

remarkable D iwan .

Safé’

i takes up the tale where R izaleaves off, giv i ng the

l i ves of the poets who l i ved be tween 1050 (1640—1) and

1 13 3 (17 20 and thus carrying the thread e ighteen years

i nto the Transi t i on Per i od , whi ch we have agreed to begin

w i th the accessi on of Ahmed I I I i n 1 1 15 Mustafa

Efend i , fo r such was Safa’ i ’s name and style, was born in

Constanti nople where he cont i nued to re si de , hold i ng var i ous

c iv i l postsunder the governmen t , t i l l h i s death whi ch , accord

ing to Fat i n Efend i,the author of the latest of all the

Te z k ires,took place i n 1 196 (178 1

Sal im ’

s work begi ns some fi fty years late r than Safei’ i ’s,

about 1100 (1688 and goes down to 1 13 2 (17 19so that save for the first fi fteen years, i t be l ongs whol ly to

the Transi t i on Per i od . Thisb iographer , M irza-zade Muhammed

Efendi , was the son of a Sheykh-ul- Islam ; he himselfattained

a very high posi t i on i n the legal w orl d , and died in 1156

(1743 Both Safé’

i and Sal im wrote poetry ; the latter,

a comple te Diwan .

The Te z k ires of these last three wr i ters have never been

pri n ted , and manuscr i pts of them are exceed ingly rare ; there

are none i n the publ i c col lect i ons i n L ondon , and I grieve

to say that notw i thstand ing e very effort , I have been unable

to procure a copy of any one of them .

1 Fat in E fend i ’swork ,

1 [ This must have been w ri t ten before May, 1900, i n which mon th theAuthor ob tained a MS . of Sal im ’

sTez k ire,transcribed dur ing the biographer’s

l ife- t ime,i n A . H . 1134. E D . ]

203

be fore al luded to , was completed i n 12 7 1 and having

been l i thographed , has proved obtai nable ; but al though i t

covers we l l n igh the whole of the Transi t ion Pe r i od , i t leaves

all pr i or to that untouched . I have there fore been obl iged,

when deal i ng w i th the second hal f of the Classi c A g e , to

re ly on Von Hammer , who had access to all four of the

or igi nal author i t ies, supplement ing , and occasi onal ly mod ify

i ng,his statements from the wr i t i ngs of such modern authors

as Ziya Pasha, Professor Naj i, and Kermit and E krem Beys .

A bout this t ime the practi ce of compi l i ng anthologies

begins to become popular , and there i s i n existence an

i mmense numbe r of manuscr i pt poe t i cal m isce l lan ieswr i tten

i n the seventeenth and e ighteenth centur ies . These , of course ,d i ffer i nfini te ly i n value as i n manne r ; some t imes

,as i n the

case o f the great compi lat i ons of Nazm i’

and Qaf- zade , t hey

are care ful ly and systemat i cal ly arranged se lect i ons of what

the wri ters took to b e the best o r at least most represen tat i ve

works of the poets quoted ; at other t imes they are me re

sc rap -books i n whi ch the owne r seems to have j otted down ,

w i thout the sl ightest attempt at any ki n d of system o r

arrangement , whate ve r poem o r pie ce of ve rse happe ned to

take his fancy as he came across i t i n his read ing o r heard

i t from a fri e nd . i n l i tt le vo lum es ofth is ki nd , the frequency

o f wh ich argues a w i de -sp read l o ve o f po e t ry , i t is no t

unusual to find a numbe r o f the pag es to wards the e nd

qui te li lank , sho w i ng th at the o wne r, th ro ug h the i nte rve n t i o n

of d eath,

o r pe rhaps th ro ug h loss o f i nte rest i n his wo rk ,

had fai led to g e t to g e the r a srrtlie ie nt nrrrn lre r o fsuitahle

po ems to fill up his allunrr. A l tho ug h o ccasio nal ly the name

o f the c o l le c to r o r o f so m e suhse rlne n t may Ire

fo und wri t ten o n the i nsid e o f the e o ve r o r o n the tlr' -le .rf,

ho o ks o f this c lass are ve ry rare ly dat e d ; i t is Iro rr e r e r

204

general ly possib le to form an approximate i dea of the ir date

from the quotat i ons which they contai n .

Of the true antho logies be l onging to the Classi c Pe r i od,

the best are those of Nazm i and Qaf-zade . Nazm i’

of Adr ia

nople , who flour ished under Sul tan Suleyman and d ied i n

996 formed a vast col lect i on of over four thousand

ghaze ls by some two hundred and forty poe ts, arranged not

only alphabeti cal ly as i n a Diwan , but sub -arranged accord ing

to me tre .

The col lecti on of Qaf-zade F a’ i z i, who d ied about 103 2

(162 2 does not , l ike that of his pre decessor, consist of

ent ire ghaze ls,but only of such couple tsse lected from these

as m et w i th hisapproval ; i t isprobably for th isreason that

he has styled his book the Z ub d et -ul-E shcar or Cream of

Poems. Thisauthor was more than a mere compi ler, he was

an or igi nal poe t as we l l , for he began (though he appears

to have left i t unfin ished ) a mesnev i on the story of L eyla

and Mejnun ,at the end of the prologue to whi ch he i n tro

duced , according to the fash i on of his day,

1a Saq i-Name ,

or Cup-beare r-Book

,consist i ng of a l i t tle over one hundred

and s ixty couple ts.

1 The poem is dedicated to Sul tan cOsman I I who re igned from 102 7

(16 18 ) to 103 1

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

206

all except the very best of e i ther preced ing or fol l ow i ng

t imes . B ut these , be i ng extended over a term of near ly a

hundred and th irty years,do not produce so daz zl i ng an

e ffect as the c luster of lesser l ights massed toge ther i n the

forty six years of Suleyma’

n , wh i ch is probably the reason

why Von Hammer and those who fol low h im have agreed

to regard the Suleymanic ag e as the apogee of Turkish

poetry . But N ef‘i and N ed im toge ther more than counter

balance Fuzul i’ , Nab i may fair l y b e set agai nst Baq i’

, whi le

the w ri t i ngs of such m en as Halet i,

C

A ta’ i’

, the Sheykh-ul

Isl am Yahya , Na’ i l i, Sab i t , B elig h, Sami , and Seyyi d V ehb i

’

reach a higher ave rage than those of L am ici’

,Zat i

’

, K hayah’

,

Fazl i’

, or Yahya B ey.

After a re ign of fourteen years, 1012—26 (1603 Ah

med I was succeeded by his brothe r the i mbec i le Mustafa

I who, proving i n tolerable , was deposed the fol low i ng year

to make room for Ahmed ’

ssonC

Osman I I . Thisyoung sove

re ign re igne d for four years, 1027—3 1 (16 18 when he

wasfoul l y murdered by mut i n ousjan issar ies, who then dragged

his i d io t uncle from his ce l l and seated him once more upon

the throne . But the wre tched Mustafa was not to b e endured ,

and i n 103 2 (162 3 ) he was agai n de thron ed , th is t ime to

give place t o Murad IV, the secon d son of Sul tan Ahmed .

Ever si nce the days of Se l im I I the state had been plunging

deeper and deeper i n to confusi on . Corrupt ion was rampant

i n eve ry department of the gove rnment , and anarchy lai d

waste the land . The Sul tans were he lp less puppe ts i n the

hands of law less jan issaries, who ,l i ke the Pre tor ians i n the

de cl i ne of the Roman Empire,deposed and e levated sove

re igns at the ir own good pleasure . A l l confidence was gone

be tw een man and man , none coul d trust hisne ighbour ; honesty

and moral i ty were empty words. Outsi de , fore ign enemies

207

were pressi ng the Empire hard ; Persia had w on back Bagh

dad, the c i ty o f Fuzul i and Ruh i. The final co l lapse seemed

imminen t and i nevi table .

Such was the state of thi ngs whe n Murad IV ,then i n

his twe l fth year, was summoned to the throne of C

Osma’

n .

Had th isMurad been such a man ashisfathe r o r hisbrothers,

the probabi l i ty is that there woul d have been no Transi t i on

Per i od for us to chron ic le . Murad the Fourth saved Turkey .

A man of iron w i l l and of i n domitable c ourage , he was, as

was necessary for the w ork he had to do, utterly w i thout

mercy,without p i ty ; he d e luged the country i n blood

,but

he saved her from herse l f. H imse l f the sternest tyrant ever

girt w i th the sword of C

Osman ,he w oul d b rook no tyranny

i n the country but his own . Wherever he heard of an unjust

judge or a rapac i ous governor , his blow fe l l sw i ft and sure .

When he tore Baghdad back from Pe rsia he read the Fai r

Kingdom 1a lesson which she remembe rs to th is day. Sul tan

Murad d i d not cure Turkey, she has not been trul y cured

even yet ; but he checked the dead ly malady from which

she was suffe ri ng , and gave he r a fresh lease of l i fe . And

all th iswasaccompl ishe d be fo re he reached his tw e nty-n inth

year, fo r he d ied i n 1049 his sple nd id const i tut io n

wo rn out by habi tual and v i olen t i ntempe rance .

Poe try co nt i nue d as he re to fo re to find favo rrr i n high

places; Ahme d l ,c

Osman i i,and Murad lV all w ro t e ve rses,

and e ven po o r Mustafri issai d by V o n I lamm e r to b e re cko n e d

amo ngst the po e ts . E ve ryb o dy ab o ut the C o urt dab b le d i n

ve rse ; the examp l e o f the Muft i Sa‘

d -ud - lHn and ( ilravt (am

the Khan o f the ( Irirne a, who had earrie d o n a e ru'

respo nd e ue e

i n g haze ls o n state affai rs,was fo l l o we d by Sul tan l\lurad

l ie vlnt-i lle lrlyyn-i

'i rt

‘

rn the |"rrlr' K ing dom of l'e r-rhr, p, the o llu irrl t i t leo f the i

'uruirrrr Stat e

,nu l te vlo t-i

‘A llyyu the Sub l ime b rute , iu o t the H t to rrrrrn .

208

and his Grand Ve z ir Hafi z Pasha when the latter wasun

successful ly attempting to d ri ve back the Pe rsiansat Baghdad .

Wr i t i ngs produced under such c ircumstances cannot b e e x

p ected to have any l i terary value , but they are i n terest i ng

i n so far as they show how the ofii c ial classeswere permeated

w i th a taste for poe try .

Ahmed I w rote under the makhlas of Bakht i’

;C

Osman I I

under that of Far isi . The ghaze ls of the former are of l i ttle

account ; the w ork of the latter consistspr i nc i pal ly of rubac

i’

s

wh ich are not w i thout promise“

that , had his l i fe been longe r ,

this young Sul tan w oul d have deve l oped into a genui ne poe t

w i th a grace ful and d ist i n ct i ve manner of hisown . OfMurad ’

s

verses w e shal l speak later on .

Uveys i bn Muhammed , known in l i terature by hismakhlas

of Veysi’ , was the son of a judge of A la-Shehr , the anc ient

Phi lade l phia, where he wasborn in 969 (156 1 L i ke most

of the learned men of those days he was a member of the

legal professi on , and duri ng the course of his l i fe he occupied

many important posi t i ons i n Europe , Asia, and Afr i ca. H e

d ied i n 1037 (162 7—8) as Cad i or judge of Uskub , an offi ce

wh ich he had he l d on six d i fferent prev i ous occasi ons.

Veysi is one of the most bri l l iant prose-w ri ters of this

per i od ; his V isi on , and espec ial ly his L i fe of the Prophe t ,are popular among ol d - fashi oned people eve n at the present

day. The L i fe , which isgeneral ly known asthe S iyer- i Veysi

o r V eysi’

s L i fe , 1 is wr i tten i n the most recherché Pe rsian

style , and shares w i th the prose Khamsa of N erg isé the

dist i nct i on of having been gibbe ted by E bu- z -Ziya TevfiqB ey, one of the most stalwart champions of the Modern

A lso, Sire t-um-Neb i (The B iography of the Prophe t) . I ts correc t t i tle isDurre t-ut-Taj fi Sire t i-Sahib -il-Micraj (The P ear l of the Crown concerning theL i fe of the Lord of the Ascensi on ) . Veysi died before he had finished thiswork , which was con tinued by the great poe t Nab i .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Z I O

The biographer adds that certai n w i t s used to appraise the

gifts of Veysi i n th is manner : his poetry is be tter than his

sc ience , his prose ismore exce l len t than hispoe try , his con

versat i on is to b e pre ferred to h is prose , but the super i or

come l i ness of his presence and graceful ness of his figure are

se l f-evi dent . Veysi left a comple te Diwan ; but cop ies of i t

are not often m e t w i th now -a-days. The few ghaze l s by him

that I have seen i n d i ffe rent col lect i onsare ce rtai n ly charac

t erised by luc i d i ty, but otherw ise there is l i ttle that is re

markable about them .

There is,however, pr i nted i n the first volume of the Mines

d e l’

Orient the Turkish text and German translati on , ‘ both

exceed ingl y de fective ,of a very remarkable qasida by a poe t

who cal ls himse l f Uveysi . ThisUveysr’

is assumed by Von

Hammer i n his H istory to b e i dent i cal w i th our Veysi . But

whi le a good deal may b e sai d i n favour ofthisi dent ificat i on ,

h is grounds for whi ch Von Hamme r does not gi ve , some

further i n format ion is ne cessary be fore w e can regard i t as

defin i te ly proved .

On the one hand , i t is ce rtai n that the poem wasw r i t ten

dur i ng the re ign of Murad IV , si nce the w re tched state of

the country is graphi cal l y descr i bed and re ference is made

to the l oss of Baghdad . Agai n , we know that Uveys was

the pe rsonal name of Veysi , and al though I am not aware

of any cert ified instance of his havi ng made use of Uveysi

ashismakhlas, i t isnot improbable that he may occasi onal ly

have done so . I may add that i n a manuscri p t Poe t i cal

Misce l lany i n my possessi on,where the qasida i n quest i on

isgiven , i t isattr ibuted to Veysi Efend i i n exactly the same

way as are seve ral ghaze ls concern ing the authenti c i ty of

which there is no doub t .

On the other hand c

A ta’ i’

, when ment ion i ng the works of1 This text and translat ion were rep ri n ted i n pamphle t form in Berl in in 18 11.

Z I I

Veys i’ i n his l i fe of that poe t , makes no al lusi on whatever

to thispoem . I n the case of an ordinary qasi da such a course

woul d b e natural enough , but th is poem isso remarkable

and so unl ike anyth ing which had gone be fore that one w oul d

have expected i t t o attrac t the not i ce of a care ful w ri ter

l ike the cont i nuator of the Cr imson Peony . Further , the

author of the poem te l lsus himse l f that he comes from the

‘land of Qonya,’

wh i le Veysi was born at A la-Shehr whi ch

isnot i n the ‘lan d of Qonya ;’

he moreover speaks of h imse l f

asan ojaq oghl i ,1 by wh i ch he probab ly means the son of

a sol d ier, w hile Veys i was the son of a judge . Then he

wr i tes throughout the latter part of the poem ,w hi ch I have

not translated , asthough he were a Mevlev i d ervish stand ing

outsi de the pol i t i cal l i fe of the ag e ,and not a memb er of

the offic ial c lassso unspar i ngly denounce d .

To reconc i le these contrad ict i onsw e shoul d have to assume

that Veysi’ put on the guise of a humble de rvish , be came

a sort of Turkish Piers the P lowman,i n orde r the be tte r

and the mo re free ly to expose the abusesand lash the vi ces

of his ag e . Such a p roce ed ing , al ien as i t is to the gen ius

of Ottoman l i te rature , might n ot improbably commend itse l f

to the bold and o rigi nal m ind of the aut ho r of the V isio n .

1 have spoke n of th is qasida as b e i ng ve ry remarkable ,

and so i t is both i n manne r and i n matte r . To take the

latte r first ; unl i ke the typ i cal po em o f th is c lass, at o nc e

ext ravagan t and co nve nt io nal i n ure ndae io ns pan egyri c , tlris

qasida isascath i ng ye t temp e rate i nd i ctme nt o fthe e o rrrrp t io rr

and pro flig acy the n rampant th ro ugho ut'

l’

lre g reat

o ffice rs o f the st ate are urarshalle d .o ne aft e r the o the r , and

are sho wn up fo r w irat the y real ly are i n a fashi o n asp i t i less

1 la a Irrrrr‘

g irral a. -ua." ad d e d : “ in the as.

rut

)0~¢1fi3 l ”a, whie lr would im p l y t iurt Ire wan the no n rrl a l

'tr o r h p rrrtrrrrl

I know no t what M S . i r rue rrrrl . t t n ]

2 12

as i t is fear less. The Sul tan himse l f is made t o hearken to

some wholesome truths conveyed in plai n dow nr ight words

which must have sounded strange l y unfamil iar i n the ears

of a son of C

Osman . The author of th is poem , w hoever he

was,was a bold man ; we seem to b e l isten ing to some

anc ient Hebrew prophet rebuking a degenerate King of

Israe l rather than to an Ottoman poe t i nd it ing a qasida to

the Padishah . In this work for the first t ime i n Turkish

poetry w e g et an absolute l y truthful p i c ture of soc ie ty as

i t actual ly was; the gloss of convent i onal i ty and lyi ng flatte ry

is away, and the poe t te l ls us what he real ly saw ,not what

he desired the great men of his day to be l ieve he was

conten t to see .

The style of this qasida isas remarkable as itsspir i t . The

language is as much Turkish and as l i tt le Pe rsian as is

possib le i n an Old Ottoman poem . The author having ce rtai n

home truths to d e l i ver , makes use of a home ly med ium .

The re must b e no misunde rstand ing of what he has got to

say, so he takes care that no misunde rstand ing shal l b e

possi b le . H e w i l l have none of these far-fe tched al lusi ons,

none of these equi voques and amphibologies, whi ch are the

de l ight of the courtie rs and of those who play w i th poetry .

Not content w i th ignor i ng these graces of the poe t i c art ,

the w r i ter of th isqasida de l i berate ly defies two canons which

from the beginn i ng down to th is presen t day have been

reckoned as vi tal and essent ial to all poe try w r i tten after

the Pe rsian style . The first of these con cerns the variat ion

of the r ime -word ; our poe t ends almost every couple t i n

his work w i th the name of A l l ah , and that as the r ime,not

as a red if; only occasi onal ly , and as the sense of what he

has to say leads up to i t , does he replace the sacred name

by some r iming word . The second is that he ign oresthrough

out the short vocal i ncrement , cal led the Kesre-i K hafifa,

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 14

one by the other . The e ighteen concluding couple ts,those

i n whi ch the author speaks of h imse l f, are i n both cases too

corrupt to admi t of the construct ion of a sat isfactory text ;

so rather than attempt any comple te render i ng of these,I

shal l gi ve the substance of what they contai n at the c lose

of my translat i on of the mai n port i on of the poem , whi ch

isas fol lows

Qasida. [ 2 3 I ]

G ive ear, ye folk of Islamb ol l ' and know forsooth and learn for good

,

The day ’s at hand when swi ft o n you shal l fal l the sudden ire of God .

The day of w rath is broke , and ye t ye w i ll no t heed but th ings o f earth ;’Tis t ime the Mehdi 2 shoul d appear

,and shoul d descend the Breath of God .

3

Ye bui ld the earthly house,and ye lay waste the mansi on of the Fai th

N or Pharaoh 4 bui l t nor Sheddad 5 reared aloft such house as this, by God !H ow many a poor and hapless hear t do ye through tyranny st i l l break !Is no t the fai thful ’s hear t then

,0 ye tyrants base ! the house o f God?8

Islamb ol,one of the many namesfor Constan ti nople

,isa no t very common

adap tat ion (i n tended to mean ‘Islam abounds’) of Istanb ol (pronounced Istambol) , the every -day name of the capi tal . O ther names are Qostan tan iyya, the

Ci ty of Constan ti ne ; D er-i Sacade t

,the P or tal of F e l i c i ty ; Asitana, the Thres

hold,or Asitana-i Sa

cad et,the Threshold of F el i c i ty ; the town be i ng regarded

as the gate i n to,or the threshold before

,the palace of the Sul tan . We have

fur ther Belde- i Tayy iba,the Goodly Ci ty

,the sum of the numer i cal values

of the le t ters i n whi ch gi ves the date 857 , the year of the H ij ra i n whichConstant inop le fel l t o Muhammed I I . D er-i Dev le t

,the Por tal o f Empire

,or

of P rosperi ty,is used in old books instead of D er-i Sa

cadet .2 The M ehdi is the last o f the Twe l ve Imams; he issupposed to b e st il l

al i ve , but i n con cealmen t, whence he w i l l issue for th i n due t ime to del iverthe Fai thful .

3 The Spiri t or B reath of God is the special t i tle of Jesus,who is t o des

cend from Heaven to assist Islam before the final consummat i on .

4 Pharaoh , the type of vainglory .

5 Sheddad,ano ther type of pr ide

,a w i cked and presumptuous King of

anc ien t times, alluded to i n the Koran,who bui l t Irem the Many-Columned

,

the terrestial paradise,i n r i valry of the celest ial . See Vol . I, p . 3 26, n . 5.

$2 4; o (no a a,

8 ‘The hear t of the bel iever is the house ofGod,

’

(aJSl w (Jay e-l we b )

is a tradi t ion .

2 15

Although a thousand timeshis cr iesand prayersfor ai dance moun t the skies,

Ye p i ty n o t,nor ever say, ‘no si gh is left on ear th

,by God ! ’ 1

Ye fee l no t for the orphan ’s pligh t,but fai n woul d spoi l h im of h is goods;

Doth A llah no t behold his hear t? or thereun to consen te th God ?I know no t what your Fai th may b e , or what your creed (God save us! ) isI t holds no t w i th the Imams’ 2 w ords

,nor chimesw i th the F our Booksof God .

3

Ye follow no t the L aw of God,nor yet obey the canon law ;

W i th those new-fangled tr i cksyou’ve given o’

er the world to wrack,by God !

A l ike w i th sermons of the preachers and w i th lec tures of the imams,4

Were there no feespai d down to them,n e

’er woul d b e read the w ord of God .

‘The Cadis,

’ dost thou say? how were i t p ossib le t o te l l of these

‘If Master Cadi b e th ine adversary,why then help thee God ! ’ 5

They ’ve spread asnare offraud,and that they ’ve named the Cour t ofJustice, soo th ,

Ah,where ’s the prayer-mat of the Lord

,and where the code

,the L aw of God?

To-day ye se t at naught the Fai th , ye make the L aw a ly in g tri ck ;To-morrow w i l l he i n tercede for you who is the Loved of God .

”

What then,do ye deny the R eek ’

n ing?’ or shal l n ot the dead ar ise?

Or shal l he say ‘My folk ! ’ t o you thusstai ned w i th sin , th’ Envoy of God .

”

The ag e is slave t o womankin d or subj ec t un to min io n b oys; 9

The great men do the purse adore,and we l l n igh all are foes t o God .

H e hearkened to the words of E ve,nor kep t the b idding of the Lord ;

An d 10,from Eden banished wen t e ’en Adam

,the Pure-Friend of G od .

10

F or how should Satan b e our friend ? he seeke th b ut to lead us wrong ;H is purpose w i th the F ai thful is to make them infidels t o ( lod .

The c rue l ty and v ice of S tamb ol’s folk have overpassed all bounds;

Because they have all moun ted up t o heaven .

2 The Twelve l inams (of whom the M ehd i is the last ) are the twelv esuccesso rs o f Muhammed th rough his d aught e r Fat ima and his cousi n ‘

A ll.

3 The l"our Scri p tures, i . e . the I'

e n tat e tn:h,the l

’

sahns,the ( Iospe land the Ko ran .

4The inn/t ins l efe l red t o in t h is l ine are the p re c e n to ts o r lead e rs i n publ i cWo rshi p , no t the twe l ve sai n ts al lud e d to above .

5 This is a p rove rb , and is gi ven by l 'ibu’

s-d ti'

l'

e vfin| lley at p p .

and 35o of his I tnrului ' l-I'hnhal. Ziya l 'asha, whose l i fe and Wo rk wi l l b ed iscusse d i n the last volume o f this Wo rk , also allud es to i t i n his te nhtb bend .

'

l’

lu: l'

ro phc l, the Ile lo ved o f N o d,wi l l it issaid , i n t e rc ede fo r the Fai th

ful on the. j udgment I tay .

1 The, final l luy of R e e lt ut i lnu.

llnun e ll ‘My l"o lh,

'

the I'

t o phe t'

a udd t e as to the people o t lulan i .

A b it ti l the immo ral t e nd e ncy o f the day.

l" Saliyy-ulhih

,the l

'

n t e t tae o f t io d,la the N llt

‘t llll t i t le o l \d uu.

2 16

And thismy fear,that soon w i l l fal l on usa sudden woe and rude .

Accursed ones l ike Jewsw i thout ado take the ve z irial seats;Whi le i f a true be l iever peep but through the door

,w i th scorn he’s v iewed .

H ow comes i t trai tors l ike to these fil l all the offi ces of trust ?Why

,is there none among the folk of Islam who is leal to God ?

The stee l of anarchy hath struck the fl in t,and all the world ’s ablaze ;

H ow then shal l no t the flamesse ize hold on Islamb ol, my master good ?

The sword-hefsl i n the baske t lie , as shoe-money the great fiefs g o ; 2

They ’re w el lnigh all the Ve zirs’ prey,or the Sul tanas

,

’ by my God .N ow every man do th try by some dev i ce to bide away from figh t ;F or where is one w i l l moun t his horse and r i de afield for love of God?And what may the Sipahis

3 do w i th aspers five or ten for pay?

Of Janissarieswouldst thou speak?What can one tell of them,by God?

The Pashasand the Aghas ’tiswho turn the whole world upsi de down;

’Tis they beyond a doub t who everywhere bring anarchy and feud .

The Master Scr ibe 4and Defterdar have ta’en them Iblis5as the ir dean ;And do th no t he compan ion them on all the paths of dev ilhood?If they neglec t one whi t of all they learn

,

’

tis by mistake alone '

CA zaz il-l ike 6 do they exal t the reprobate who know not good .

In the O t toman feudal system a Q i l ij -Timari or Sword-F ief wasayeoman ’s

fief of a yearly value of aspers; a T imar was a fief of a yearl y valuegreater than this but be low aspers; a Z i

came t

,one the annual value

of whi ch was this sum or upwards. The fief-holders were required to takethe fie ld when cal led upon

,and

,i n the cases of the T imar and Zi ’ame t fiefs

,

to p rov ide armed horsemen in a fixed propor t i on to the amoun t of the ir i n come .

The possession of the fiefs was heredi tary and i n volved resi dence upon them,

thus the holders const i tuted a true feudal ar istocracy . When a fiefwas lapsedor unassigned i t was sai d to b e ‘i n the baske t

,

’ i n which case the revenueswere probably often appropr iated by some publ i c offic ial .

2 The name of B ashmaqliq o r Shoe-money was given to a fiefassigned tothe mother or daughter of a Sul tan

,the revenues be i ng for her pri vate e x

penses. The poe t here complai ns that many of the Z icametsare now gi venup for this purpose .

3 The Sipahis w ere the horse sold iers.4Re’ is-ul-Kut tab or Master of the Scribeswas i n o ld times the offic ial t i tleof the O t toman Min ister of Forei gn Affairs

,who was also Chief Secre tary of

the Chancery , Chief Under-Secre tary of S tate, and Assistan t to the GrandVezir . H e was popularly called the Re’ is Efendi . The Defterdar was

,as we

know,the Ministe r of F i nance .

5 Ibl is is the pe rsonal name of Satan .

6 CA za

’

t z il is the orig inal ang el i c name of Satan , borne by him before hisfall.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 18

Accoun ting these asgui des,what should the folk but stray and missthe road?

A lack,the S ti ffs fill the mosques w i th horri d how ls and ye lls alone ;

Ah,where the l i tan ies and chan ts

,and where the whispered cal l on God?

The hypocr i tesnow hold the ear th,they deem the whole world isthe ir spoil ;

B ut ye t i n many a nook con cealed there hi de th st i l l a sai n t of God .

The poe t proceeds to ask where there isnow any murshid

o r spir i tual gui de l ike his own master Muhit i who used to

teach and advise w i thout demand ing any fee , and whose

abode is now i n Parad ise . H e himse l f i s but asa drop com

pared to that boundlessOcean (his teacher) to whom all the

myster ies of God w ere revealed ; he had been bl ind , but his

teacher had Opene d his eyes and taught h im to d ist i nguish

black from whi te . H e goes on to say that he is by or igi n

an ojaq oghl i (probably , the son of a and that

the land of Qonya ishisb irthplace ; the dust of theMevlana’scoun try is there fore i n his nature , and hissoul has fromall

e terni ty been a me dium for the man ifestat i on of A l lah . Is

i t strange , then , i f through the sc ience of onomancy the

secre t th ings of God shoul d b e known to h im?The fr iends

of God who are resigne d and contented are i n dependen t of

all men ; Kings can ne i ther abase nor exal t them . H ow then

shoul d he fear Pasha o r Agha, whose only w i sh i n e i ther

worl d is the good w i l l of God?The poem w i nds up with a

hope lessly corrupt passage about the Sul tan and the Cr imea,

and i n the last couple t the w r i ter ment i ons his own name

asUveysi .

The Sheykh H elvaji-zade Mahmud of Scutar i , know n in

the l i terary history of Turkey under hismakhlas of H ud é’

i

is reckoned as one of the most br i l l ian t of the avowedly

myst i c poetsof the Classi c Pe ri od . Born at Sivr i-H i sar aboutthe middle of the sixteenth century, he began his career,

1 Compare p . 2 1 1 sup ra.

2 19

l i ke so many of hi s contemporaries, by enter i ng the legal

professi on . B ut he d i d n ot remai n for ve ry long i n the ranks

of thec

ulema; deeply impressed by a dream in which the

te rrors of he l l were brought v iv i d ly before hismental v isi on,

he resolved to sever all t ies that bound h im to the wor l d,

and devote h imse lf heart and soul to the re l igi ous l i fe . H e

therefore resigned the posi t i on o f Muderr isor Pr i n c i pal wh ich

he he l d at one of the medreses, and placed h imse l f under

the directi on of Sheykh Uftade , a ce lebrated myst i c teacher

of those days. In 1002 (1593 ) he se tt led at Scutari,on the

Asiati c shore opposi te Constant i nople,where he passed the

remai nde r of his l i fe , preach i ng i n var i ousmosques both there

and i n the cap i tal , and w ri t i ng myst i c w orks i n prose and

ve rse , t i l l his death , whi ch took place i n 103 8 H e

was buried i n a tomb which he had himse l f bui l t i n the ce l l

that formed h is home duri ng the last th i rty-six years of his

l i fe . So great was the venerat i on i n wh ich th is holy man

was he l d that on more than one occasi on d id h igh offic ials,

such as a G rand Admi ral and a De fte rdar, seek and find

sanctuary in his ce l l from the w rath of Sul tan C

Osmzin .

Huda’

i’

s wo rk , al i ke i n verse and prose , is exc lusi ve ly

mysti cal . Besi desa D iwzin contai n i ng some two hund re d and

fi fty ghaze ls, he wrote a se ries of Ilzihiyyz’

rt , o r l lymus, whi ch

w e re, and pe rhapsst i l l are ,

sung duri ng the Se nnico r myst i c

dance of the Me vle v i dervishes. have n eve r se e n those

l lymns, b rrt V o n Hamme r desc rib es them asbe i ng some t imes

rime d and some t imes un ri me d , c ries as i t we re o f lo ve and

devo ti o n towards ( io d , utte re d w i t ho ut tho ugh t o f ri me o r

me t re , and possessi ng n e i th e r c o nn e ct i o n o f i d eas no r c o u

t inuity o f t houg ht .

l ie le ft furthe r a mesne v i o fmo d e rate le ng th .cal l e d Ne jat

ul-( i harirl o r The Rescue o f the l lr‘o wn iug , whi ch c o nsists o f

a se ries o fr‘ irn ing paraph rases o l'

e e r tain A p o sto l ic

2 20

Trad i ti ons and sayings of prominent Sufi sai n ts. These para

phrases, the poet i cal mer i t of whi ch is never very high , are

occasi onal ly e laborate d i nto c ommentar ies of n o great p ro

fund ity ; at other t i mes they are no more than a bald re

statement i n Turkish verse of the i dea expressed i n the

Arabic text .

The two myst i c ghaze ls t hat fo l l ow are from the D iwa’

n .

Ghazel. [ 2 3 2 ]

We’ve seen the inmost bosom torn and shredded by the comb to b e ;

We’ve seen the hear t ’sb lood quaffed in brimming beaker all through dole for thee .

We’ve looked upon the w orld ’s del igh ts b ep ictured on the bowl of j em ; 1

We’ve seen on master-w ise

,forsoo th

,the science of hilari ty .

We’ve learned the craft of g ramerie from gazin g on the fair one ’s cheek ;

We’ve seen the fashion of the Ruby L i ne 2 from beaut y ’s l ip

,ah me !

A t length have we made o’er un to our l ove the profi t of our l i fe ;

We’ve seen that t i l l the day w e d ie from thismad hear t we w in no t free .

F or ever let the V in tner’s shop di ffuse i ts b lessings o’er the ear th ;

We’ve seen whate ’er we ’ve seen

,Huda’ i

,i n that palace

,soo th have w e .

Ghazel. [ 2 3 3 ]

A lack for my Sapl ing knows no t what passi on ’sstrai n may b e ,N or knows what the pang of love or the longing vai n may b e .

1 F or the bow l , or div i ning-cup , of Jeni , see Vol . I I , p . 7 1, n . 1 .

3 The Khat t-i Yaqut i or Yaqut hand,is an ancien t style of han dwri t i ng

,

so named after i ts i nventor Yaqut,an early Arabian call igraphist . I t is now

hardly known excep t by name ; but i n a MS . i n my collec t i on which givesexamples of the var i ous hands there is what professes t o b e a spe c imen ofthe Yaqut i , which does no t differ much from the ordinary Tacliq . The w ordsKhat t-i Yaquti mean also “

ruby l ine,hence the ir appl i cat ion to the l i p of

the beloved . H ud é’

i has, of course , bo th mean ings i n v iew in thisverse . [ Three

Yaquts, cal led respec t i vely Rumi,Mawsili and Mustacsimi

,are menti oned as

great call igraphistsat pp . 50—51 of MirzaHab ib ’sKhat t u Khat tatan (Const . ,A . H . but the last , who l i ved in the th irteen th cen tury, is no doub ti n tended . E D . ]

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 2 2

own remarkable ab i l i t ies soon won him promot i on , and i n

10 11 (1602— 3 ) he found himse l f judge of Damascus. Two

years later he was advanc e d to Cairo ' but on the assassi n

at i on , i n a mi l i tary revol t , of Haj j i Ibrah im Pasha, the Gover

nor Gene ral of Egypt , Hale t i, who had been temporar i ly

placed i n charge , was accused of negl igence and deposed .

I n 10 15(1606— 7 ) he was name d Molla or Chie f Just i ce of

Brusa, whe re he served dur i ng the troublous t ime when the

rebe l Qalend er-oghl i was ravaging the surround ing country

and burn ing the outlyi ng port ions of the town . TheMollashipof Adr ianople was confe rred on the poe t i n 1020 (16 11

but the host i l i ty which he provoked when there through

pun ishing a certai n cad i who had been gui l ty of some mis

demeanour , resul te d in his be i ng transferred to Damascus.

I n 102 3 (16 14—5) he was promoted to the Judgesh ip of

Constant in ople,which h igh posi t i on he he l d for four years,

when he wassent back to Cairo . A t length , i n 103 2 (162 2

he was appo in te d to the Qaz i-cA sk erate or V i ce -Chance l l or

shi p of Anatol ia, and i n 103 7 (162 7— 8) to that of Rume l ia,

the highest office save one i n all the hierarchy of thec

ulema.

Hale t i’

die d i n the Shac

ban of 1040 and was buried

i n the court of a school which his l iberal i ty had restore d ,

at no great d istance from his own resi dence .

Halet i, whose poe t i cal work 1 consists of a D iwan , a Saqi

Name, and a col lecti on of Ruba 18 or Quatrai ns, wascertai n ly

one of the best poe t ’s,as he was one of the most h ighly

cul tured and most w i de ly read men of his t ime . W e are to ld

that he le ft a l ibrary of be tween three and four thousand

volumes all careful ly annotated by hisown hand . According

to Professor Naj i, he was

,w i th the one except i on of

c

A li

Che lebi , the father of the biographe r Qinali- zade , whose p re

eminence in scholarship is un iversal ly admitted , the most

H is p rose w orks are all of a professional and techn ical charac ter .

2 2 3

learned , i f not the most accompl ished , among his contem

poraries.

c

A té’

i,who was a pup i l of his, grows e l oquent i n

the praise of th is ‘most learned among the eminent ,’ th is

‘master of the poe ts of Rum, the works of whose p en re cal l

the hues of the chame leon ,’

a comparison by which the

b iographer probably i ntends t o convey his apprec iat ion of

the poe t ’s versat i l i ty . Qaf-zade , agai n , quotes i n his A ntho

l ogy a larger number of l i nes from Hale t i than he does from

Baq i himse l f ; but the fac t of the former be i ng a contem

porary and a prominent member of the C

Ulema’

r may possi b l y

have had some th i ng to do with this.

Hale t i’

s D iwan , wh ichc

A ta’ i descri besas ‘d ist i nguished by

e l oquence and fil led w i t h all manner of poems1 of the most

exce l lent qual i ty , an exemplar of : And W e have made t o

grow there i n of all th i ngsw e i ghed ,’ 2 isone of those o ld works

which the modern c ri t i cs themse l ves regard w i th respect .

Thus Professor Naj i’ speaks of i t as a book which even now

may b e l ooked upon w i th pri de ; i n deed , he goes so far as

to place i t among those rare ach ievements whi ch the lo ve rs

of Ottoman l i te rature w i l l always reckon asasource ofhonour

to Turkish poe t ry . H e too bears test imony to the autho r’

s

success i n many varie t ies of ve rse , among wh ich he isi nc l i ned

to gi ve the p re fe rence to the q itc

as, w hich ,he says, may

b e consi de re d unique .

It is,howe ve r

,I ve n ture t o th ink ,

rathe r o n the sco re o f

his rub /fits that l l:i |e t i is most e nt it le d to o ur admi rat io n .

The se l i tt le po ems have always h e ld a ve ry high p lac e i n

the e st im at io n o f the ( lt to man c ri t i cs; most o ft e n th ey have

' l’hut is poems i n all the t rlu tt li ve rse -foams.

This q uo tntio n is h our the. Ko ran, X V , t o, wh e re it re fe rs to the mo th ,

and me nus,‘W i z (t i-id ) huV e mad e to g ro w t he n -

o n u we ig hed (i . e . memm ed

o r d e t e rmin e d ) uum lw r o f uli ki nds o f p luutvq

'

hut h e re n ould haveus lulu :

‘Wf‘ ig hed

’ i n its Ie i huieul se rum of ‘um luirul, ’ nm i np p lv the ‘ull thi ng s'

to the. many vari e t i es o i po e l l y in uhh h I litlt t l

2 24

been regarded as the best of the ir c lass i n the language .

They are , asc

A ta’ i avows, frankly based on Persian mode ls;

and many among them have much of the charm of those

of C

Omar Khayyam . They are some four hundred and sixty

i n number , and form a D iwan by themse lves, apart from

and i ndependent of the regular Diwan contai n ing the ghaze l s ,

q itc

as,and so on . ThisD iwan of R ubacis, whi c h cal lsforth the

warm praises of the K hulasat-ul-Eser, is extol led by c

A ta’

i

i n h is ol d- fashione d flow ery way as be i ng ‘the envy of the

soul of Khayyam,

1 whi le the four-square edifi ce 2 of its

beaut i fying verse is, by its mai den fanc ies, the despai r the

Musky Palace of Behram,

3and the recal ler of the i mport

of : ‘Houris hid i n tents.

’ 4Simi larly , i n that qasida i n whi ch

he ment ions the w r i ters who have exce l led in the var i ous

branches of the poe t i c art , N ed im dec lares:

‘In the apogee of the Ruba i flieth Haleti l ike thecanqa.

’ 5

Turn ing now to Halet i s w ork in mesnev i,w e have the

I D ISaqi-Name or Cup-bearer-Book w hi ch

, accord ing to c

A ta 1,

woul d exhi larate Hafi z and Jam i,

6and every inspired couple t

and l ine i n which isa d iv ine mi rac le . Thiswork isa typ i calrepresentat i ve of its class, a c lasswhich

, as we have seen ,enj oyed just at this per i od a consi derable amount of pOpu

larity among the Turkish poe ts, and the fol lowing br ie f

l C

Omar Khayyam , the famous Persian poe t whose ruba 18 have,thanks to

the late Mr. F i tzgerald,now become a par t of English l i terature .

2 A lluding to the four l ines of the rubaci .3 Referring to the Musky (i . e . Black) Pav il ion where King Behram-i Gur

housed the P ri ncess Furek , the daugh ter of the King of India, as is t old i nthe romance of the Heft P eyker or Seven Efli g ies.4Koran , L V

, 72 . Here the ‘hour is’ represen t the ‘maiden fan cies’ of thepoe t ; the ‘tents,’ the ‘four square edifice ’ of the rubacis; there is a fur therreference t o Khayyam , whose name means the Ten t-maker.

5us

’has m i st.

) a" g ob .

6 Hafiz wro te a Saiq i-Name ; but no t Jami , so the i n troduc t i on of the lat ter’sname here is pure ly rhe tori cal .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 26

i n the l i terary history of that country as havi ng wr i tten

works of this descri pt ion ; and whi le I am not aware that

any one of these wasregarded w i th espec ial favour i n Turkey ,or more part i cular ly si ngled out to serve as mode l , the

adopt ion of th is fashion by the Ottomans offersye t another

i nstance of that doc i l i ty w i th which , dur i ng the ent ire Classi c

Pe ri od , they were content to fol low step by step the track

of the ir chosen masters.

‘

The only other thi ng which Halet i d id i n mesnev i was

to add a hundred couplets to his father’

s unfin ished trans

lat i on of the Mihr uMushter i ; th is, however , d i d not comple tethe work

,which st i l l remai ns a fragmen t . 2

Professor Naj i’s verd i c t appears on the whole to b e a just

one ; Hale t i cannot i ndee d b e placed in the first rank of the

Ottoman poets; he is not the peer of Fuzul i or N ed im , but

he must assuredly b e accorded an honourable posi t ion i n

the second l i ne . A s I have already sai d,i t is i n v irtue of

his rubacis that I shoul d rank him so high ; for whi le i t is

true that his work has ne i ther the or igi nal i ty nor the p ro

fund ity of c

Omar Khayyam ’

s, though i t is possi b le that i t

may r i val or even exce l that of the Persian i n subtle ty and

grace , i t none the less exhib i ts a simple d ign i ty and real

1 The Bri t ish Museum possesses a manuscri p t (Add . 7925) which con tainsa collec tion of six Saq i-Names

,all by poe ts who l i ved in the first half of

the e leventh cen tury of the H ij ra. These are : the Saq i-Name of the Sheykhui-Islam YahyaEfendi

,died 1053 (1643 77 couple ts; that of

cA zmi- zade

Hale ti, d . 1040 515couple ts; that of Sheykhi Efendi , d . 1043 (163 3

1 11 couple ts; that of Nev‘i-zade CA te

’

t’

i,d . 1044(1634 1561 couple ts

and 12 rubaas; that of R iyaz i Efendi , d . 1054(1644 1025couple ts; andthat of Jemc

i, d . 1075(1664 101 couple ts. The index to the MS . men t ions

further two Saq i-Names that do no t occur i n the volume ; one of these isfrom the Leylaand Mejnun of Qaf-zade R PM,

(1. 103 1 (162 1 the o therisby Fuzul i . The last-named poe t w ro te

,aswe have seen

,a w ork bear ing this

t i tle , but i t is i n P ersian . O ther Saq i-namesby Qabul i , N efci and Sabuhi ex ist .

2 Halet i has also left a P end-name,or Book of Counsels

,and a number of

ep istolary models. See R ien ’

s Turkish Catalogue,pp . 96 and 244.

2 2 7

subl imi ty, al i ke i n thought and i n language , to b e found

nowhere e lse i n contemporary poe try . Good rubacisare rare

i n Turkish l i te rature ; and the studen t cannot but regard

w i th grat i tude and esteem the one Ottoman poe t who has

done good and last i ng work in this i n te rest i ng form .

Through much of Halet i ’s poe try there runs a tone of

sadness ; al though his l i fe was,taken all round , both pros

perous and honourable , he seems to have suffere d keenly

from the attacks of his r i vals and to have fe l t deeply those

sh i fts of fortune which have at all t imes been the lo t of

publ i c men,espec ial ly i n the East . C

A ta’ i i n formsus that ,

when lecturi ng to his students, he w oul d stop to sigh and

complai n how that i n those days learn ing and v i rtue brought

the i r possessors n othi ng but i njust i ce , and how the n ight

of hope had then no other dawn than sleeplessness ,‘and so

i t come th about ,’

adds the b iographer ,‘that the most part

of his poe try is,as i t we re

,a complai n t and a manner of

forebod ing of every so rt o f i l l . ’

The fol lowi ng sixteen rubacisw i l l serve to i l lustrate Ha’

lc t l’

s

wo rk i n this fo rm .

Ruba i. [ 2 34]

Thou o f whose kindness all that is hath taught,

Whose garth of g race w i th wafts o f lov e is fraught,

U'

e rwhe lnr rue somewise i n N o t- lle ing’

s sea,

N o r east rne ruid l i fe ’s whi rl pool,so re distraught .

Ruba t. 2 35

( if o ld,whi le l"nte its sov ran away st i l l lan e

,

( h rr grie f was d e e p when hearts we re w ri t te n ‘rt i t t

Sudde n,arrn ilrilat io n

'

s rnag ie g lai vel‘larrhe d

,and rrli y earni ng o t d e-ri re wa-r o

'

e r .

2 2 8

Rubaci’

. [ 2 3 6 ]

Warring w i th Reason upon every side,

I ’ l l play the man i n sorrow ’s bat tle- t ide

Favoured of Love am I in dolour ’swaste,

F or 10,the whirlw in d is become my gui de !

Ruba 1. [ 2 3 7 ]

O parted lover,sigh the l ivelong n igh t

,

And teach the ange ls what is l ove ’s desp i te .

Since thou mayst w in no t un to union ’s bower,

Walk w i th thy lo ve i n fancy ’s garden brigh t .

Rubaci’

. [ 2 3 8]

The pang of love ’s the morning-l igh t of truth,

The pang of l ove ’s a mirror that says soo th ;I t ne ’er w i l l come for any t o i l of thine,

The pang of l ove ’s the gift of God in ruth .

R ubac

i. [ 2 3 9 ]

Who seeks no t safe ty ’s path,gr ief’s l iege is he

,

One i n hissight are rose and thorn,perdie .

L i t tle he kens of this w i ld fie ld of Love,

Who sees no t sulf’ring ’

s sword L i fe ’s Stream to b e .

Ruba 1. [ 240]

Cup-bearer

,b i d our feast d iscomfit vere

,

L e t the fair-hearted ’s l i p cul l roses here .

A y, bare those whi te and gleaming arms 0’ th ine

L e t si lver haft to mirror-cup appear .

Ruba1. [ 241]

We’re on a fiel d where v irtuous blood isshed

,

P oured lav ish as the sunse t ’s gory red ;

A lack for that we came no t unto ear thE re the sphere-mirro r was w i th rust b espread l

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 30

Rubac

i. [ 248 ]

Knows the pure-hearted from the Primal DayH is hear t for church, h is hopesfor i dols gay . l

The soul desiressuch l ighting-flash of graceThat ’fore i t all Heaven ’s radiance fade away .

Ruba1. [ 249 ]

Make the hear t-realm the home o f gr ief for Thee ;Lord

,let mine eyne C

A den and Yemen b e .

“

2

If my one hand hope ’s i dol-carver prove ,Make Thou the o ther smi te i dolatry .

Here is a ghaze l from Hale trs D iwan

Ghazel. [ 249 ]

Ask no t anen t yon hidden flame burn ing the folk of care ;Ask rather of the flutterings of robes of beaut ies fair .

H ow should I not w eep tears of blood w i th my li ver turned to goreBy the eye lash-needle of one who do th the breath M essian ic share .

”

If thou b e fai n to know on what w ise a diamond mine may b e ,Look on her lustrous beauty br igh t through the open ing of her spare .

4

’Tismee t that the n igh tingale of the lawn of the gar th of woe b e suchThat w i th the tears of his weep ing eyne b e water the roses there .

See Vol . I,p . 2 2 .

2 c

A den and Yemen here stand for pearls (tears) and cornel ians (bloodstai ned tears) .

3 The legend runs that when Jesuswas translated from the world,he was

found to have nothing ear thly about him,save a needle stuck in hisgarmen t .

B ut i n consequence of this earthly needle,he go t only hal f-way to Paradise ,

and now dwel ls i n the Fourth Heaven,that of the Sun

,where he w i l l abide

t i l l he comesagai n i n glory . A llusion hasalready been made to the miraculousheal ing power of his breath .

I use the old-fashioned word ‘spare ’ t o translate the Or ien tal g iriban ,which means the opening in the fron t of a garmen t

,from the neck down to a

cer tai n length, which enables the garment to b e put on and taken off.

2 3 1

I n terpre t them 1 by the lo cks of the l oved on e,Haleti

,and then

A l l they who are crazed shal l w in del igh t from the ir tangled dreamsfor e ’er .

The fol low i ng translat i on represents almost the whole of

the th irteenth Maqala o r Sect i on of Halet i ’s Saq i-Name . The

rub ri c to the se ct i on runs: Concern ing the In c i temen t of the

Reve l lers to Nocturnal Carousal . 2

From the Saqi-Nama. [ 250 ]

Carousal and rev el are seemly by n ight,

That far b e extended the hour of de l i gh t .F or t hen do the l ovel orn ascend up on high , 3

And then throws the trav’ller his crown to the sk v .

And then they of heart traverse sw i ftl y the way

By n igh t swel ls ecstat i c the sigh of dismay .

The n igh t- t ide is Sheb d iz,the w i ne is Gulgun ; 4

Who r i de th two horses i l l-luck mee te th soon .

0 cup-bearer

,come

,and enk in dle our train

E re yet fick le For tune to slumber is fai n .

Of lustre bereft lsshows the n igh t-t ime of woe,

As the even ing of death,sans the fair morn ing glow .

And what though to black turn earth ’s port ic o-vc il?

F or n ever of smoke may such lan te rn fai l .The fawn -sun h is musk-bag hath le ft and isfled

,

And there from the Sphere all around musk hath spread .l

i That is: the i r tangled d reams.

2 Mb,“ w e.

y‘Old e r) Q

M

3 This and the th ree fol lowi ng l in es are eo uehed i n the phraseology of thedervishes

,who speak o f themse lves as the ‘lo ve lo rn ’

,the ‘t rave l le rs

,

’ ‘t ire y ofand so on . i n the tirst l i ne it is said that by night these iind the i r

ruif

raj o r ase e nsio n,that is

,the y pe rce i ve v isi ons i n which t h e y se e t hemse lves

transporte d to l leave n .

'

l’

he ‘c rown ' me n ti one d i n the n e x t l i ne is the d e rv ish rap .

4She laltz (u Nigh t-l ik e ) was the name o f the ee le la'

ale d lrhrek e lrarg e r‘ of

K husraw l'

urwlz,whi le Shirin

’

n ro an was nrrrrre d t ln lg urr Rose -lured ) . Seethe abstract of the R o n rnn e e o i Khusre v and Shirtn i n the A ppendi x .5 '

l’

hat is: w i thout b righ t w i n e .

'

l’

he lant e rn is the sun ; its Nt rlr rlu '

,the darkne ss ulrie h turns the po rt ir o

V e i l of earth,t. e . the shy, to Idar lt .

Musk is i i ii lr it, so the sphe re sp read i ng n i tralr re te ra « im ply to the g athe ri ng

i‘l ind en o f ni gh t .

2 3 2

Ah,where should such fierce fuming dragon i b e spied,

Whose sparks,2 l ike to embers

,for l ong may abide ?

As soon as the fire o f the sun leaves to flare

This b lack l ion 3 issueth for th from h is lair .

O cup-bearer

,where is that l i fe-giving bowl

That heartene th agai nst all the onslaughts of dole ?

May that Master Physi c ian , the Magian grey , 4

Ofh is charm 5make the hear t ’s amule t ni gh t and day.

What medicine of wonder is that whi ch for thri gh tDo th redden the cheek of the si ck of despi te ?

If forth from the body the b l ood-stream shoul d go,

The w i ne tul ip -hued in itsstead would there flow .

C

A ta 1,Whose name I have had frequen t occasi on to menti on

of late , was prominent both as a prose-w r i ter and a poe t

among the l i terary men of his t ime .

c

A ta’

r-ul lah , for such was

the personal name of the wr i te r known i n the history of

Turkish l i terature as Nev‘i- zade C

A ta’

t’

i,wasborn at Constan

t inople i n 99 1 and , as his patronymic i nd i cates, was

the son of the dist i nguished poe t and savant N evc

i,whose

l i fe and work w e have already consi dered . That the son was

proud of the father ’s fame is proved by the al lusi on to N C VC

f

i n the fol low i ng couple t :

That poe t I,that poe t ’sson

,before whose verse to-day

The cul tured of the worl d have bowed the head r i gh t lowl i ly . 6

The Sun .

“

2 The l igh t of sunse t . 3 The nigh t .4 I n P ersia w ine was formerly (and st i l l is

,where Zoroastrian commun i t ies

exist) chiefly sold by Magians (or by Chr ist ians confused w i th these) ; hencethe te rm Magian is much used in P ersian and O t toman poe try to represen ta v in tner o r tavern-keep er ; but myst i cal ly (the eso teri c doc trines be i ng compared to the forbidden w i ne ) to sign ify a learned and holy teacher of thetranscenden tal lore . The ‘Magian grey ’ i . e . the p ir or e lder of the Magians

,

means any spec ially venerated teacher of this class. W e some t imesmee t w i thal lusions t o the ‘youthful Magian

,

’ by whom ismean t the young and beaut i fulcup

-bearer, i n e i ther a l i teral or myst i cal sense .

5 The Magian ’s charm isof course w i ne,the medic ine of the follow ing couple t .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 34

of consi derable servi ce ,al though of course but a very smal l

proport i on of the learned men whose careersi t detai lsattai ned

a suffic iently high posi t i on aspoe ts to warran t the ir ment ion

i n a work l ike the presen t .c

A taf’

i’

s poet i cal wri t ingsare all i n cluded i n what isknown

as hisKhamsa or Qui n te t . B ut th is so - cal led Khamsa i s n o

true Khamsa, as that term was understood by the ear l ier

Pe rsian and Turkish w r i ters; and th is be cause one of the

five books that go to make i t up is not a mesnev i at all,

but simply the author ’s D iwan . The four mesnev iswhich i t

actual ly contai nsare named respect i ve ly , Suhb et -ul-E bkar or

The Converse of V irgins; Heft Khwan or The Seven Courses;N efhat -ul-E z har o r The Breath of the F l owers ; and Saqi

Name o r the Cup-bearer-Book .

The first of these , the Suhb et -ul-E bkar or Converse of

V irgins, waswri tten asa pendant to J am i ’sSubhat -ul-Ahrar

or Rosary of the Just,l ike which i t i s d iv i ded i nto forty

sect i onsor chapte rs, here cal led Conversat i ons. Each ofthese

is devoted to the consi derat i on of some e th ical or myst i c

quest i on , the argumen t be i ng enforced by some more o r less

appropriate anecdote , usual ly deri ved from ear ly history or

legend .

The He ft Khwan o r Seven Courses ismore pure l y myst i cal

i n tone . Here seven in i t iates i n the sp ir i tual l i fe hol d forth

on the transports and ecstac ies of myst i c l ove . I have never

seen this poem ,

1 but Von Hammer descr i bes i t asa most

unhappy work , consist i ng simply of a ser ies of tr i v ial stor ies

and tri te moral i t ies.

The . third , the N efhat -ul-E z har or Breath of the F lowers,is i n scope and character much l ike the first . I t waswri t ten

as a counterpart to one of N izam i ’s poems, the Makhzan

1 [ A t some p er i od subsequen t to wri t in g this,how ever

,the Author ob tai ned

a MS . of th is work, at presen t bearing the prov isional number 2 85. E D . ]

2 35

ul-Asrar ; and i t al so consi sts of a number of chapters , cal led

Breaths th is t ime , i n which certai n e th i cal or moral po i nts

are d iscussed , and the con clusi ons fort ified by what the

author no doubt regarded as impressi ve and pert i nen t tales.

The Saq i-Name o r Cupbearer-Book , wh i ch has the spec ial

t i t le of C

A lem-numa or Worl d -Displayer , i s much the same

as the other poems of i ts c lass , so popular at th is t i me . I t

i s perhaps somewhat more e laborate than isusual wi th such

product i ons; i t certai n l y is l onger , contai n i ng 156 1 couplets,w i th twe l ve ruba

c

i’

s i n terspe rsed , agai nst 515 couple ts i n

Halet i’

s poem of the same name .

c

A ta”i has attempted to

bri ng hi s Saiqi -Name i n to the category of the long and im

portan t mesnev i poems which are un derstood as forming the

several members of a Khamsa, by p refix ing to the subj ec t

i tse l f lengthy d oxologies and prayers, toge ther w i th an ac

count of the Prophe t’

s Ascensi on , the praise s of the Sul tan ,and a

‘Reason of the Wr i t i ng of the Book ,’

all as i n the

earl ier roman ti c mesnev is. Such pre l imi nary sect i ons do not ,

so far as I have seen , occur i n any othe r of these Cupbeare r

Books.

OfC

A t zi’

i’

s four mesnev is, the Breat h o f the F l owe rs is the

earl iest , si nce i t was finished i n 1020 (16 11 I t was fo l

l owed in 1026 (16 17 ) by the Saiq i-n zime,wh ich date , toge the r

w i th the spe c ial t i tle of the wo rk,

C

A lem-numa’

, is i nd icat e d

i n the fo l low i ng couple t :

Ifa ch ronog ram li e li t the e nd i ng he re of‘l‘ i ll ed wi t h its w i ne he the cup , the Wm ld -lfisp lnye r .

’ l

The Co nve rse o fV i rgins came n e x t i n lo 3s and

the Se V e n C o urses C lose d the se ries i n M3O (16 20

I t w i l l he o bse rved that no t o ne o f these fo ur inesne v ts

The ne eo nd llne fu l l tm the t ln o no g i nn i ,

2 36

is romanti c ; the old stor ies of Joseph and Z eh’

kha, of the

hapless L eyla and Mejn t’

in ,and of the gal lant Khusraw and

the beaut i ful Sh ir i n have now l ost the ir charm ,or perhaps

have been done to death . A t all events,the on ly two of

C

A tai’

i’

s mesnev is i n whi ch narrat i ve plays any prom inent

part , the Converse of V i rginsand the Breath of the F lowers,be long to that d i dacti c anecdotal c lass, the best Ottoman

examples of which are Yahya Bey ’

sBook of Precepts, Myst i c

Treasury, and Rosehed of Rad iance , and the prototype of

wh ich is,of course , to b e found i n such w orks as Jam i ’s

Tuhfat -ul-Ahrar and Subhat -ul-Ahrar, and the ear l ier N izam i’s

Makhzan -ul-Asrar .

The D iwan,w hich is pressed i n to the service to p lay the

part of fi fth mesnev i i n the Khamsa, i s ded i cated to the

Sheykh-ul- Islam Yahya Efend i,and is ne i ther ve ry lengthy

nor very remarkable . I t contai ns, as usual , several qasidas

i n honour of the great men of the day, some hundred and

fi fty ghaze ls, and a number of chronograms, stan zai c poems,and so on .

C

A ta’

i’

was a most i n dustri ous w ri ter ; but , as w i l l b e g a

thered from what I have just sai d,the poe t i cal value of his

verse is not high . N ed im,i n deed , says i n the qasida which

I have already quoted several t imes:

‘In the d irecti on of the mesnev iC

A ta i outstr i ppe d them

all ;’

but th isflatte ri ng verd i ct remai nsunconfirmed by any

subsequent w ri ter . Sheykh Ghal i b , the last of the four great

poe ts of the Old School,is sure ly nearer the truth when

he w r i tes

I n the style of N ewé’i did Fuzul i

F i nd the way to at tai n e l oquence .

I n our Constan t inople,N ev

Ci-zade

Trave lled along i t at a foo t ’s pace .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 3 8

along,rare ly l it up by any flash of poe t i c thought or imagery .

B ut al though this ‘Khamsa’ of C

A t zi’

i may possess but l i t tle

charm o r meri t i n i tse l f, i t is i n tere st i ng as be i ng the last‘Response ’

ever made by an Ottoman poe t t o the i l lustr i ous

Persians. Never agai n does a Turkish wr i ter come forward

and chal lenge Nizam i’

,Khusraw of De lh i , or Jam i on the ir

own ground . I n the Transi ti on Peri od , now close at hand ,

when the nat ional spi ri t begins to w rest le i n earnest wi th

fore ign influence , such a work woul d hardly b e undertaken ;

and when we contemplate the re sul t of the last e ffort i n

this di recti on , we have l i tt le reason to regre t that the spi ri t

of the ag e rendered a repe t i t i on impossib le .

C

A tei’

i’

s‘Khamsa’

closes a chapte r i n the l i terary history of Turkey .

There are, i n conclusi on , two poin ts i n connect ion w i th

C

A té’

i’

s w ork that cal l for remark . The first of these is the

extraord inary fondness of th is w r i ter for quot ing proverbs .

The occasi onal i ntroduct i on of a popular adage or proverb

had for l ong been a favouri te usage w i th the poets ; butc

A tai’

i carrie d the practi ce to an extreme . Many parts of his

Khamsa, espec ial l y the stor ies i n i t , br istle w i th these pi thy

l i ttle apothegms of which the Turks possessso ri ch a store .

This affecti on fo r i n troduci ng the popular proverbs i n to his

work forms a l ink be tween c:

A téf

i'

and the w ri ters of the

next Per i od . The Transi t i on poe ts have asa whole the same

l ove of these home ly saws, and some embody them l i tt le i f

at all less frequently i n the i r verses. B ut such a course is

only what we shoul d expect i n the case of wr i terswho were

struggl ing to br ing the l i terary poe try into harmony w i th

the nat ional gen ius. Such men woul d natural ly avai l themse l ves of every nat ive e lement wh i ch coul d add i n terest or

picturesqueness to the ir work : w i th C

A t ri’

i, i t wasan uncons

c ions st irri ng of the spir i t of the future . The second poin tis one which connects the poe t

,not w i th hissuccessors, but

2 39

w i th the past , i t is the vi rulent and aggressi ve misogyny

whi ch runs through all hisw orks.

C

A te’

r’

i isone of the grossest

offenders i n thi s d irect i on ; i t seems to have been impossib le

for him to make the sl i ghtest al lus i on to a woman w i thout

hurl i ng some scurr i l ous i nsul t at the whole se x .

The verses that fo l low are from the pre face to the Khamsa.

From the Preface to the Khamsa. [ 251]

If that the hear t b e slumb er’s eye , awake i t lay,While that amaze and yearn ing sore hel d o

’

e r me sway,

Then,when the body

,dust and ashes

,heedlessslep t

,

Upwards the ve i l by the ve i l-keep ing hear t wasswep t . I

Making usfile fan tasy ’s caravan,and fare

In to the great c i ty of v isi onsstrange and rare .

Onwards I wen t,passi ng by mosque and conven t too ;

Yea,I beheld places that ne ’er on earth I knew .

Then there appeared un to the soul ’s eye a sage,

Rudely y clad,but high of m ien and great o f ag e .

E’en as the grace o f God the Lord al igh ted he ;Cour teousand kind

,grac i ously he saluted me .

Miekle his condescension towards me,hisslave .

I n to my hand an i nkhorn courteously he gave .

The reupon straigh t b lazed up alo ft my yearn ing ’s (lame,

N o r migh t my heart fi nd room enow wi thi n my frame .

The next is a chapte r from the S ziq t-Nzi me

,

‘Desc ri b i ng

the Transi to ri ness of the Wo rld .

’

li rom the S nip-Name . [ 252

cupbe are r,whe re is you l i fe -gi vi ng w i ne ?

The p ranks o f the l lcnve n have le ft us to pi ne .

Mo re l i te rall y : thnt curtai n -lt c e ln-r, the brun t,

ruined the curtai n . The

pe i de-d t’t r,

ehnmb e rht in,

o r curtai n-ke e pe r Was a muvnn l o i n tin e r i n g reathouses

,who se duty it WM

,nu peo p le pun

-ted to and li o,to m ine and

the curtai n which hung in the d oo rways eo nnnunh'

ntlng b em eeu the tune r

apartme nts.

240

I tsspring and i ts autumn al ike pass away ,And fickle is T ime , shifti ng nigh t- t i de and day.

The grain of the stars is for aye being ground ,The cup of the moon is filled higher each stound . ‘

Whi le chuckl ing as ’ twere any flag on of w i ne,Undone hath been many a braggart ful l fin e .

And while yet the sp ri ng- t ime of hope’

s green and bright ,I ts hair is turned, e

’

en as the p icotee, whi te .2

The v iole t bowe th the head for i ts pain ,And every green thing issore kno t ted of bane .

The worl d is aweary,and flee ti ng j oy ’s t ide ,

F or yawning the mouth of the jar g apeth w i de .

What way should the bubble to long l ife at tai n ,Al though times a thousand its breath i t re tai n ?3

The Heaven hath fashioned a jug of Jem ’s clay ,

And there grown the gourd where of old he he ld sway .What things hath this dread charnel swal lowed, ah me !

H ad earth but a t ongue,and shoul d tel l all to thee '

A l though that thismill may turn e’

en as thou’ldst have ,

Yet are grai ns bei ng ground ever morni ng and eve .

The worl d’s but a worn -out backgammon-board , 10 !No moon yon

,a d ie i n i tsmidmost

,I trow .

A volume ’

tis,thumb-marked of anguish and pain ;

No longer the legend i t beare th shews plai n .

A haun t of i ll-luck is th issad rui n drear ;’Tis no eagle

,the owl

’tis alone dwelle th here .

H e w i l l p lay no t fo r long,he w i ll mee t w i th hismeed ,

The eagle hereof is a tyrant i ndeed .

1 The stars are here considered as grai ns,and the turning Sphere as the

mill which gri nds them , the moon is the measure which isever be ing refilled(as i t waxes) w i th the flour or dust thus produced .

2 The companion here is be tween young vege tat i on n i pp ed w i th hoarfrostand the hair of a young man turned grey p rematurely .

3 “H ow were i t p ossible for the bubb le to at tai n long l ife , though i t prac t isethe holding of the breath a thousand times?” Amongst certain derv ishes i t wasbel ieved that long l ife could b e obtained by accustoming one ’sse lf to holdthe breath, and this pract ise was cal led habs-i-nefes. [ Cf. von Kremer

’s G e

schich tliehe Streifzug e auf dem Geb ie te des Islams,pp . 47 The bubble

may b e sai d to hold its breath,for i ts very existence depends on the b reath

or air w i th in i t , ye t i t is a very shor t-l i ved thing, even asman is.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

I am on the thorn of teen , my love doth w i th my foes regale .

H ow rec i te my woes, O comrades? Space w ere none to tel l the tale !‘Feresare heedless, spheres are ruthl ess

,For tune is i n constan t qui te ;

‘Woes are many , friends no t any, strong the foe,and w eak my plight . ’

E’

en one momen t may I leave t o wai l at this carouse of pai n ?

Naugh t can I but spil l the w i ne of weeping and my garmen t stai n .

H ow should I avai l to draw one breath,nor l ike the flute complain ?

What can I but , l ike the ended banque t , desolate remai n .

“

‘Feres are heedless, spheres are ruthless,Fo r tune is in constan t qui te ;

LWoes are many,friends no t any, strong the foe, and weak my pl igh t . ’

Even whi le I served him , yonder Sove re ign 2 drove me away ,Cast me forth his c i ty ; sen t me

,si nless. from his cour t ’s array .

Parted from his lo cks, the w ide world black before mine eyen lay ;Helpless as C

A ta’

t’i bode I mid the darkness

,w el-a-way

'.

‘Fe res are heedless,spheres are ruthless

,Fortune is i nconstan t qui te ;

‘Woes are many,friends no t any, strong the foe , and weak my pl igh t . ’

Desolat ion foll ow i ng prosperi ty , or death succeeding l i fe,is some t imes

compared to a banque t ing-room when the feast is over,the guests departed

,

and the l igh ts put out .

7 R eferring to the (probabl y myst i c) objec t of the poe t ’s love .

BOOK IV

T H E T H I R D P E R I O D

A . D . 1600— 1700

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

246

two great poets named above , taking Baq i ashis prototype ,

strove w i th all the might o f his gen ius to beaut i fy and refin e

the poe try of his country ; but to beaut i fy and refine i t by

b r i nging i t st i l l c l oser and cl oser to the Pe rsian mode lsand

removing i t ye t further and further from whatever wasnat ional

and Turkish . The poe ts who fol lowed i n N ef‘i’

s footsteps

carried on this Persian isi ng of the l i terature , al ike i n voca

bulary and construct i on , tone and sent iment , t i l l the culm in

at i ng point was reached by Nab i, who wrote verses which,

as E krem B ey says, a Pe rsian might know w e re not Persian ,

but which no Turk coul d te l l were i n tended fo r Turkish .

B ut alongsi de of this ul tra-Persian School of N efc

i and

his fol lowe rs w e find another group of poets who,whi le

l ikew ise taking Baqi as the ir mode l so far as style is con

ce rned, se ek to modi fy the extreme subj ect i vi ty which has

hi therto re igned paramoun t i n Ottoman poe try . Thisgroup ,of which the Mufti Yahya Efend i

,a contemporary of N ef

c

i,

may b e taken as the head , endeavour , i n such of the ir

w ri t i ngs as are real ly charac ter ist i c and important , to depict

things which they have actual ly seen and not mere ly heard

or read . Simi larl y , they are ofte n i n such worksmore frankly

mater ial t han w e re the i r precursors; they try to deal w i th

the actual as we l l as w i th the imaginary . They are , i n brie f,

more nat ional , more Turkish , than e i the r the ir predecessors

o r contemporar ies; fo r the bent of the Turkish m ind is not

subj ect ive , but i n tense ly obj ect i ve, as is c learl y show n by

the true nat i onal poetry, the Turkis; and as a consequence

the nat i onal tendenc ies are mater ial ist i c rathe r than i deal ist .

W e have then in this c losi ng per i od of the Classi c A g e two

d ist i nct schools or groups of poets. Both descend from Baqi ;but whi le the one seeks to fol low the master i n the le tterrather than i n the sp iri t , and is content to procee d al ong the

old l i nesconse c rated by the trad i ti on and practi ce of centur ies,

247

the other sfrives fo r a w i de r scope and aims at a further

deve l opment , endeavour i ng to descr ibe thi ngsnew i n poetry

as Baqi woul d have descr i bed them , had i t been the fashion

to treat of them in his day. And the first of these , that

which may b e te rmed the Art ific ial School and is headed

by N efc

i,attai nsw i th i n a comparat ivelv few yearsitshighest

poss ib le poin t , and then d ie s , and by its death br i ngs the

Class i c Pe ri od to a c lose ; whereas the second , which we

may cal l the Natural Schoo l , that under the lead ership of

Yahya Efend i , quie t ly but sure ly makes itsway unti l final l y

i t tr iumphs over its r i val , and by its triumph i naugurates

the Transi t i on A g e .

I t is dur i ng thi s c losi ng stage of the Classi c Pe r i od that

the Ottoman qasida attai ns its zen i th . The form had always

been a favouri te ; N efc

i made i t d oubly so . H imse l f the

author of an unr i val led ser ies of magn ificent qasidas he

showed to his fol l owe rs the capabi l i t ies of the form and

i nspi red them w i th enthus iasm in its cul t i vat i on . He re the

i nfluence of N ef‘i was w i de r and more enduri ng than i n his

Pe rsian isi ng e ffo rts. I t was not on ly the A rt ific ial poe tswho

wrote qasidas, fo r the d isci ples of Yahyz'

t Efend i st rove not

unsuccessful ly to compe te w i th them in this fie ld ; ne i the r

d id the fashio n passaway w i th the C lassi c A g e ,fo r i t last e d

all th rough the T ransit io n d o wn e ve n t o our o wn t ime .

This e fflo rescence o f the qasida was no d oubt i n great

part due to the i nflue n ce o fC

Urft o fSh iraz , the m ost i l lus

trious l’e rsian po e t o f the day. This yo uthful ge n ius he

d ied i n 999 (1590—1) at the earl y ag e o f thi rty is o ne

o f the rrrost d ist i ng uished and rrro st b ri l l ian t qasida-“ l i te rs

of his co unt ry . H e was so o n re c o g n ise d as a maste r b v the

co ntem po rary l’e rsian p o e ts, and , as a mat te r o f e o urse . his

wo rks we re fo rthw i t h stud ie d and im i tate d in Turke v . i l is'

itrllue ne e , to g e the r w i th that o f the lnrliarr hay / t , “ ho ho ue ve r

248

e ffected more by the phi losophi cal t one of hiswr i t i ngs than

by his style , form the most potent fore i gn e lements i n

mould ing the Ottoman poe try of th is pe r i od , when the su

p remacy ofC

A li Sh ir , Jami and the earl ie r maste rshad almost

entire ly passed away . B ut towards the c l ose of the peri od

a new star arose i n Pe rsia the last poe t of d ist i n ct ion

that country was dest i ned to produce ;' th is was Sa’ i b , to

whom the contemporary Turkish wr i ter Nab i at once acknow

ledged feal ty, and whose highly mer i tor i ousand or i ginal style

he very successful ly reproduce d in his own verses. The pr i n

c ipal home i nfluence cont i nues,as we have seen , to b e that

of Baqi .

The peri od covered by the present chapter is that dur i ng

which most of the Saq i-Namesor Cupbearer-Books, t o which

I have already referred , were w r i tten . The product i on of

these w orks was, as I sai d at the beginn ing of the preced ing

chapte r, the resul t , or reflecti on , of a simi lar movement whi ch

was taking place i n Persia. L ater on,about the end of the

seventeenth century, these passed out of favour,and the ir

place was taken by a c lassof short mesnevisseveral l y enti tled

Barber-Books, Tai lor-Books, and so on, accord ing to the ir

subj ect . Works of this c lass were ve ry popular dur i ng the

Transi t ion .

A s I have already sai d , Murad IV himse l f w rote verses ;

these never r ise to poe try ; but I give here by way ofcuriosity

the ghaze lsbefore al luded to which were exchanged be tween

him and Hafiz Pasha, when the latter was i n charge of the

Persian campaign . This Hafi z Pasha, who was tw i ce Grand

Ve z ir, was ki l led i n a mee ti ng of the Janissar ies i n 1041

[ That is, I p resume , the last P ersian p oe t who had any great influence onO t toman li terature , for Qa’ é n i, who died i n the lat ter hal f of the n ine teen thcen tury , was unquest ionab ly a poe t o f the v ery first rank . E D . ]

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

250

Know we no t what th is de lay in hurl ing back oppression means'

Is there never Reckon ing Day nor quest i on of the v i c tim ’

s pligh t ?1

W i th us mid the blaz ing fire of host i le bat t le fierce to plungeIs there ne ’er a salamander tried by fickle Fortune ’ssp i te ?

Hence to carry this our le t ter to the court o f K ing MuradIs there ne ’er a p igeon sw ift-w inged as the st orm-w ind in its fl igh t ?

I t w i l l b e observed that Murad ’

s reply to the foregoing

is w hat is known as a Naz ira, or‘paral le l

’

, to i t ; the style

of imagery , the me tre , the r ime , and (i n the original ) the

red if of the Ve z i r’s verses be i ng all re tai ne d in the Sul tan ’s .

Sultan Murad ’

s Reply. [ 255]

Hark ye , Hafiz,to rel ieve Baghdad is there n o val ian t W igh t ?

Is there not w i th thee an army,that thou pray

’st us aid thy p ligh t ?

‘I am the Vezir t o mate the foeman,

’ thou wast won t to say.

Is there now no room against the adversaire t o play the Knigh t ?

While we know ful l wel l there is no peer to thee i n vaun tful b oast,

Ye t is there ne ’er an av enger t o take vengean ce on thy sp righ t?

Thou who w ouldest boast of manhood,whence this dastardy i n thee?

Thou’

rt afeared, but is there no man by thy si de who knows no t fri gh t ?

Heedless hast thou been,and lo

,the here t i cs have ta’en Baghdad , 2

Is there ne ’er a Reckon ing-Day? shal l no t the Lord thy sin requi te?

Through thy folly have they lai d i n rui ns BuH anifa’s town ; 3Hast thou then no zeal for Islam ’

s fai th or for the Prophe t ’s ri ght ?

God who , while w e w ist no t,did vouchsafe to us the Sul tanate

,

Shall agai n vouchsafe Baghdad ; is naught foredoomed of A llah ’s might ?1 The Vez i r m eans that he does no t know why the Sul tan delays to dri veback the cruel enemy , and asks whe ther he does no t bel ie ve that on the

Judgmen t Day he w i ll have to answer for th is neglec t whi ch causesso muchsuffering .

“

3 The P ersiansbel onging to the Sh ] . a sec t which Sun n i Islam (what p revai lsi n Turkey ) holds here t i cal .3 Ba Han ifa, for A bu Han ifa

,founder of that on e of the four great sec ts

of orthodox Islam to which the Turks be long,l ies buried in Baghdad .

251

Thou hast wasted Islam ’s army through thy br ibery forsooth ;

Thou mayst deem we know not, yet is there no news t o w i ng its fl igh t?

Nathe less,w i th God ’s high aid t o w reak our v engeance on the foe

,

Have we no t an ancien t servan t w i th the zeal o f Islam dight ?

N ow have I de clared commander a Vezir of high empri zeW i l l no t Khizr 1 and the Prophe t lead ? is none t o gui de arigh t ?

Is i t that thou holdest all the world for voi d and empty now ?

Is there none t o rule the Seven Cl imes,2 Muradi

,i n hismigh t ?

W i th the accessi on of Sul tan Ibrah im on the death of his

brother Murad IV , there comes a b reak i n the l i ne of poe t

Sul tans. This sovere ign , whose i n terests were c ircumscr ibed

by the wal l s of his harem ,appears to have been absolute l y

i n diffe rent to poe try and to poe ts. H e was equal ly heedless

w i th regard to publ i c affai rs; and the worst of the abuses

which Murad had stri ven so re lentlessly to suppress began

to reappear on every si de . A t length , afte r a re ign of e ight

years, he was i n 1058 (1648 ) deposed and put to death ,

having exasperated all c lasses by hisbound less ext ravagance

and by the end less taxes which he lev ied . The people we re

taxe d and re -taxed to grat i fy eve ry cost ly whim of the lad ies

i n whose soc ie ty the Sul tan found all his pleasure and passed

all his t ime . W e read of a sable tax and an ambe rgris tax ,

raise d to supply the Se ragl io w i th furs and pe rfumes; and

we are tol d o f a chario t ad o rne d w i th p re c io us sto nes c o n

st ructe d to please the sumptuo us tast e o f o ne fai r favo uri te .

and of a g em-e nc ruste d (

‘

n ique bui l t to bear the Im pe rial

pl easure -p zn‘

t ies o n the wat e rs o f the llo sp lio l‘

us. A ll t his

was no d o ub t ve ry d e l i g htful to the Sul tan and his lad i es;

but the p ri c e pai d fo r it was the l i fe -bl o o d o f the nat io n .

Kli iz r,the uupe t l iututnl be i ng who t

' ome n to ow It i t i o f p lan . Min-dam ta

d ist ress. Se e V o l. I,p . l 7 7 , n . I .

i' The SC VP n f'

llm en,l. e the whole w o ld . Se e p .

t) , u. 1 i npu t .

252

Every office wassold to the highest b i dder , eve ry form of

oppressi on was practised ,i n order to procure money for the

w i l d extravagances of the palace ; t i l l at length some of the

more hon est and thoughtful among the pe ople , see i ng that

this coul d have no other issue than nat i onal rui n , de termined

to stop i t i n the most effectual of all manners, and so brought

about a revolut i on w i th the resul t already ment ioned , and

seated Ibrah im’

s son ,Muhammed

,then a ch i l d of seven , on

the throne ofC

Osman .

N ef‘i of Erze rum ,

as the author who now c laims our

attent ion is general ly cal led , i s , by the unan imous verd ic t

of the mode rn Ottoman cr i t i cs, one of the crown ing glor ies

of the ear l ier Turkish l i te rature , and the se cond , i n poin t

of t ime , of those four great poe ts who by virtue of race

and command ing gen iusstand forth as leaders and captai ns

from the serried ranks of the Old School wr i te rs. A s i n the

case of his great predecessor Fuzul i’ , we have but few part i

culars concern ing N efc

i’

s caree r , and these few re late chiefly

to his tragi c fate .

C

Omer (such was the poe t ’s personal name )was born at Hasan Qal

c

a,a l i tt le town in the ne ighbourhood

of Erzerum . Some t ime dur i ng the re ign of Ahmed I he

made his way to Constant inople,where he adopte d the

professi on of an accountant . N efc

i d edi cated some br i l l iant

qasidas to Sul tan Ahmed , as also to his son the lucklessC

Osman I I ; but he does not appear t o have made much wayw i th the Impe r ial patronsb efore the accessi on of Murad IV ,

whose spec ial favour he succeed ed i n acqui r ing , and whom

he eulogised in a seri es of magn ificent poems whi ch have

proved the despair of all subsequent Ottoman qasida-wr i ters.

Unhappi ly for himse l f, N ef

c

i’

s genius for panegyr i c was

equal led by his gift of sat ire ; he is the greatest sati rist , as

he is the greatest panegyr ist , i n Turkish l i te rature . This

dangerous gift natural ly enough got the poet i n to trouble .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

254

Most authori t iesplace the execut i on of N ef1 i n 1044(1634

but Haj j i Khal ifa and , fol low i ng him , Von Hammer make

i t a year later, i n 1045(1635More than any other Turkish poe t is N efi dependen t

upon style , upon executi on , for the posi t i on whic h he holds

i n his country’

s l i terature . The p re-eminence of that posi t i on

is i nd isputable and und isputed , but i t rests exclusi ve l y on

the marve l lous br i l l iancy , the imper ial magn ificence , of the

poet ’s language . I t is only as a wr i ter of qasidas that Ne f‘f

hasacqui red so great a name ; hisghaze lsare of comparat i ve ly

l i tt le account , and hissat i res are so gross that they cannot

b e read w i thout d isgust . I t there fore fol lows, almost of neces

sity,that whatever b e hismer i ts

,they must lie i n the manner

,

not i n the matter , of his work . The obj e ct of the qasi da is

eul ogy of the highly placed , and eulogy of the highly placed

is neve r, even unde r the most favourable condi t i ons, ve ry

hopeful for poetry . B ut the cond i t i ons under which the

Turkish poets wrote such eul ogi eswe re very far from be i ng

the most favourable ; fo r leav ing out of sight the personal

dese rts of the great men i n whose honour they sang , t ra

d i t ion and convent i on had rende re d impossi b le any sympa

thet i c or even si ncere treatment of the ir subj ect . That N efc

i

was not si ncere i n his extravagan t laudat i ons of the vez irs

and pashasw hom he extol led,might easi ly have been gathered

from the fact that many of his panegyri cs are corrected by

hissati res; thusMehemed Pasha the Georgian (Gurj iMehemed

Pasha) , of whom he says i n a qasida that ,‘Neath the

Canqa

’

i of h is glor ioussplendour is the sphere an eg g ,‘In the balance of hisstately por tance is the ear th a g rai n ,"

is descr ibed i n the Shafts of Doom in such a manne r as to

amI ;si tssm j fii

’

,

5—5

255

render translat i on impossi ble i n th is book .

1 B ut he se ts the

matte r at rest , and te l ls us all that we must not take his

eulogies too ser i ousl y, by frankly dec lari ng ,

‘I have repen ted me thereof and ta’en i n sat ire my re venge .

" 2

W e must then look for the real me ri t of this poe t,not

i n the panegyr i c , the ostensib le maqsad o r purpose of the

qasidas, whe re from the nature of the case no true poe t i c

beauty ispossi b le , but i n his exord iums, those passages whi ch

pre cede and lead up to the eulogies, and which general l y

contai n whatever poe try works of th i s c lass possess. I t is

when we turn our atte nt ion to these that w e begi n to under

stand some thing of the reasons why the cr i t i cs uni te i n

plac i ng th is poe t on so l ofty a pedestal ; we fi nd grandeur

of imaginat i on , bri l l iancy of fancy, and wealth of imagery

,

c lothed in we l l -n igh flaw less language,always of the subtlest

harmony , but eve r varyi ng its tone i n sympathy w i th the

subj ect of the ve rse . This i nfin i te var ie ty is one of N efi’

s

characterist i cs; for whi le hisstyle hasa marked i nd iv i dual i ty

(he copied no one,though many have essayed to copy him ) ,

and is always i n unison w i th i tse l f, b e varies the to ne so

as to make th is expressi ve of whate ve r subj e ct he takesup .

Thus,i f he desc r i bes a batt le ,

we can almost hear i n his

ve rse the rush of the so ld i e rs to the assaul t and the c lash

of arms as they m e e t the fo e ; o r agai n ,i f he is d e p i c t i ng

a g ard e n , we b e co me as it w e re C o nsc i o us o f the pe rfume

arisi ng from the flo we rs and o f the p lashi ng o f the fo un tai n

in its marb le b asi n .

Ano the r fe ature o f Ne ft'

s styl e i s that qual i ty whi c h the

'

l’

arkish c ri t ics eall t'

asabat , a te rm that may b e ap p ro x imate ly

o I

“

lgUf

a .»d ryin g au

ras! m g”n o A A “ ?l

a”slap. PM .

(A ll

rlJiAil alfll ) , j V

'X j”« diff( I) A}?

256

rend e red by the phrase ‘correctness of d ict i on .

’

Each word

is chosen w i th the most pe rfe ct fe l i c i ty , i t is always the

right one among all others i n the language for the place

w here i t occurs. The re is, moreover, no suggest i on e f forc i ng ;

every w ord and every phrase fal ls natural l y , i nevi tably as

i t woul d appear , i n to itsown prope r place . There are , i t may

b e added , pract i cal ly no z ihafshere , and hard ly any of those

awkward -sound ing imalasso prevalent i n earl ier wr i ters.

N ef‘i’

s qasidas, exordiums and panegyri cs al i ke,are of

course gorgeous w i th all the Opulence of hismarve l lousima

g inat ion ; gl i tte ri ng images and sim i les are flashed one upon

the other t i l l the mental v isi on is l ike to b e daz z led by the

excess of rhe tor i cal b r i l l iance . This luxur iant extravagance

is often mere beaut i ful ly expressed bombast which when

translated sounds tr i v ial or mean ingless enough ; but at t imes,

when the poe t placessome th ing of a curb on the exuberance

of his fancy, the exaggerat i on not only ceases to b e d is

pleasi ng , but adds a d ist i nct art ist i c value to his work .

Al though the general character of N efc

i’

s qasidas issuch

as I have descr i bed , there are a few among them which,

whi le exquisi te i n d i ct i on and de l i cate i n image ry , are i nspired

by a simple natural fee l i ng, the freshness of whi ch is ve ry

de l ightful , coming as i t does w i th all the charm of the un

expe cted .

The so -cal led sat ir i cal poems of N ef i w oul d b e more

correctly descr ibed as v i tuperat i ve o r i nvect ive . F or the most

part they miss the poin t of sat ire , whi ch is to show up w hat

is real ly v ic i ous or fool ish , and are l i t t le e lse than a mass

of scurr i lous and obscene abuse flung at w hate ve r person

chanced to i ncur the w r i ter ’s d ispleasure . These sat iresare the

counterpart of the qasidas; just asi n the latte r N efc

i’ over leaps

the bounds of taste and propr ie ty i n the fulsome adulat i on

and the extravagant and bombast i c flatte ry wh i ch he heaps

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

258

purpose of which , se l f-g lo rificat ion , we fee l to b e an outrage

on good taste .

De termined se emingly not to b e beh in d the ag e , N efi too

has his Saq i-Nama ; but the poem whi ch he w rote under

th is t i tle is not , l ike those of most of his contemporar ies,

a more o r less e laborate mesnev i, but is a br i l l ian t l i tt le

terk ib -bend consist i ng of five stan zas and ce lebrat i ng the

praises of the w i ne -cup ,to whi ch i t is addressed .

N efc

i’

sghaze ls, whi le qui te ascorre ct and classi c i n language

as his qasidas, are much more subdued i n tone ; the bri l l iant

imaginat i on is here under str i c t contro l , and the passi onate

l ove of gorgeous colour is no longer al l owed to assert i tse l f

i n every l i ne . The note struck is not exactly myst i c , as the

older poe ts understood myst i c ism ; i t is rather contemplat ive

and reflecti ve . The cr i t i cs, dazz led pe rhapsby the exceed ing

splendour of the qasidas, seem to set comparat i ve l y l i ttle

store by the ghaze ls; ye t there appears to me to b e much

i n them that is beaut i ful i n a quie t and unobtrusi ve way.

A noteworthy feature of all N efc

i’

s poe try is its compara

t i ve freedom from the equi voques and othe r simi lar chi ld ish

conce i ts which w e have seen to b e so general i n o l d Turkish

l i terature . Consc ious, as i t w oul d appear, of his own high

gen ius, he d isdai ned to tri ck out hiswork w i th a mere tr i c i ous

finery such as lesser men might find i t needful t o employ

in orde r to se cure publ i c favour for the ir ve rse . I n this

part i cular , as w e l l as i n the bri l l iancy and corre ctness of its

language , the poetry of N efc

i’ must b e accorded a higher

place than that of Fuzul i,to whi ch i t is i nfin i te ly i nfer i or

i n all deeper and more truly poe ti c qual i t ies. N efc

i is

greate r art ist ; Fuzul i the greater poe t .No poe t si nce Baq i

’

s t ime d id so much to refine and

pol ish the language as N efc

i’

; al though, as I have already

sai d , his i dea of refining and pol ishing the Turki

259

was to turn i t i nto the shadow of the l i terary id iom of Pe rsia.

In the pre face to his anthology, Ziya Pasha dw e l ls on the

servi ce whi ch N efc

i real l y re nde red to the Ottoman speech ;

but after poin t i ng out how the E rze rum poe t , toge ther w i th

Na' b i who flour ishe d a l i tt le late r , e laborate d and ampl ified

the language ,he goes on to say that these two w r i ters

revolut i on ise d the poe t i c l i te rature of Turkey ; and th is, he

declares, they d i d by br i ngi ng i t c lose r st i l l to the Pe rsian

mode ls,i n construct i on as we l l as i n vocabulary . I t is p e r

fec tly true that N efc

i’

d i d use all his i nfluence to assimi late

the l i terary language of Turkey ye t more c lose l y to that

of Persia, and by so do ing i naugurated the ul tra-P e rsian ism

whi ch marks so much of the poe try produced dur i ng the

c losi ng stage of the Classi c Per i od . B ut the step thus taken

and the e ffe ct resul t i ng from i t can i n n o way b e correct l y

descr ibed asrevolut i onary ; they are no more than the cl imax

of a movement whi ch had been in fo rce from the ve ry

begi nn ing .

A t the commenceme nt of this chapte r I Spoke of N ef‘r’

as the founder of what I cal led the A rt ific ial Schoo l . This

School looked upon llziq i as its maste r, but i t c o ntente d

i tse l f w i th studying and d e ve lo ping the te chn i cal si d e o fthat

poe t ’s wo rk , and d id no t,l i ke the co ntempo rary Natural

School le d by Yahy:i li fe nd i, e nd eavo ur to im po r t i n t o p o e t ry

any freshn ess e i the r o fsubj e ct o r fe e l ing . The resul t o f t his

was,that ofth ese two sch o o ls, which b e tw e e n them emb race

all the N o te wo rthy po e ts o f the last ltalf-t‘e ut t l t‘y o l'

llte t'

lassit‘

l’e rio d , the fi rst , hav in g fo r aim the ye t fast e r ri ve t t i ng o t

the let te rs o f t rad i t i o n and al i e n aut ho ri t y and t he y e t mo re

abso lute d i vo rce o f p o e t ry fro m ae tual l i fe . was d o o me d t o

ste ri l i ty,dyin g w i thin fift y ye ars and le avi n g no

whi le the se e o rul, w lrit ' h e nd e aV o rn e d . tho ug h seare e t o n

se iously to i tse l f, to se e thi n g s as the y are . and t o e \ p re~e .

260

simply and natural ly what i t saw , became the parent of the

Transi t ion and the ancestor of the Modern School .

I t was at the hands of N efc

i that the Turkish qasida

attai ned its crown ing poin t ; and the cul t i vat i on o f the qasida

became as much an obj ect w i th the A rt ific ial School as the

Persianisi ng of the language . The example of C

Urfi, the great

Pe rsian qasida-w r i ter of the t ime,had doubtless no l i tt le ia

fluence al i ke on the manner and matte r of N efc

i’

s work ,

and may possi b ly have confirmed that poe t i n hi s c hoi ce of

a ve rse - form which i n itselfoffered the most favourab le med ium

for the expressi on of his pe cul iar gen ius. I n this matter of

the cul t i vat i on of the qasi da, N efc

i’

s i nfluence has been more

abid ing than i n his attempt to further denat i onal ise the

language . The Art ific ial S chool rece i ved i t at his handsand

passed i t on to the poe ts of the Transi t i on . And so his

w orks of this c lass came to form a se ries of mode ls for a

host of subsequent wr i ters, many of whom have done good

work and earned for themse l ves a we l l-deserve d reputat ion,

but not one among w hom , i t may safe ly b e sai d , has been

able to r i val asa qasida-wr i ter the gifted poe t whom in th is

matte r they have agreed to l ook upon as master .

That N ef‘i, i n common w i th many of the more eminent

poe ts of his day,wasa l ov ing and admi r i ng student of Baqi

isshown by an examinat i on of the ir respect ive d iwans. Not

only di d the later poe t set be fore himse l f the same end as

hispredecessor , name l y the perfe cti ng of the l i terary language

of his people , but he stud ied his maste r’

s works so c lose ly

as to assimi late some th ing al ike of the i r spir i t and the ir

phraseology . The two fol low i ng examples of c loseness of

thought and expressi on , whi ch have be en poin ted out by

P rofessor Naj i’

, can hard ly b e al toge the r acc i dental . I n one

of Baq i’

s poems we read ,

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

262

To us Weste rn reade rs he fai ls to appeal w i th the same

force as the three remai n i ng membe rs of the i l lustr i ous

quate rn i ty ; on the whole we are unab le to take him qui te

se ri ously ; w e admire his command of language , w e recogn ise

his weal th of fancy, but we cannot g e t rid of the i dea that

all the whi le he is laughing al i ke at his patrons and his

reade rs. Unquest ionab ly N ed im gave p roof of the keenness

of his cr i t i cal acumen when he w rote ,

‘N efci was the ar t ist of speech in qasidasg

’ 1

and no doubt E k rem B ey is just ified w hen he says that

N efi is worthy to b e re ckoned the first of those men of

gen iuswho by the e loquence and corre ctnessof the i r language

are the pr i de of the ‘Osmanl i poe ts,’ ‘awr i ter such that though

so many poe ts have stri ven hard dur i ng two centur ies and

a hal f to C opy him , not one has succeeded i n coming near

him ;’

and no doubt Kemal B ey is r ight i n regard ing the

Openings of N eC

i’

s two greatest qasidasas be i ng among the

most bri l l iant examples of Ottoman poe try ; and Ziya Pasha

i n descr ib i ng him as the Sul tan on the throne Of the realm

Of spee ch , i n whose company none may trave l , any more

than the w ren may pai r w i th the fal con . Y e t all these high

qual i t ies are of a nature such that to thoroughly apprec iate

them one must b e an accompl ished Ottoman cr i t i c . And so

i t comes about that we who are not such,and cannot b e

such , find ourse l ves unmoved by the works of this great

poe t , because we fai l to d iscove r i n them that touch of nature

which makes the whole wor l d ki n .

I t shoul d b e sai d that N efc

i’

was one of the best Ottoman

w r i ters of Pe rsian verse ; E krem B ey,i ndee d , mai ntai ns that

he was the very best w i th the except ion Of Sul tan Se l im I ,and adds that hispoems i n that language woul d have cal led

A’dfi ’ 0

5h ” sd ek alaa b

263

forth the surpr ise and admi rat i on of CUrfi and Fayz i themse l ves.

I n the translat i onswhi ch I have made from N eL

i’

sqasi das

I have as a rule stoppe d short at the end of the exord ium ;

the panegyr i cs are all ve ry much the same , and are al ike

w i thout i nterest and w i thout value ; to have i nse rted them

woul d mere l y have de tracted from the beauty and the un ity

of the seve ral poems.

The first of wh ich I gi ve a t ranslat i on is one of the most

famous qasi das i n Ottoman l i terature ; i t is known as the

Eyler Qasidasi or‘Doth ’

-Qasi da, a name give n to i t from

the c i rcumstance that each Of its ri m ing l i nes e ndsw i th the

word eyler or‘doth ,

’

asa red if. This qasida isan early one ,

be i ng ded icated to Sul tan Ahmed I ; the exo rd ium ,the whole

of whi ch is given in my translat i on , is, as w i l l b e not i ced ,

pure ly ph i losophi cal i n subj ect . Shinasi Efend i , the founder

of the Modern School , w rote a Naz ira o r ri val poem to this

famous qasida.

The Doth Qasi’

da. [ 256 ]

Deem not the Sphe re,revolv ing

,make th mo rn ing eve t o b e

I t warnc th o f the lat te r end o f eve ryth ing we see .

I n very t ruth,th is wo rld is l ike a fle e t ing d ream of n ight ;

Fo r even as we close and o pe o ur e y es the moments tle e .

O h ho w should the y of such a land,w h e re e

’

e n t h is b rie f resp i t el"o r rest is loss

,e’e r w in t o ski l l

,o r art

,o r mast e ry ?

Ur le t as hold that t irrre e now fo r rest we re g ran te d man,

H o w should the sag e d isce rn the paths o f t ight and v illc iny?

C an e’e r the re lie d isc e rnme n t of t he paths of right and “ rung

In yonde r h eart wh e re i n the hosts o f Wo e st ri ve b i t t e rly?

The re is no o ne wi l l find llre path of t rut h , unless the man

To whom the. G uid e I'ite rn rrl io'rrd rt lll' | ( irrre e to r o rrrpauv .

llrrlesrr t hat fi lac e d i v i n e the t'o rrrrnd e li e

,in all i n vai n ;

Who truste t lr unt o r‘e rrm'n he re must nre e t r ul rtn itv.

The sk i l l o f rearro n l ies in und e r-rtarallrrg ’

n Ire lrl alo rrr

lln t ho w should und e rstand i n g fi l l a h e art to r r e rtain t r v‘

264

If rrnderstand in g b e yon sc ience whence the human mindAnd in tel lec t may learn to wo t of dest iny ’s dec ree,The men o f hear t and soul w i ll never thereun to incl ine ,F or such a lore would but confound the soul more dreari ly .According to h ismind w i l l b e each mortal ’s yea and nay

Think no t he recks about the Sphere who speake th ver i ty .

The rakes,God-cherished

,of the i nward truth regard no t here

The Sphere n or yet the w isest sages’ high author i ty ;No rule do they accord to y onder Heav en ’s trai tor shi fts;A l l know ledge they renoun ce , an d b ow t o Fate and Dest iny .But is you whirl ing Wheel i tse lf free of all dule and pai n ?

F or i t l ikew ise hath Fortune made i ts sun a goad to b e ;And glori ous decks the forehead of the day w i th fair brocade , 1

B ut i n i ts l iver ’s blood doth stai n itsski rts w i th cramoisie .2

The next example is from another very ce leb rated qasi da,

concern ing which the re is a story, somewhat improbable i n

V iew of the extreme ly e laborate character of the poem , t o

the e ffe ct that N efc

r’ composed i t impromptu for Sul tan

Murad . In this qasida,the subj ect of whi ch i s the de l ightful

spr i ngti de , each couple t (except the first ) has two r imes ,

the first , repeated three t imes, pecul iar to i tse l f; and the

second , that common to the whole poem . Poe try r i med i n

this manner is techn i cal ly cal led musammat , and is not un

common ; i t is much l ike the L eon ine verse of the L at i n

poe ts of the Middle Ages. The exordium of this poem and

that of the Eyler Qasr’

dasi are the tw o whi ch the late Kemal

B ey desc r ibed asbe i ng among the most splend i d ach ievements

of Ottoman poetry . I gi ve here a port i on of the panegyr i c

by way of a sample of such thi ngs.

Spring Qasida. [ 257 ]

The early spri ngt ide breezes blow,the roses bloom at dawn of day;

Oh le t our hearts rej o i ce ; cup-bearer

,fe t ch the bow l o f Jeni

,I pray .

Referr ing to the morning .2 Referri ng to the sunse t .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 66

F i l l up a brimming measure thou, le t all distress from hear ts away .

Yea,we are lov ers fon d an d free

,fo r all that thral ls of w ine we b e ;

Love lorn and stri cken sore are we,b e kind to us nor say us nay.

F or A l lah ’s sake a goble t spare , for yonder Moon’

s that shine th fair, 1

That I w i th reed and pen p repare the Monarch ’s praises t o essay ;That Sun of empry an d command, that Champion-horseman of the land,As bl i the asJem ,

as Hat im bland , 2 whom all the folk ex tol alwayOf Rum and Zanzibar the Fear

,3 R i der of T ime ’

s p iebal d destr ier, 4

Hunter of legions far and n ear,Behram

,5 Feri dun-ensi gned aye : c

That Monarch of the C

Osman race,whose noble hear t and soul embrace

Arabian cOmar

’

s" sain t ly grace and Persian P erv iz ’ 3 glor i ous swaySul tan Murad

,of fortune br igh t, who crownsdo th give and Kingdomssmi te r

Both Empe ror and H ero hight,the Age ’s Lord w i th J em ’

s display ‘

That King of Kings, of happy fate , that ornam en t of throne and state,

Of for tune fast , of glory great , Iskender-brave and Joseph-g ayIs he the Monarch

,stay of earth ; the Moon that all th ings decke th forth ;

Behram the fearless,great of w or th ; o r e lse the Sun of boun teous ray

?

L ike Jeni,of nature royal and free ; l ike R ustem

,lord of valliancy ;

L ike J esus son of Mary,he

,of hear t and breath most blessed aye .

In his Course of L i te rature , E k rem B ey quotes as a fine

spec imen of ornate style the fol low i ng ve rses from another

1 Yonder Moon ’ is some young beauty who was p resen t . In this couple t,

(the guriz -gah) , the passage is effec ted from the exordium to the panegyr i c .“

2 Hat im of the tribe of Tayy,an an cien t Arab chief famousfor hisboundless

generosi ty .3 Rum (prac t i call y the O t toman domini ons) typ ifies the land of whi te men ;

Z anzibar , the land of b lack men ; toge ther they represen t the whole world .

See V ol . I I,p . 3 6 x , n . 7 .

4The ‘p iebald destrier of T ime,

’

is n igh t and day, or good and ev i l for tune .

5The Behram here referred to is the Sa’

rsanian Beh ram V, (general l y cal led

‘Behram Gur,

’ Beh ram the W i ld A ss) the great hun ter,some of whose ad

ven tures are recorded in the romance of the Heft P eyk er or Seven E ffig ies.

5 Fer idun is an ancien t King of Persia who de l i vered his coun try fromZ ahak , the A rab ian ty ran t who had defeated and slai n Jemshid . F eridrin had

a famous cow-headed mace which was made for him by Kawa the patr i o tb lacksmith .

7 cOmar

,the second Cal iph .

8 King K husrev P erv iz of Persia,the hero of the romance of Khusrev an d

Shirin .

2 67

Spr i ng Qasi’

da by N ef1, i n praise th is t ime of the Sheykh

of Islam Mehemed Efend i .

Qasi’

da. [ 258]

The t i de o f vere hath reached once more the gar th an d spread i tscarpe t green ;Agai n the sul tan rose do th grace the garden throne w i th lovesome mien .

Agai n the vernal bree ze hath won,w i th rise and fall

,the bower un to

,

And shed new l i fe,as Jesu’

s breath,on all the faded blooms and treen .

A broidered carpe t decks the ear th from the reflec t i on thrown thereon,

When e ’er the heaven spreads the pearl ing cloud,i tsg em

-enwroug h ten screen .

The sunbeams of the grace of sp ri ng have reached un to the mirror sky,What then should that b e cleared of all the rust of darkl ing cloudsbedene ?Each rose w i th in the tul i p - land becomes a whirl pool midst a seaOfblood

,and makesthat bark

,the bulbul ’speace

,go round and round i n teen .

The breezes trace the wave le ts o’

er the wate r ’s face on such fine w iseThat there is ne ’er a master thus coul d grave the si lve r plate

,I ween .

A golden stamp on azure waved si lk,he must i t deem who sees

The image of the sh in ing sun fall’

n on the water’s surface sheen .

L e t such as would deny the lan thorn ’s beauty i n the glow o f noonBehol d the gulnar 2 tape r ray midmost the jasmine-garden green .

The red seal o f the Lo rd of Love appears the re on as’

t is un rolled,

No rosebud sc roll is th is,i t is the bulbul ’s warranty to ke en .

3

a a m a m w m a s a a a e a flr e e n m u e e

In anothe r part of the wo rk be fo re ment io ned , E krem l icy

quo tes the fol lo w i ng l i n es from a qasida i n h o no ur o f the

G rand Ve zi r Mar/rd l ’asha,as an exam p le o fgo o d e x ag g e r

at io n , afte r whi ch he pro ce e ds to c i te som e furthe r c o uple ts

from the sam e p o em ,i n whi ch the can o ns o f taste h aving

The gard e n red wi th tul i ps is re g ard e d as a sea of lrlo o d , i n “ hir lr the

rrrurry-pe tal l e d rose fatal to the rrig ht irrg ale

'

s p eace o f mind , re p re wn t the"r

e ddy/ i ng whi rl pool-r so dang e rous to shi ps.

2 The “ulnri r is the luiulrt, re d | ro rrre g rarraI e-llurwe r .

3 He re the uno pe ne d | o -.e hud in e o n rlt lt ' l t ' t l as a rolled rrp ur l ul i , “ hir h .

on l rr i ng sp read op e n, | rl re

" r to he a rr rrrran t w aled rsillr the u rl “N i t llN‘

pe tals o i'

the ro se ) o f the l an d o l | .o Ve , and ai r i ng the rriulrt iuurle rrrrtho r t ls

to wai l . In o the r wo rd rr,the I r rlu‘

o n o pe ning r unne r the rug ht rng rle to and

f‘rl‘ li rV e of ll .

268

been d isregarded , the exaggerat i on is bad . I translate on ly

the passage he l d by the B ey Efend i to b e good . I t mayC l ,

stand asaspec imen of N e 1 s manner when d escr i b i ng a battle .

From a Qasi’

da. [ 259 ]

May hearts aby to look upon his lance in w i ld me llayWhat whi le the foeman ’s crimson blood adown i ts length doth stream?

Yea,even as the heads of fone fal l ear thward l ike t o bal ls

,

Behold,his charger’s hoofsas bandies smi ting these do gleam .

The darksome dust that circles him 1 about is e’en the smoke

,

Whene ’er i n fierce advan ce yon bounding flame do th onward beam .

Soon as he drawe th up the ranksand spri ngsupon the foe,

F or dread are earth and sky fulfil led of shri gh t and yel l and scream .

What t ime the ground is shaken ’neath the earthquake of his charge,

That the dread Day of Doom was come,w ould all men surel y deem .

The flashing of h isshin ing sword amid the darkl ing dustIs as the leap ing flame that thwar t the murky cloud doth learn .

The fol low i ng , which is the exord ium of a qasida dedi cated

to Sul tan Murad , is l ikew ise quoted by E krem B ey. I give

i t here as an i nstance of the si mpl i c i ty w i th whi ch N ef‘

i

occasi onal ly wrote .

Qasi’

da. [ 2 60]

We lcome to thy boun ty,zephyr fresh and fair

,

Naught but Un iversal Grace such swee ts could share .

N ow thy breath makes earth to b lossom l ike the roseAnd thou b idst the season smiling looks t o wear .

Through the realms of China hath thy pathway lain P 2Else what is th is breathing fraugh t w i th musk so rare?

Yea, thy breath all musky clo th a thousand worl ds

1 The ‘him ’ i n this l ine refers to the ‘bounding flame ’ of the n ex t,that is

to the Vezir ’s charger . A l l the o ther couple ts refer to the Vezir himself.2 Chi na or Cathay , the land of musk and swee t odours

,see p . 157 , n . I sup ra.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

270

Thou’

rt that l ife-restoring Sp ir i t of the slai n of dule and woe ;

Even K hiz r ’s fount besi de th ee w oul d b e naught but mirage-spray .

Thou’

r t that Coin that c ircles curren t i n the mart o f them of Love ;Through thy v ir tue name and fame are gems whose w or th is passed away .

Thou’

rt that Ornamen t of w isdom whose all-per fec t grace hath sw ep tFrom the mirror-soul of men of hear t the rust of drear dismay .Ne ’er had frozen -hearted lo vers gi ven for thy

'

dregs the ir l i ves,Did ’st thou no t shed strength and ardour on each soul that strengthlesslay.

Thou’

rt no w ine ; thou art the l i fe of those the slai n of grief and stressThou

’

r t the soul,nay, not of our worl d ; thou’

r t the soul of all that is!

The n ext poem is translated i n its ent irety . I t is one of

N efc

i’

s F akhriyyas o r se l f- laudatory pi e ces. So far as the

form goes, i t is what is cal led a q itc

a. This poem, which

is a fine one, can hard ly b e read otherw ise than myst i cal ly ;

the i dentificati on by the author of h is i n d iv i dual geniusw i th

the un iversal issure ly the k ey to its i n te rpre tat i on .

Fakhrr’

yya. [ 2 6 2 ]

Yea, I am that N ef1

,radian t-hear ted

,pure and calm of soul ;

Puri ty ’s brigh t bow l is lucen t through my mind that knows no fr igh t .Heaven ever hop esfor aidance from my reason ’sshin ing star ;Learns the In te l l igence Supreme l from mine all- comp rehending sprigh t .A l l the t reasures m en do long for by my soul are he l d as naugh t ;Ye t through n iggardize I ’d change no t against earth my woeful p l i gh t .Grace Div ine do th flash in l igh tn ing forth the mirror of my though t ;From mine i n tellec t ’s hori zon shines the Sp ir i t ’s eye w i th l igh t .Though i t st i rs no t for th the cen tre

, yet i t roams the regionssi x,

Thismy sub t i le hear t,whi ch reeks the quest a tri v ial feat and sl igh t .

I t hath brought me to the Kacha of the Truth by such a roadThat the Blest to make col lyrium of my pathway ’s dust del igh t

rez daugh ter of the v ine , and i n ven ts i n place of this his dukh ter-i p ir-imughan daughter of the e lder of the Magians (see p . 2 3 2 , n . 4sup ra) andhemsh ire-i saq i -i sheng sister of the g ay cup

-bearer .

1 F o r the Sup reme In te l ligence,see V o l . I

,p

. 42 .

2 The regionssi x , i . e . the si x direc t ions,see p . 46, n . I sup ra.

2 7 1

I ’m the Un iverse of Inward Truth , I ’m free of Fate ’s con trol ;From my spheres’ re volving come th pai n or woe t o ne ’er a W igh t .I ’m the Sea o f K now ledge

,all my deph tsand shoresw i th pearlsare strown

Naugh t of refuse or d efilemen t doth my sands or beaches bligh t .Why then

,while my lo t is th is w ise

,stoo p I down to poesy ?

What should I ? I may no t w in me from my passi oned hear t resp i te .

If this passi on t husshould l inger hidden i n my hear t and soul ,And no w ord from out my r i ven breast on any ear al igh t

,

An d I died,then mazed and w i ldered w ere the folk of all the ear th

A t the wondrouswords the grassy tongues woul d from my grave rec i te .1

The three fol low i ng ghaze ls, taken from N efrs d i’

wan,

are all quoted w i th h igh approval by E krem B ey i n the

preface to the th ird part of that charming series of poems

wh ich he en t i t les Zemzeme .

Ghazel. [ 2 6 3 ]

I thought ’ twas p ri de made thee no look upon the r i val th row ;H ow great the grace

,I deemed so smal l

,thou didst on h im bestow ‘

Thy glance hath put the heart to shame before the worl d at last ;By God

,I hel d fo r leal and true to secre t pledge yon Woe .

2

I Iad I no t seen thy beauteous visage i n the mi rro r shown,

I’

d hold that l ike the moon thou dost unique i n beauty glow .

I knew no t that the tave rn stood so b rave and fashioned fai r ;M e thought the rakes d id all d esi re o f li ne abodes fo rego .

Agai n,Nef t

,I’

ve heard o f the e,that thou hast mag ic w rought ;

In soo th thy ve rses all are signs and mi racles,I t row .

( ih e t zl. 2 04

Neve r w i l t thou l ook and tre e the Woun d w it lrlu my heart t hat h r(fan it he that beaut ies alwaya t re at the i r lov e r. to rlo rn thi n “ i re ?

The. g ranny ton g ues ru'e the t ong ue ahape d b lade s o t g ram g ro ulrrg o u t

his g rave .

‘J The W o t‘

,o r To rmen t

,in the Irr’ lo ve cl

,ue e p . ll . t anul | r Is.“ I t . I ml ! 0.

2 7 2

Never may the hapless lover’s pai n by any si gh b e shown ;Nay, no t e

’

en al though his heart were torn to fragmen ts by hissighs.

A l l th ismurder thou b ehold ’st is wrough t by yonder deathly glance,So the i r two-edged sword is never lai d down by her t yran t eyes.

W i th thy locksmay no t the l over bi nd that erri ng hear t which he ,L ike t o Mejnun , can no longer rule? Or what may he dev ise?

Sorel y N ef1 ever yearns to show his bi t ter pai n to thee ,Have thou ruth and some day seek that wound w i th in my hear t that l ies. 1

Ghazel. [ 2 65]

N ow’

t is th is w ise, now’tis that w ise ; no one may the Sphere gainsay ;

’Tis i nverted

,and so l ikew ise is th issad w orld ’s every way.

Z ealo t,for thr igh t turn thou toper

,dwe l l n o more mid shows

,b e w ise ;

F or’tis thus w i th in the myst i c world we w in t o k ingly sway .

A ll the world ’ twould overwhe lm in on e sole poin t of b lackest l igh t , — 2

Such the wondr ous power the sage ’s tawny reed-p en do th display . 3

There is none who can d ist inguish ’ tw ix t my soul ’s sky ’s morn and eve,

Such the sun and moon that glorious for th my min d ’s hori zon ray.

’

Tis no t only N et 1 who thus p r i deful boasts at w isdom ’

s feast ;Seek

,and thou shal t find that thus all guests di vi ne thei r w ords array .

The repe t i t ion of a par t o f the first l ine of the first c ouple t i n the se condl ine of the last i n this ghazel

,is an i nstan ce of what the rhe tor i c ians cal l

Redd-i MatlaC o r Re turn of the Matlac,see Vol . I

,p . 80 .

2 The ‘blackest l igh t ’ here means the black ink by means of which wr i tersand th inkers i l luminate the world . Sunbul-zada V ehb i i n hisShevq-engi z usesthe expressi on i n the follow i ng verse t o descr ibe the eyesofabeaut i ful brune t te

‘ULAM ”3 LEO/

sax aj U-M8

)>j ‘BK J 8)Lx e.auw LS) ! y gw l

“By looking on those eyes of dark deeds thou may ’st see what the ‘BlackL i gh t ’ can do .”

The term or ig inal ly belongs to the terminology o f the Myst i cs, where i t isused to deno te the L i gh t of Absolute Be ing

,which bl inds by i ts excessive

radiance . See Whinfield ’sG ulshen - i-R az,p . 13 . The same though t is exp ressed

by Hen ry Vaughan as follows“There is i n God

,some say, A deep , but dazzl ing , darkness.

3 The allusion is to the dark brown col our of the reed-p en or qalem .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

274

lessons, he ente red the legal professi on , and , afte r having

passed through the usual course , hold i ng seve ral muderrisates

and serv ing i n var i ous prov inc ial mollaships, among others

i n t hat of Cai ro , whe re he succeeded the b iographe r Qinali

zada,he was i n 1012 (1603—4) appoi nted to the Judgesh ip

of Constanti nople . This was soon fol low ed by the V i ce

Chance l l orships, first of Anatol ia and them of Rume l ia, t i l l

i n 103 1 (162 1— 2 ) Yahya was name d Sheykh of Islam in

place of E scad Efend i the son of SaCd -ud -D i’

n the histor ian .

But i n the fol low i ng year,that of the accessi o n of Murad

IV , the poet was deposed from this high posi t i on . H is d is

missal wasthe resul t of hisown somewhat aggressi ve i n tegr i ty,

and was brought about i n this way. On the occasi on of one

of the customary offic ial v isi ts pai d by the Grand Ve z ir to

the Sheykh of Islam , Yahya gavec

A li Pasha the Archer

(Keman-Kesh c

A li Pasha) , the then Pr i n ce Min ister, pol i te l y

but clear ly to understand that he al toge ther disapproved of

the system of br ibery which flourished unde r that Pasha’

s

admin istrat ion , and whi ch found i n him an act ive supporter .

The Ve z ir i n revenge pe rsuaded the boy-Sul tan that the

Muft i had Opposed his accessi on,w hi ch

, he sai d , had been

e ffected by the army al one . Murad the reupon deposed Yahya

and re i nstated E scad Efend i ; but on the death of the latter

i n 1034 (1625) Yahya was re i nstated as Muft i, which office

he cont i nued to hold , w i th one short i nte rruption necessi tated

by pol i t i cal exigencies, t i l l the year of his death .

Yahya Efend i stood high in Sul tan Murad ’

s favour, and

many of the best and most e fficac i ous measures i n troduced

by that monarch w e re due to his i nfluence . When the Sul tanset out on his exped it i on to recapture Baghdad , he took

Yahya w i t h him ; and i t was ow i ng to the adv i ce of the

latte r that twenty siege -guns, wh ich proved of much assistance

i n the leaguer of the c i ty,w e re taken along w i th the army,

2 75

i nstead of be i ng sent by r i ve r w i th the rest of the art i l lery

which d i d not arri ve un t i l twenty days after the si ege had

begun .

On the march to Baghdad the imper ial army hal ted fo r

a br ief rest at the town of A q -Shehr , and on the fol low i ng

day the Sul tan and some of his court iers, among whom was

Yahya , went to d ive rt themse lves i n a beaut i ful park cal led

Bash Tekye which l ieson the south si de of the town . Towards

even ing Murad , who ,asw e know

,was fon d of poetry

, wrote

the fol lowing ve rses over a w i n dow i n a kiosque the re,and

at the same t ime requested the Sheykh of Islam to compose

a N az ira, or paral le l , to them

In truth this pleasaunce fair is e’en a verdan t fiel d of Paradise

,

Where i n to were a dead man brough t,al ive for j oyan ce he would r ise .

What t ime Murad from over throw i ng Persia wended to Baghdad,

H e rested here and drank th is K evser,as

’ twere w i ne,i n gladsome w ise .

‘

Before sunse t Yahya had w ri t ten unde r the Sul tan’

s lines

these verses:

Fai r fal l the l i fe-i nsp iring stead where i n l iesse and gladness l ies!Did any bi rd but eat its g rass

,he

’

d turn a speaking parro t w ise .

I’

d say a fie l d of Paradise,but l

’arad ise

’

s envy isThis pee rless pleasaunce sin ce the King to de i gn to g race i t di d dev ise .

That ri gh teous King d o th laud its wate r i n h is ve rse fo r K e vse r-st ream ;l l ow b ri gh t and clear the ve rse

,ho w pure the st ream whe reo fit dot h app ri ze .

Ful l heart i l y may men on earth,i n heave n may ange ls

,say Amen ,

The whi le that Vahya’s earn est p raye rs fo r yond e r King of earth

é “ t o

Lu)’

Iva/w a x : u

“A A -m e.)

la b -l tidal Q5») as. bl mo

re“hi“ }> lo b

y)

0 0 n

.‘a I

Lm l Ha lf-aw (“OJ j

)L‘A lg l

|5_ 5l fim fur‘o W ? \LJT5s g 3

(f rom, aseaé r' H “use;

276

Sul tan Murad never ceased to hold Yahya Efend i i n high

honour and esteem , and when Ibrah im succeeded hisbrother

on the throne there was for a t ime no break i n the good

fortune of the vene rable poe t . B ut at length , about the t ime

when the nefar i ous j i nj i Khoja1 was exc i t i ng men ’s minds,

certai n great people who had for l ong been j eal ousof Yahya’

s

prosperi ty, and possib ly host i le towards him because of the

i n tegri ty of his character, managed so to work upon Ibrah im

that he w i thdrew his confidence and favour from the Muft i .

Yahya , who had for so l ong been accustomed to rece i ve the

affe ct ion and venerat i on of both high and low , coul d not

endure th is, and died at about e i ghty years of ag e on the

18 th of Z u-l-H ijja 1053 (2 3 d ~ February Yahya’

s pop

ularity was great , and on the day of his funeral an i mmense

concourse of people thronged the Conqueror’

s Square and

accompan ied his body to its last rest i ng-place , i n the tomb

of his father Z ekeriyya.

Many stor iessuch as the fol low i ng are tol d about Yahya

Efend i . There were two brothe rs,C

A lr’

and Mescud by name ,

both d isti nguished membersof the legal professi on . The lat ter

waspromoted a step above hisbrother, who thereupon grew

madly j ealous, and rushing in to the ir mother ’s presence ,

w ij l en gage elw a

) é.

) refi

t )am az in g W ake;

b ug)6

-9r , shaman ”a“ ;

dot: 25-34 69 Use/

9 w i t h ; w e) fly 0. n

t U r de

ngue) , (as; wi th L a

,»

w asem was}?rt

e. a.) w ast w e)

last algl Q M 5.3L? stat

l x fi ftx x al le t )1 Huseyn Efendi , n icknamed J inj i Khojaor Master D emonist , wasan impostor

who by p re tending to exerc ise j inns or demons at tained high favour underIbrahim , he wasmade a Qadi-cAsk er or V i ce-Chancellor

,and sold for money

h igh offices i n the state . H e even tual ly fell i n to disgrace and was executed .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 78

the Natural School i n d ist i n c t i on to the contemporary Art ific ial

School headed by N efc

i, aimed , i f n ot at b ri ngi ng poe try

into close r connect i on w i th actual l i fe , at any rate at enlarging

the somewhat restr i c ted fie l d h i therto open to the poe t by

the i n troduct i on of fresh subj ects taken from e very-day e x

p erience . A sthe founder, or at least the leader , of th isschool ,

Yahya was natural l y l i tt le i nfluence d by N efc

i and the ul tra

P e rsianism w hich he i n troduced . On the one si de he j o i ns

hands w i th Ba’

qi and on the other w i th N ed im . H is style

is mode l led upon that of Baqi ; but he is i n cl in ed to treat

his subj ects i n a more obj ect ive fashion ; he frequently

speaks of matte rs which must have come w i thi n his own

experience , and drawshissim i lesand me taphors from thi ngs

which he has himse l f seen and observed , not me re l y read

about i n the pages of his prede cessors. I t is th is feature

which most c learly shows the connect i on be tween his own

and his fol low ers’ work and the poe try of the Transi t i on ,one of the dist i nct i ve character ist i cs of which is the d isp la

cement in subj ect and metaphor of the trad i t i onal by the

actual . A freshness; amount ing almost to ori gi nal i ty , resul ts

from this happy i nnovat ion , and characte r ises the truly in

d iv idual work of Yahya and his assoc iates and successors.

The poe try of Yahya may thus stan d fo r the l i nk wh ich

b inds toge ther the Classi c and Transi t i on Pe ri ods. Baq i’

Yahya— N ed im : such is the true l i ne of deve l opment i n

Ottoman poetry ; Fuzul i came and went leavi ng no successor,wh i le N ef

c

i’

,for all the br i l l iance of hisgenius

,wasbl i nd to

the true signs of his t ime , and , start i ng on a false track ,

i naugurated a movement foredoomed to b e short- l i ved .

Yahya’

s actual work i n poetry ' consists of a D iwan and

the i nevi table Saq i-Nama. I t is i n the forme r alone that he

1 H is prose w ork consists of a translat i on of Ghafi'

ari’

s N igaristan , and

some professional w r i t i ngs.

2 79

showshimse l f an i n novator . The Saq i-Nama isashort mesnev i

of seventy-seven couple ts; i t is cont i nuous, not broken up

i n to sect i ons l ike most of the l onger w orks of its c lass. Some

consi der i t the best of the Turkish Saq i-Namas, and probably

they are r ight ; i t is ent ire ly myst i c i n spir i t , and en tire ly

classi c i n style and sent imen t .

B ut all that is real ly important i n Yahyas work is to b e

found in hisghaze l s . L ooki ng at these so le ly aspoems, w i thout

regard to any tendenc ies they may i nd icate o r any i nfluence

they may have had ,we find them to b e possessed of much

mer i t and to reach a higher average of exce l lence than is

usual w i th contemporary wr i ters. The techn i cal workmanship

is good , as be comes that of a d isc i ple of Baq i’

; al though ,

si n ce the refinemen t of the language isnot the poe t ’spr imary

obj e ct, he is less care ful to avoi d imales and old - fashioned

words and phrases than are N efc

i and those who fol low him .

I t is true that we have i n his ve rses ne i the r the fire no r

the Opule nce of the great poe t just nam ed ,b ut the freshness

to whi c h I have be fo re al luded lends an i n te rest of a nov e l

and pleasi ng k ind , and many quai n t and pre tty fanc ies c on

ce ived i n the spi ri t o f his maste r sparkle i n h is pages.

I t is pe rhaps on ly natural that N e d tm shoul d think we l l

o f his fo re run ne r ; at any rate i n that qasida to whi ch 1 have

so ofte n re fe rre d,he b racke ts him w i th liziq i as to ge the r

typi fying the highest po i n t to whi ch the ghaz e l had at tai n ed

i n Turke y . I’asha to o re e o g n ises som e thing o f the wo rk

d o n e by Yahy:i whe n he sp eaks o f the lat t e r'

s cal l i ng i n t o

existe nc e a new fashi o n o f g haze l -w ri t i ng . the d e liear‘v and

g rac e ful sim p l i c i ty o f whie h he p rai ses. add in g that i n the

hands o f this po e t w o rds se em to rrufo ld the mse l vesso that

he is ab le to aro use the so ul lat e n t w i thin them .

in the fi rst o f the fo l lo w i ng “hare ls the in llrre ur e o f ll.rr| r

is v e ry visi b l e ; as it is quo t e d by H urali-l ada it lll lt‘rl have

2 80

been w r i tten ear ly i n Yahyas career , when probably he was

most comple te ly under the spe l l of the maste r .

Ghazel. [ 2 67 ]

O l o cks that dangle curl on curl , the b ooks are ye of Love ,By you are drawn the hear ts of all the company of Lo ve .

B e but the dear on e fair,and b e the hear t but passion-fraught,

Then all is ready,and awai ts the gramarye of Love .

Burn moth-like i n the fire , nor ut ter any wai l or cry:1

0 wre t ched lover, such is the high courtesy of Love .

Thy gr iev ing hear t, 0 frenzied lover, is for sooth a sea,

Where i n bel ike do lie the pearls that pr i celess b e of Love .

And what i f Yahya en ter w i thout fear Love ’s holy place?

Open to them of hear t do th stand the hostel ry of Love .

Ghazel. [ 2 68]

Never shall I grieve me though thou thi nkest bi t ter w ords t o say;Since i t is from yonder t ongue

,through yonder l i ps

,they ’ ll find the ir way.

Hence for aye may l overs tremb le for the ir l i ves; what shift may save,0 my L iege

,whene’er they deathly eyen languor do display?

W e are frenzied of a beauty all perfec t ion,such an on e

That the mirror,when she l ooks there i n

,do th sun-l ike glor i ous ray.

E’en i n Paradise

,I fear me

,naugh t of rest may loverssee ,

Should the houris learn the fashions of Istamb ol’s beaut ies g ay.2

1 F or the moth and the flame,see V ol . I I

,p . 55, n . 4.

2 Istamb ol Constan tinople . [ The name is a corrup ti on of fig 7 91; adi eu,J 4

and occurs as Istan Bul i nG

au l) i n the Ki tabu ’t-Tanb ih wa

’l-Ishraf

of Mascudi (ed . d e G oeje , p . 13 9 , l . I ) , who w ro te i n the middle of the ten thcen tury of our era (A . H . five cen tur ies before the cap ture of Constant inople by the Turks. E D . ]

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 82

A ll she do th,Yahya

,is grac ious kindness

,b e i t less or more ;

Say no t of yon Moon-face : much her r igour,scant her troth and slow .

Ghazel. [ 2 7 I ]

The pup i l of mine eye do th scan the darl ing ’s cheek always;Mine eye from out that w i ndow yonder tul i p-lan d surveys. 1

The t ime is come when once agai n i t grasps its golden bow l,

The squi n t-eyed j onqui l wai t i ng sp ri n g midmost the garden-maze .2

The hear t ’s frai l bark doth look to see thy favour ’s b ree ze arise ,H ow many on grief’sshore ful l eager for the w i n d do gaze !

0 l ove,the jasmine heard that thou wast coming to the gar th

,

And,

filled w i th eagerness,i t cl omb the wal l t o scan the ways. 3

Yahya,what cour t t o p rideful airs pays he who is a man ?

H e heeds no t for tune,nay, nor any store by rank he lays.

This last ghaze l which I translate is an example of the

fresher and more real ist i c style I have ment ioned whi ch

Yahya d i d so much to i ntroduce ; th is poem might almost

b e the work of a Transi t i on w r i ter

Ghazel. [ 2 7 2 ]

Yon moon-faced beaut y hath undone her black and fragran t hai r ,’Tisas Cathayan merchan ts l oosed the ir bales of perfumes rare .

4

A wayward chi ld a-plucking a whi te rose,frai l leaf from leaf

,

ls yonder swee t what t ime that she unw i nds her turban fair .

1 I n this second line,which repeats the first

,the eye stands for the pup i l

or the power of si gh t,the w i ndow for the eye , and the tul i p -land for the

red cheek of the beloved .

2 The ‘golden bow l ’ refers to the y ellow flower of the j onqui l .3 Husn-i Taclil (see vol . I

,p . the jasmine grows up wal ls; here the

poe t says that having heard that his belo ved is coming,i n its eagerness to

see her,who is whi ter an d fairer than i tse l f

,i t has climbed up the wal l t o

scan the approacher t o the garden .

4W e have seen how the hai r of the beloved isalways regarded asswee tlyscen ted , ‘Cathayan merchan ts’ because Cathay is the land of perfumes.

2 8 3

Deem not the starsare scat tered and the sun is r isen high ;You si lver-frame hath dofl‘ed the gold-w rough t trouser-band she ware .

I

Soon as the breeze,O tender Rose

,brough t news of thine approach

D i d every rosebud rend its purse of sequi ns then and there .2

Yahyahath yearned to c irc le her even as do th the sash,

Yon graceless Paynim who hath loosed the zone which she do th bear .3

The fol l ow i ng , whi ch are the Open i ng l i nes of the Saqi

Nama, show how pure l y myst i cal that poem is

From the Saqi—Nama. [ 2 7 3 ]Come

,thou sti l l elate from the Banque t E tern

,4

Who drunk and dej ec t i n dismay ’sstree t dost yearn,

The door of the tavern is w i de,up and haste !

’Tis

,praise God ! the season of open ing at last .

And ah,what a door ! heaven ’s crescen t i ts r i ng ;

’Twere mee t were its besom a bri gh t ange l ’s w i n g .

The besom of ‘No ’ sweeps its carpe t i ngs c lean , 5

N or leaves any dust of ‘aught e lse ’ therew i th i n .

N or e’er shal l b e cl osed this tavern ’s doo r ;

I ts fast and its feast,they are one evermore .

I t stands eve r w ide th rough the aid o f our Lo rd ;‘Besides’ ’

t is the key t o its l ock do th affo rd .

"

And here whe re the l oved o ne may cap-beare r b e ,

The wi ne which is se rved is o f all headache free .

Then,cupbeare r

,frll fai l the glass, le t i t t roll ;

Fulfil pl igh t and ple dges, and hand round the bow lA -b rirn w i th that w i ne which is lire riae tine ,Not the riae

,nay, which is ls

’

e vse r d i v i ne .

The stars re p resen t the gold e nrb ro id e ries on the b earrty'

s b e lt, the ir b e irr;

sc at te re d is he r cast ing that b e ll asid e ; the sun’

s be i ng risen is the :rp pear inr

of he r lai r bod y as she und resses.

2 Mon e y is gi ve n to the beare r o f good n ews; so he re the ro se lruds are

said to re nd (i . e .o pen ) the i r purses and giv e t he i r g old en sequim ( i .

ye l low stam e ns) as a p rese nt to the b re e / e fo r t e l l ing o f t h e b e lrn ed'

sap p rum lr.

ii l‘i

u t‘

llrt: li trylritn'

tr‘

lmtre fl t l lrn lll ) tre e V o l. i i , p , I t .

i larnp re tl 'it e rn

,i. e . the l

'

rinnrl l‘eard (li ar l l lest ) . M‘

t‘ N 'l' J ’ i

ll ‘No ’ lo r' ‘No t lo d but t io d .

’ ‘ \ng lrt e l .e'

t lr rrr t im l1 lu l' ‘

l lr r [ :r rrl lrlll (r rl lrr‘nlrlrflr ) l i rrrl.

’

2 84d c

What w i ne,which to dri nk no t w ere sin and were shame !

The secre ts of God in that po t i on do lie ;H ow should no t the w ise b e made drunken the reby ?

Therew i th are the woe-working glances elate ,The which they who know no t deem pr i de ’

tis do th sate .

Before yonder w ine would Jemshid p rostrate fall ,Iskender would b ow him as this tav ern ’s thral l .I ts beams

,which on all si des resplenden t do ray,

The fashion of Solomon ’ssi gne t display .

The w ine of that cup is the sun of del igh t,

Each bubble thereon is the sphere of true pl ight ;And hid i n each bubble thereof the Nine Spheres, ‘

H ow splendid the lofty pav i l ion appears!

R iyaz i, who has already been ment i oned as the author

of an important Te z k ire , was l i kew ise a poe t of some repute .

H e was born i n 980 (157 2 e ntered the legal professi on ,

served as mol la at Je rusalem ,A leppo , Damascus, and Cairo ,

and d ied on the 29th of Safer , 1054(7 th May,

The author of the Compend of Memoirs does not speak

very favourably of R iyaz i’

s pe rsonal charac ter ; i f we are to

be l ieve his assert i ons, avari ce and meanness marked th is

poet , who was, he contemptuously adds, comple te ly under

the control of h i s w i fe , a final touch w hich may possi b ly

owe its presence to misogyn ist i c prejudi ces on the part of

the Arabic w r i ter . None the less, R iyaz i’

s l i terary powers

w ere consi derable ; Ziya Pasha, who descr ibes him as the

whi te rose of the garden of speech and the champion of

the fie ld of art, si ngles out his qasi das for part i cular com

mendat ion . R iyaz i fol low ed the lead of N efc

i' on ly i n the

spec ial attent ion which he bestowed upon the qasida ; his

style is not mode l led after that poe t,ne i ther doeshe be l ong

to the school of Yahya Efen d i . A l i ke i n the manner and

the matte r of hisw ork he is content to walk i n the footsteps

F or the Nine Spheres,see Vol . I

,p . 43 sgq .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 86

Should thou pass, 0 breeze of mornin g, yonder where Mansur wasslai n ,Doing honour t o Love ’smar tyr fair

,his cross w i th kisses gree t . l

Even should that Palm of beauty bare her dagger o’

er thy head,2

Fal l before her fee t and kiss her dagger-w ielding hand asmee t .

B ow the face , 0 musk of Khoten , mid the dust the loved one treads,

Then bekiss h er musky garment and her brigand tressesswee t .

Look w i th heed upon R iyaz i the enchan ter’s beauteous verse,

K iss the charac ts of his poems, these b e magi c charms, I wee t .

Anothe r eminent qasida-w ri te r of this t ime i s Sabr i , whose

personal name and style wereC

I lm i- zada Muhammed Che leb i,

that is, Master Muhammed the son of c

I lmi . Ofhis caree r

no part i culars are forthcoming beyond the facts that after

having served as an assistan t to Yahya Efend i , he became

a cadi,and that he d ied i n the year 1055(1645

Ziya Pasha describes Sabr i’

as a swee t-voiced poe t , and

says that his w orks,though few

,are grace ful . H e is lav ish

i n his eulogiesof one qasida i n part i cular , whi ch he designates

as a rosary of pear ls and a str i ng ofjewels, and dec laresto

b e worth a whole d iwan i n i tse l f. Kemal B ey takesthe Pasha

to task for his excessi ve commendat i on of th ispoem ,which

,

accord i ng to Kemal, isa l ong way be l ow itsnaz ira by N ef

c

i ;

whi le Ziya asserts that N efc

i might have l ooked on i t w i th

envy . Kemal then goes on to p i ck out another of Sab ri’

s

qasi das wh ich he pronounces to b e the best,and which , he

adds, has remai ned ‘vi rgi n ’

up t i l l now ,no poe t having

ventured to imi tate i t .

I n his qasidas Sabr i’

is a fol low er of N efi ; but i n his

ghaze ls he is a d isci ple of Yahya Efendi,i n the spir i t of

Mansur [ properly Husayn b . Mansur,cal led Hal laj

,the Wool-carder, ] the

patron sain t of the Musl im myst i cs,who was executed at Baghdad in 3 09

by order of the Musl im culema

’

t,for preaching pan the ist i c doc tr inesand

declar ing himsel f t o b e one w i th God . See Vol . I,p . 2 1

,n . 2 .

2 The palm , l ike the cypress,ty p ifiesa graceful figure .

2 87

whose schoo l he ofte n d raws l i t tle p ictures from sights he

has actual ly w i tnessed . Thus i n the fol low i ng couple t from

one of the ghaze lswe see the Sul tan , attended by his nobles,

r i d ing out i n the morn ing to the course to watch the horseme n

pract ise w i th the j er i d , a st i ck used as a dart, the cast i ng

of w hic h was a favour i te exe rc ise i n o l d t imes 1

To wat ch the j eri d-play at dawn the Sul tan Rose hath sall ied for th,

In fere w i th all the flore ts,zephyr-moun ted

,t o the t ourney-square .

2

The fol low i ng is from the Open ing Of the qasi da so highly

praised by Ziya Pasha ; Kemal B ey, whi le denying that th is

poem has any other mer i t , admits its exce l lence from a

techn ical po in t of V iew .

Qasi’

da. [ 2 76 ]

That j oseph fair, the age ’s happy fo rtune,now is l ord of migh t ;

The eye of yonder Jacob , l ong desire , is now i llumed w i th l i gh t . 3

The Sphere shedsPle iad- clusters ’neath the fee t of them that pluck the grape ; 4

And Fate fills emp ty-handed longing ’s lap w i th treasure ri ch and brigh t .The w ist ful st rangers’ eve is now the huma’s shadow o f good luck ;Agai n from fo rth the natal star the rays of fo rtune gree t the si ght .N ow Luck do th favour mi rth and w i ne

,as d id the luck o f JC ln o f yo re ;

The trtrn is no w the beake r ’s turn,the ag e the epoch of d el igh t .

The Sphe re hath k ep t its tro t ir e nt i re,and H ope eo rrve rse th wi th Success;

A nd “ race as cupbeare r is he re,and l leart

’

s the banque t d ig lrt .

[ i t is st i l l p rac tised t o some e x ten t,and l have w i t nesse d it at N i cosia

i n Cy p rus,at the Fest i val o f the Itayranr. lt ri ] .

Jfif bw Js; "Li v

jJ e) d ‘? NA JP J

A M

ear» L assa? add at, ,

Lg>)-t

The tlo we rs tossin g i n the b re e ve are ligat ed as rid in g on it .i' A r

'r'o rd ing to the l e ge nd

, jar o b g re w bl i nd tro rrr his i ncessant “ e e p irrr

fo r his l ost so n j ose ph ; Irn l Ire regai ne d his sig h t whe n Irrdah tb resi o r e r

him the sirirt o f j o se p lr whir lr the lrrt te r had sen t as a to ke n to hrs lathe r

whe n he nrrrd e himse l f lt rro wn to his b re t h re n lrr l'

g r p t . l ll l'r i lli l i “ M rt

d i vi ne he irlo o nr,and had be e n Wo rn by Jose p h whe n he te l l hit lathe r 'shom e

i A lrtl lrr ll rd. grapes is t ri t l’ lr l ike ned In the

2 88

Agai n th ’ adorn of hand and head of every one who knew not j oyIs j em ’

s rose-shedding bow l and Dara’s diadem that g leame th brigh t . l

Agai n for them who tel l the stars2 i n wanhope ’s n igh t hath b roke the day ;Again the dawn whose sun is grace do th boun teous give t o each his ri gh t .H ow bount iful a dawn , the vestment o f an hundred Joseph-suns;F or 10

,i t brings to this poor sigh tless Jacob-worl d the gift of sigh t . 3

O blessed radian t world- i l luming day of e very j oyance , whenThe shaft of sorrow ’

s eve ’

s become the hear t ’s core Of No t-Be ing ’sspr igh t .

The next passage isfrom the poem approved by Kemal B ey ;

i t is dedi cated to Sultan Murad,whose sword is eul ogised

fo r hav ing purged the Empi re from the corrupti on whi c h was

destroying i t . In the course of the poem Sabr i h i nts that the

fi rst l ine of the first couple t is by the Sul tan himse l f.

Qasida. [ 2 7 7 ]

A l l the Age ’s troubles the sword hath swep t away ;Brigh t and sheen the sabre i n Al lah ’s hand do th ray.

As pictures drawn on water those troublesstraigh t became, 4

Whi ch showed on ear th as down do th on cheeks of wan tonsg ay.

That w insome youth,the Empire

,hath bared his l o vel y face ;

H e shareth i n the beauty of equi ty to-day.

I t is as though the down which his cheeks began to bearBy yonder glaive were shaven whose work is praised aye .

The Age ’s happy plane t agai n is loosed and free,

E’

en l ike the spare 0’th

’ Idol who si ps the goble t-spray ;And clear agai n the mirror-upl ift ing Heaven ’s browFrom all the weary wr inkles of sorrowful dismay .The dust of care and dolour had ne ’er been brushed asi de

,

F or all the breeze of spr ingt ide ’s endeavour and essay ;The meadow of the Empire had never j oyous smiled

,

E’en though the Stream of Khizr there through had made i tsway ;

1 Dara i . e . Darius.2 [ i . e . who lie awake from love or anxie ty . E D . ]3 See the first no te t o this extrac t .4A p ic ture drawn on water isthe symbol of any thing w i thout permanence .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

290

O ne day they ’ll tw ist th ine ear and dolour ’s plec trum w i l l make thee to plain ,So give no t car at th is carouse unto the lute ’ssoft me lody .

l

W i n free from for th the waste of woe, give up the gear that b inds t o ear th ;B ut flaun t no t i n unseemly weeds al though that thou Love ’s dervish b e .

The tav ern-folk w i l l cast thee down on e day, 0 preacher, from thy chair ;So sneer no t at the v in tner sage

,thou’ l t fal l from thine own high degree .

2

Beware,Sabri

,nor boast w i th in the vale of Mejn rin and F erhad ;

However l oyal a l over thou,dr ive no t thy reason hence from thee .

Unj i -zada Mustafa Che lebi , Master Mustafa the F l ourMe rchant ’s son

,know n in the history of Turkish l i te rature as

F ehim, was born i n Constant i n ople,and wrote duri ng the

re igns of Murad and Ibrah im . F eh i’

m was one Of the few

eminent poe ts Of th is t ime unconnected w i th the legal p ro

fession ; i n deed , he does not appear to have exe rc ised any

regular cal l ing , but t o have l i ved by his w i ts, ge tt i ng what

he could out of his patrons. H e attached himse l f to E yyrib

Pasha, one of the great m en of the day,who

,be i ng appo in ted

governor of Egypt , took the poe t al ong w i th him to Cairo .

B ut F eh i’

m d id not l ike Egypt and w rote agai nst the country

i n h is verses; he moreove r fe l l i n to d isfavour w i th hispatron ,who appears to have give n him his d ismissal . At any rate

he be took himse l f to Me calr’ B ey, a nat i ve nobleman who

was famous fo r his generosi ty , and who i n recognit i on of a

qasida whi ch he brought him,promised to provi de the poe t

w i th the meansof re turn ing to Constant i nople . The Egyptian

noble was as good as hisw ord, and sen t F eh i

’

m w i th the

caravan conveying the annual tribute from Egypt to the

1 I n this quain t verse the person addressed is compared to a lute,the p ins

(i n Turkish the ears) of which are tw isted or screwed so as to stre t ch the

stri ngs that these may gi ve for th the ir p lai n t i ve no teswhen struck w i th the

plec trum .

2 Here the “preacher’ typ ifies the rigidly or thodox ; and the ‘tavern folk,

’

the myst i cs.

29 1

me tropol is; but the poe t was dest i ne d n eve r agai n to see

his home , for death ove rtook h im on the j ourney at I lg hin

i n Asia Minor . The date of F eh im ’

s death is var i ously gi ven

Safé’

i plac i ng i t i n 1058 (1648 and R i za and Sheykh i

i n 1054(1644F ehim ,

whose w ork is en tire ly lyr i cal , consist ing w hol ly

of ghaze ls,qasidas and so on , must have begun to w r i te

poe try ear ly i n l i fe , as w e are told that he had fo rmed a

comple te d iwan by the t ime that he was e ighte en years of

ag e . 50 strongly was he i mbued w i th the spir i t o f the new

schoo l that many of hisghaze ls read l ike the work of a poe t

o f the Transi t i on . Not content w i th mere ly de r i v i ng his

imagery from famil iar surround ings, he w r i tescomple te ghaze ls

having fo r defin i te subj ect the descr i pti on o fsome pi cturesque

sight or i nc i de nt be longi ng to the every-day l i fe of h is t ime,

and i n so doi ng he advances a step beyond any of his

pre de cessors.

Strange ly enough , Ziya Pasha omits to ment i on F e ln’

m

i n the survey of Ot toman poe t ry which he has p refixed to

his antho logy , an omissi o n fo r which he issomewhat sharply

cal le d to account by K em zil B ey who ral l ies h im fo r igno ri ng

the earl ie r poe t whi le eulo g isingr Naz im and Sheykh ( ihalih ,

who both end eavoured ,w i tho ut much success, to w rit e naz iras

to o ne of his qasirlas.

’

The two ghaze ls whi ch I have S C lt lC t l fo r t ranslat io n are

ho th exam p leso f li e ln'

n l'

s l o ve o f(haul i ng w ith fam i l iar sc e nes:

I This qashlu,whivh iii it nu

'

t hymn tn the P rop h e t , it. wuaulml mK e ru/rl llvy an the s t o f Fe l l in i 's. lm r

‘m ‘a. The is the coup le ! q un tn l

lay the Iley

K‘JL?’ K A AM JA A J‘

k cg lfl

ki

lA LJ’ J L " éA

" l'

hull hunt lnrnm l I lm mm Im lu hln | nnth,thn u hunt I l \ l' ll I lh ' Im aun ml the mun " .

" l i lly ll l ll' ll t lt‘H tl l‘

t‘ lum lnlmml l l l l ll l lutul In l ll l l l l lts this i l lt-l I l lL lll .

’

29 2

the first is i n praise of a dancer w hose feats of legerdemai n

c ome i n for spec ial ment i on , and the se cond is addressed

to a young derv ish of the Mevlev i orde r that order dur i ng

certai n of whose r i tes the we l l -known sima o r c ircular dance

is pe rformed . These two poems, al i ke i n subj ect and i n treat

ment,are qui te i n the manner of the subsequent pe r i od .

Ghazel. [ 2 79 ]

Whene ’er begins yon Idol , swee t of mouth and bland,t o dance

,

The l i fe an d soul w i thi n the l over’s trembling hand do dance .

What manner dancer she, a W o e as of the Day of Doom ,F or if she dance , i n ecstacy the sea and lan d do ‘dancefl

Fair fal l the execut i oner of n imble hand who makesUpon her fing er- t i ps the l i fe-destroy ing brand to dance .

E’er si n ce the tongue hath honoured been by ut teri ng thy name ,I t ever makes the dance ’s praises fair and grand to dance .

F ehim,for ravishmen t of thy swee t p oesy , ful l fai n

In Heaven ’s high sanc tuary yearn the holy band to dance .

Ghazel. [ 2 80 ]

Alack ! alaek l those tyran t eyes of thine, O w i nsome Mevlevi,

Have ranked the ir lashes,all athirst for b lood

,i n ten t to slaugh ter me .

I knew no t how the Mevlev ian girdle was the heathen zone,

Un t i l those heart ~sedue in g l o cks of thine, O Payn im , I di d see .

What t ime thou dancest,fore the b laz ing splendour of thy beaut y ’s orb

The Doomsday sun must pale,a dim an d feeb le mote

,i n veri ty .

2

Commotion carpe ts all thy way, and t ormen t from thy tresses’ chain ,Whene ’er thy l issom w oe-exci t ing form advanee th fair and free .

1 The dancer referred to may hav e been a boy,and no t a girl ; there is

no thing in the tex t t o show .

‘

2 A l luding to the tradi t i on that on the Last Day the sun w i l l b e brough tnear t i ll i t is on ly a mile off from the Judgmen t-plai n .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

294

The Sheykh of Islam B eha i Efend i ,1who now c laimsour

attent i on , was of i l lustr i ous descent , his fatherc

A b d -ul-C

A z iz

Efend i , the V i ce -Chance l l or of Rume l ia, be i ng the fourth son

of the famous muft i’

and histor ian SaC

d -ud -D i’

n , whi le his

mother was a grand -daughte r of the muft i and poe t E bu-s

Sucud . B ehei’

i,whose pe rsonal name was Muhammed , was

born i n Constanti nople i n 10 10 (160 1 The trad i t i ons of

his family placed any othe r career than that of the L aw out

of the quest i on , a career fo r which , moreove r , the i n te l l igence

and abil i ty d isplayed by the lad whi le st i l l i n ear ly l i fe marked

him as eminently sui ted . When sixteen years of ag e he ac

compan ied his father on the pi lgri mage to Mekka. After

hol d i ng a number of mud errisates he was, i n his th irt ie th

year, appointed to the mo llaship of Sal on ica; four yearslater

he was promoted to A leppo,but i n the follow i ng year he

was denounce d to Sul tan Murad asa smoker of tobacco,by

Ahmed Pasha the governor of the c i ty . Murad IV, who was

an ant i -tobacco fanat i c,had fo rbidde n th roughout his empire

the use of narcot i cs unde r all manne r of te rr i b le penal t ies,and when he heard that the Molla of A leppo had d isobeyed

his orders, he not on ly deposed him from his office , but

ban ished him to Cyprus. After a year or so B ehei’

i was par

domed , and b ye and bye he rece i ved successi ve ly the mol la

shi ps of Damascus and Ad rianople . In 1055(1645— 6) he

passed out of the orde r of Mol las, be i ng named Judge of

C onstanti nople , a step fol lowed in due course by the V i ce

Chance l l orships first of Anatol ia and then of Rume l ia, unti l

i n 1059 (1649—50) he attai ned the supreme rank of Sheykh

of Islam . A d ispute w i th the Engl ish ambassador i n which

B ehé’

i,who had deve loped great arrogance of temper, over

[ In a pencil-no te i n the margi n the author refers t o a story concern ingthis poe t in the Simac-Khana- i-E deb

,p . 8 ; an d to an arti c le i n the MejmuCa-i

Mucallim Naj i . E D . ]

295

stepped the bounds of de corum, led t o his deposi t i on and

ban ishment , nominal ly to Mi tylene , al though i n fact he was

al l owed to remai n at Gal l i pol i . Pe rmissi on to re turn to the

capi tal was not l ong de ferred , w hereupon the e x -mufti came

back and l i ve d quie t ly i n his resi dence on Qanlija B ay1 near

the Cast le of Anato l ia on the Bosphorus,un t i l he wassum

moned , after no very long i nte rval , to resume his high office ,

when for the second t ime“ hisshoul de rs w ere adorned w i th

the whi te pe l isse of the Muft iship .

” 2 H e retai ned hisposi t i on

dur i ng the two and a hal f years that remai ned to him of

l i fe ; and on his death , on the 1z ib of 1064(2nd January ,

he was bur ied i n the ne ighbourhood of his own house , and

on his tombstone was engraved the l i ne

‘May Paradise b e thy rest i ng-place ! The Fatiha l’ 3

B ehé’

i wasa man of consi de rable natural abi l i ty, but ow i ng ,

i t is sai d,t o ove r- i ndulgence i n narcot i cs, his learn ing was

not ve ry p rofound . I n the earl ie r part o f his l i fe his tempe r

was mild and gentle ; but success se emed to b ri ng out the

wo rse si de of his nature ,and arrogance and p ro neness to

anger characte rise d his d e cl i n i ng years.

This bay is some t imes called Ileha'

i Kurfe z i o r lle hzi’

i'

s ltny, on aeeoun t

o f the poe t-muft i havi ng l i ve d on its sho res.

The oflie ial d ress o f the Muft i e o nsisted o f a uhite e l oth robe t rimmedw i th sable

,the large

,round

,whi te turban as

'

m f,and d ark blue im nu

cal le d asuman i , the d ress of the subo rd inate membe rs o f the‘

nlema “ assimi lar,only the robe and turban we re g re e n inste ad o fwhi te . The ( h and V e rn n o t ea robe of whi t e sat i n t rimm e d wi t h sab le , and a tall r o uir al bend d i es-u, somewhat l ike a t runcat e d sugar-l oaf, whi t h wn . r alled the t lalasi, and “ as r ow t ed

wi t h whi t e musl in,a b ro ad band o f g old lur e fall i ng ai m -m it i n trout . l he

( i rnnd Admi ral an d the t 'hie f l‘innnt h “ i t “ n o t e the t | t ltt V l. but the i r robe sWe re of g re e n unt i n , an W e re t ho se o t the othe r ve i ns and p it -hm .

o t

h é hJUJ A J’lL p j

n

,3 QU

’A -fi

o 0 t 0

l'

hm l i n e in n e hro n o g lnn t g ivmg the date l o t-4: the l l" W t: ll" l “ ll"m e a re q uest to the vbd lo i to re p e at the tin t uhnp te l o l th “ fi l m I” ! ll! "

re p ose of the d e nd mnn'

u no nl.

296

A s a poet he was by no means equal t o his predecessors

E bu-s-Sucud o r Yahya Efend i . H iswo rk issai d by Ziya’

. Pasha

to resemble that of the latter , but Kemal Bey’

s statement

that the two Muft is went each a separate way, is nearer the

truth . They have , how eve r , these points i n common : ne i ther

isan i mi tator of N ef‘

i , and both look to Baqi asthe i r master .

The l i tt le d iwan formed by Beba’ i E fend i ’s lyri c poems

contai ns much that is beaut i ful , espec ial ly i n the se ct i on of

ghaze ls, though perhaps Ziya Pasha somewhat overshoots

the mark when he says of th is poe t that he discourses l ike

the n ight ingale , si ngi ng i n so ve ry charming and love r- l ike

a fashi on that he who ventures to cri t i c ise issimply talki ng

nonsense . Besi deshis lyri c work , Beb a’ i wrote a l ong mesnev i

which he presented to the Sul tan . A s th ispoem isa Hasb - i

Hal , or Plai n t , i t is probable that i t was composed dur i ng

one of the pe r i ods when he was unde r a c loud .

The fol low i ng ghaze l isquoted w i th approval by the cr i t i cs.

Ghazel. [ 2 8 2 ]

The loved one ’sgrac iousdr eamsby thee are scat tered,C ry, what woul dest thou?

O’

erthrown through tormen try by thee the world do th lie,what wouldest thou?

Have ruth upon my wounded hear t,and let i t haun t they tresses’ snare ;

By se t t in g free the bi rd whose w ing is broke atwy, what w ouldest thou?

My Leech , thou know’st a thousand remedies t o cure each i l l

,but since

’Tismother-born , 1 th is frenzy w i ld whence l overssigh , what wouldest thou?

Thou’

st gone and tangle upon tangle blow n the l oved one ’s l o cksan d curls;O breeze , ’

tisbut one woe the more thou’st w rough t thereby,what w oul dest thou?

The nob le of the worl d are mar tyred by the glai ve of love for her ;By lay ing hand upon thy sword

,O headsman eye , what w ouldest thou?

Full fai r thou p ic turest the charmer’smole and dow n but,0 B ihza

’

rd,2

What t ime i t comes to w insome waysand gramarye,what wouldest thou?

1 i . e . i nnate .2 Bihzad is ev idently the name of an art ist .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

298

Golden Horn i n a caique , (for the re was no bri dge i n those

days) , he woul d wal k all the way round by the Val ley of

the Sw ee t Waters. Jev ri’

s uneventful l i fe came to a c lose i n

1065(1654—5)Besi des his D iwan , this poe t le ft several mesnev is, the

best-known of which is that cal led the Mulhima 1o r Reveale r .

Thiswork is, as the author avows i n the prologue , a modern

recensi on of the old Shemsiyya of the archai c poe t Salah

ud -D in ,i tse l f a translation o r adaptat i on from the Pe rsian .

2

Jevri’ protests that the task was beneath h im

,but says that

he was pre vai led upon by a fr iend to re-w r i te the old book,

subst i tut i ng for itsuncouth and obsole te language , an i d i om

more e legant and more i n harmony w i th the l i terary taste

of his day. The w ork , ashe left i t , doesnot di ffer mate rial ly

from its prototype,judging from the analysis of the latter

given by Von Hammer, and presents a cur i ous med ley of

natural sc ience and popular superst i t i on . Poe ti cal value i t has

none , b ut i t is i n te rest i ng asan epi tome of old Turkish folk

lore connecte d w i th the weather,asi t treatsof the prognost i cs,

re lat i ng al i ke to the cr0ps, to the publ i c heal th , and to pol i

t i cal events, to b e deduce d from vari ousme teorological phe

nomena, such as e c l i pses

,halos

, shoot ing stars, thunderstorms,

earthquakes, and so on , accord ing to the ir occurrence i n the

months of the solar year from October to Septembe r . The

ascri pti on of some of the formulae to the Prophe t Dan ie l (who

i n the East figures as a maste r i n all occul t l ore ) , and the

frequent me nt ion of the King of Babi l o r Babylon , a t i tle

neve r borne by any sove re ign i n Muhamrn edan t imes, poin t

pe rhaps to an anc ient j ew ish o r Chal dean source . Jev ri com

p le ted this w ork i n 1045(16 35

1(Eu-QLA .

2 See vol . I,p . 3 89 .

2 99

Jevrr’

has further a mesne v i descr ib i ng the personal appea

rance of the Prophe t , wr i tten as a naz i’

ra to the H ilya of

Khaqan i . H e l i kew ise composed naz iras to the famousTerk ib

Bend of Ruh i’ and to seve ral o f the qasidas of N efc

i’

. H is

Mevlev ian procl i v i t ies showed themse lves i n two w orks, the

fi rst a translat i on w i th commentary of forty couplets taken

from the Mesnev i, the se cond , which is i n Persian , aseleet ionof 3 60 d ist i chs from the sam e poem

,the commentary i n this

case consist i ng of five couplets to each one of the text , the

whole arranged i n the form ofa te rk i’

b -bend ; th isse cond work

bears the t i t le of Je z i’

re - i Mesnev i o r The Isle of theMesnev i .A noteworthy po in t i n Jevri

’

s d iwan is the large number

of chronograms,somewhe re about fi fty ,

wh ich i t contai ns.

This is a s ign of the t imes; for though the chronogram had

fo r l ong been a feature i n Turkish poet ry , i t only now begi ns

to assume a prominent place and t o gi ve p romise of the

great populari ty i t is d est i ned to attai n duri ng the Transi t i on

Per i od , when i t ofte n occupies mo re than the hal f o f an

ent i re d iwan .

Jevr i’

s real ly o ri gi nal wo rk is confine d almost whol ly to

hisd iwan ; Professo r Na’ j r’ commendshispo e try fo r itse legance

and grace and says that his language is mo re o rd e rl y and

be tte r arrange d than that o falmost any o the r po e t o fhist ime .

The c o nte nte d mind o f j e v rr’

m ay b e t race d i n the two

fo l lo w i ng g haze ls from'

his d twan .

r

( rlllt ‘l. [ 2 8 3

ln,the he art hrrtlr prrrrrred from yr arn ing

'

s p rrth , from earth 's d esi re , i n trrre '

No w no longe r un to lt lt 'rlrlt t l t o r to g re e d may it inr lirre .

S ick nrrr l,d ry

-l i p p e d , ye t rrho ulrl l d re I “ i l l have noug h t o f r rrre ,

No t from Khi ‘m‘

n o r lro n r | e 1nrr,1 n o t e e rr tro nr m t lo r e lre nrg rr.

K lt l'l t',lltf' “tllt t

‘

t lltt l t r rl I lrr' |"r rtt t l l t rl i l ir“ . lr’ ntt 'r , “ lt rmr’ lrt r' rt l lt re-lo rr‘rl

to l i fe the d e ad .

300

Ah ! the folk of hear t may never glean the frui tage of desire,

Even from the bowers of Irem,or the Tuba-tree di v ine .

Unto them of hear t the boun ties of the w orl d are e’

er denied ;Bi t terness is st i ll the ir port ion , even when they quaff the w i ne .

N ay, the sigh’

s keen shaft hath reached no t, Jevri, t o the mark of hope ,

Though i t smote the Empyrean,passing through the HeavensNine .

Ghazel. [ 2 84]

I ’m con tented e’en i f Fate should nev er le t me smile agai n ;

Only may i t spare t o bl in d me w i th the dust of For tune’s bane .

L et the Sphere ne ’er l igh t the taper of my hope, I ’ve passed therefrom '

Only may i t spare t o leav e me mid the mirk of dole t o p lain .

L e t the w ind of Fate ne ’er ope on ear th the rosebud of the hear t ;Only may i t spare to ravage l ike the leavesmy sp iri t fain .

I ’m con ten t whatever snif’ t ing Jevri make th me to bear ;Only may he spare to bi d me fav ours of the fool to gain .

The next passage is from the open ing ofa qasidaaddressed

to a certai n Hayd er Pasha, apparen tly the governor of the

Arab ian province of Yemen , wh ich , w i th its capi tal Sanca ,

forms the subj ect of the exordium .

Qasida. [ 2 85]

The breeze of dawn that over all the worl d doth wander w i deWould make each waft a l iv ing soul i f Yemen-ward i t hied .

H ow glor ious Yemen ! should the zephyr b low w i th i tsswee t air,To all i t woul d the scen t of God ’s l i fe-gi ving breath prov ide .

1

H ow gloriousYemen ! whose all-lovely peerless regions br igh tHave even w i th the Paradisal b owers and gardens v ied .

If hour is found the vir tues of its dust i n Eden ’s9 soi l,

1 [ Alluding to a tradi t ion that “ the Breaths of the A l l-M erc iful come fromYemen ,” or from the South

,for Yemen has bo th meanings. E D . ]

1 [ Eden and Aden on the R ed Sea,the chief poe t of Yemen

,bear th e same

name i n Arab i c,

Caclan . E D . ]

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER X .

TH E L ATE CLA SS IC A G E CONT INUED .

MUHAMMED I V— MUSTAFA I I .

1058— 1115(1648

e K op r i l i s. V e j d 1’

. N ai’

i l r’

. N i y a z i o r M i

N az i m . T a l i b . N a b i .

In 1058 (1648) Sul tan Ibrah im wassuc ceeded by his son

Muhammed IV, whom the Turkscal l A vji Sul tan Muhammed

,

o r Sul tan Muhammed the Huntsman , on account of his e x

t rao rd inary fondnessfor the chase and marked pre fe rence fo r

a country l i fe . Afte r re ign i ng fo r thi rty-seven years, th issove

re ign was fol lowe d by hisbrothe r Suleyman I I i n 1099

Four years later Ahmed I I , another son of Ibrah im , ascended

the throne , to b e succeeded in 1 106 (1695) by Mustafa I I ,a son of the Huntsman . ThisMustafa

,who re ign ed t i l l 1115

is the last Sul tan of the Classi c Pe r i od . Not one of

these Sul tansseems to have given any spe c ial e ncouragement

to poetry o r to have made any at tempt to cul t i vate i t , except

the last-named , who w rote some med iocre ve rses under the

Makhlas of Iqba’ li .In d ivi dual l y they w e re not great men , and duri ng the most

part of the hal f century over wh i ch the ir re igns extend , the

dest i n ies of the Empi re w e re i n the hands of the i l lustr i ous

family of Kop rili . F i ve members of thishouse he l d the office

of Grand Ve z i r ; and we l l i t wasfo r Turkey that at thiscrisis

303

of he r history she had those among her sons to whom she

could turn fo r gui dance . The house of K op rili di d much for

the state , but i t d i d l i tt le fo r l i terature ; all the ir ene rgies

w e re too sore l y taxed i n de fend i ng the country from trai tors

withi n and from foesw i thout to admi t of the Ve z irsbestow i ng

much attention on mere amen i t ies l i ke verse,al though doubt

less, afte r the custom of the t ime, they rewarde d those poe ts,

such as Na’ i l i’

, who composed qasidas i n the ir honour . A s

the se rv i ces rendered by thisfami ly were exclusi ve l y pol i t i cal,

i t woul d b e out of place to dwe l l upon them here ; but these

se rvi ceswere so br i l l iant , and the part played by the Kop rilis

was so prominent and so un ique , that to omi t all ment ion

of the fami ly i n any book which has occasi on to touch

howeve r sl ight ly,on the history of Turkey ,

woul d b e bot lii nexcusable and unjust .

V ejd r’

is the makhlas of cz

A b d -ul-Baq i’

of Constant i nople ,

another of the many poe tswho flourished at this t ime . This

wri te r, who was Se c re tary of the Divan , e nj oyed the spe c ial

1 Ko prili Muhammed l ’asha, the fi rst membe r of the family who he ld the

G rand V e z irate,was raised to that o ffice i n 1066 (1656 ) w h en Ire wasseve nty

years of ag e . H e wen t on the l i nes o f Murad I V,supp ressi ng e v ils of e ve ry

kind w i th the most ruth less se ve ri ty . ( ) n his d eath i n 10 7 2. he was

succeeded by his so n K i ipr ili-zada Ahmed l ’ asha

,surnamed

,on account of h is

many nob le qual i t ies, Ahmed,

o r the A d nrirahle Ahmed,who he ld the

V e z irate t i l l his d eath in 108 7 In 1 10 1 (16 8 9 ) lx'

r

'

rp rili-l r

'

rda

l’nslra,anothe r so n o f old Muhammed

,was rrrad e ( irand V e r tr ; he disc harged

the one rous dut i es o f his high posi t i on in the most exemplary fashion t i l l Irewas unhappil y kil led i n bat tle agai nst the Aust rians at Salault eman i n

‘

Am r‘

rja-zada I luseyn I'

ashu (l luseyrr l'

nshn the so n of the l'

rrr le l,a

courti n o f Ahm e d and Mustaffi , was the fourt h t irand \'

e l ir o l'

the lanrilr ;

whi le the fifth and hurt was ls'

rip rili-u

'

rda Nu‘

nn‘lrr l

'

ard rrr, a so n o t

who wasap poin ted in b ut re tai ne d his posi t i on fo r only to trrte e rr

mon ths. The surname o f Ko p rili, the Is'

o p ri rrrarr, was g i v e n to Muhammedb e cause he was a nrrt iV e o f the l it t le Io wa o l l\ o p ri ( l he Ilr rd g e ) o r \ e tr

ls'

r‘

tp risi (The V e z tr'

rr Itrid g e ) n e ar Anni-t in i n Asia Mrn o r . ttrrt the t rrrrrlr “ aw

l e nlly of A lbanian o rig in , Nln lno nm e d'

rr lathe r hav i ng be e n an \rrr.rrrt “ ho

had lnlrr‘lr tt | r b in abod e rt t K o p ri .

304

patronage of Shami - zadaMuhammed the R e IS Efend i , through

whose i nfluence he was promote d to the important posi t i on

of B eg likji .’ Here he won so much favour w i th old K oprili

the Grand Ve z ir, that the j ealousy of his former patron was

aroused , the resul t be ing that through the mach inat i ons of

the latte r , V ejd i was executed by the orde r of Sul tan Ibrah im ,

on the 4111 of Ramazan 107 1 (3 1‘d May

V ejd i’

s poe t i cal w ork is represen ted by a l i ttle d i’

wan of

ghaze ls, of whi ch the fol low i ng is an example .

Ghazel. [ 2 86]

A lack for at th is n ight-carouse o f dole no shin ing li gh t ismine ;To w it

,no lovel ing leal and true w i thin this world of bl igh t ismine .

The whi le that everyone now w eare th on his head some burgeon fair,

W i thin the garden of the world,alas

,no leafle t bri gh t ismine .

I bear n o w ound by oeiliad deal t,nor thral l o f musky tress am I

,

And so to stand w i th in the val ian t ranks of Love no r igh t ismine .

’Tis truth that Love’s e l i x ir hath refined my hear t t o purest gold

,

B ut yet to bear i t i n her hand no si l vern-bodied W i gh t is mine .

The lamp of teen am I,I burn for par t ing

,un ion ne ’er I name ;

B ut mee t for night am I,no j ewel fi t for morn ing ’s si ght is mine .

Oh how shoul d I no t wai l and make lamen t an d rend my garmen ts,say

?

No cupbearer of roseate cheek,no w i ne-cup of del igh t ismine .

So sore a yearning for S tamboul is in my weary heart,V ejd i,

That fai n I ’d thi ther fly, but what can I ? no w i ng for fl igh t ismine .

One of the most eminent poe ts of this t ime isN ai’

ih’

(Yen i

zada Mustafa Efendi ) of Constant inople . The biographersgive

1 The B eg likj i was a h igh o ffic ial who presi ded over the three OflIC C S whi chwere under the immediate di rect i on of the Re’ is Efendi ; these three ofli cesformed the department cal led the D iwan-i Humayri n Qalem i , o r Chancery ofthe Imper ial D iwan . The t i tle of B eg likj i st i l l ex ists, and isgiven to the chiefo f the Diwan Qalemi , the office from whi ch the Imper ial mandatesare issued .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

306

his poems are w o rked up and pol ishe d almost to a faul t . In

some i nstances he has carr ied this refin ing p rocess to such

a poin t,prun ing away everything that appeared to h im

pleonast i c or redundan t , that his mean ing becomes obscure ,

and his ve rses are extreme ly d i fficul t to understand .

I t may appear strange that w i th all the ir art ific iality and

man i fest labori ousness there should b e much of passi o n i n

the poems of N é ’ ih’ , but such is the case , and the ev ident

si ncer i ty of this has se cured for him the suffrages of the

Ottoman cr i ti cs of to-day. Thus Professor Naj i says that

wh i le the words of the art ific ial poe ts are as a rule w i thout

any trace of that true l ov e which is the very soul of poetry,

there are many passages i n Na’ i l i whi ch w i l l send a thri l l

to the lover ’s heart . Ziya Pasha also has a good w ord for

him , commend i ng al ike his language and his matter , and

coupl ing him w i th Fuzul i’,whom

,howe ve r

,he resemblesonly

i n so far as he is at once art ific ial and si ncere .

Na’ i l i is an i n te rest i ng figure i n the history of Turkish

poe try , and the re is much i n h is d i’wan that may b e read

w i th pleasure , but i t cannot b e sai d that he rende red any

real se rvice to the de ve l opment of l i terature i n his coun try .

I t is true that he was an i nnovator,and i t is c lear that he

was a man of except ional abi l i ty, nay, he even achi eved

some th i ng i n re l ie ving , i f but for a momen t , the somewhat

depressi ng monotony of the late Perso-Turkish school . B utunhappi ly his i nnovat i ons w e re i n the w rong d ire ct i on , a

d irecti on whence no true o r pe rmanent benefi t was to b e

hoped . F o r he isasPersian asN efc

i h imse l f ; all those wonder

ful new phrase s and expressi onsof hisare to b e foun d between

the cove rs of the Persian di ct i onary ; and so un-Turkish ishis i d i om , so fi l led is i t w i th P ersianisms of eve ry descr i pt i on ,

that many of his l ines are un inte l l igible to a Turk unac

quainted w i th the language of Iran . Ne i ther d i d he , l i ke

307

Yahya Efend i and his fol low e rs, seek i nspi rat i on from the

wor l d around him ; he was content to go fo r that to his own

i maginat i on , and to l earn from his Persian masters how to

make use of what he found there . A l l that Na’ i l i real l y d i d

was to st ir afresh the now stagnant waters of Pe rso-Turkish

cul ture ; he brought n o new v i tal isi ng pow er i n to Ottoman

poe try , and so hisw ork has remai ned w i thout that i nfluence

on the subsequent l i te rature of his country whi ch might have

been expecte d from a poe t so highly gi fted as h imse l f.

N é’

ili’

s work is l im i ted to his Diwan ; i t is pr i nc i pal ly i n

his ghaze ls that he exce ls,though some of his qasidas are

both i ntere st ing and me ri tor i ous. H e has an e legy i n te rj ic

ben d form on a brothe r w ho d ied i n youth,which contai ns

seve ral beaut i ful passages, but is marred by the hyste ri cal

w eakness of the re frai n whi ch Kemal B ey compares to the

lamentat i ons of the Egyptian wai l i ng-women .

In order t o d ist i nguish him from anothe r w r i te r of the same

name who l i ved duri ng the fi rst hal f o f the n ineteenth century ,

this poe t is frequently cal led N z’

r’

ili- i Qad i’

m o r Na’ ilr'

the Elde r .

The fol l ow i ng passage from the Open ing o f a qasida i n

honour of the Sheykh of Islam SunC

i- z zida is add ressed to

the re ed -

pen the n un i ve rsal l y used i n the liast .

Qasida. [ 2 H7

re ed -pe n lrlae k of garh 2 fo r all that d o rrhle -to rrg ue d thou he,a

Cal t ro p-lrestre wu the poe taste r’s pathway is lry t lre e .

‘

autho r se e rrrs to have had some rlr rtllrl as to the pe ri od “ he n the

se cond Na'i l l llo rrr‘islre d,us he lruri p lae e d a q ue ry in p e rre il opposi te thi

strrte rrre rrt . H e also has noted i n pe rre il a re fe re rre e to the Se rv e ! i l' uuuu.

Vol . X V I, p . 7 I . lulu]

2 Re fe rri ng to lhe durlc e o lrrtrl o f the re ed .

El l le llrlt t “ li lt ll lH ‘I t

‘l r‘lr‘ l r t rr I ll l ' (“ n

‘

ri t i r' o r ' l lllr‘ ' lt l H t t ile

pe n , in I l‘t t ' t l litgrlrtrt lve ly lrrr' hyp ru l il ir ul r rl

‘ d e r e lt lul.

' l l l lll l in,l” th e t he l i e n r r rl l r

‘r lly‘ tn r r rlrl | rrr . r

'r n l l r r t ih t u rt lt rt t rlttr ' th

task to the urodt illul W ri t e r.

308

What then al though thy tongue b e twy, and though thy wede b e black ?

Thou art the spy w i th i n the ve i l o f fac t and fan tasy .

What then al though ’tis thy command that rules the marshal led l ines

,l

O standard-bearer of the truth, ensign of poesy !In show ing forth the praises of the fair one ’s eyebrow curvedThou makest Ramazan ’s bri ght crescen t ’s finger shame to dree .

2

Thou’st found the way un to the pearl o f myst i c ism ’

s hoard ;’Tis thou who givest substan ce for the j ewe l lers’ trafficry.

3

Speechless,but ye t w i th in the i nkhorn ’s vaul t a P lat o thou ; 4

Silen t,but ye t thou mak ’st the world to echo cease lessl y .

If to the sages’ feast thou com’

st,thou Ar isto tle art ;

Yet all unknow i ng beest thou i n the unmee t c ompany .Each shav ing cut from thee a dagger is ful l keen of poi n t ;Ofall necessi ty of hone or g rindleston e thou

’rt free .

Thou ar t the g em , yet from thy mouth are pearls of w isdom shed ;Mine of the gems

, g em of the mine , thou’rt l ike the shel l,perdie .

5

Io

Ghazel. [ 2 88]Wai ls the n ight ingale

,the rose ’s torn and shredded spare behold ;

Shat tered l ies the rose,the nigh tingale ’s distraught despair behold .

E’en for chasti ty ’s swee t sun-l o ve blushing

,isshe dew-besprent ;

A l l the pur i ty of yonder bashful Rose-leaf fair behold .

Purer shines her skirt than e’

en the essence of the Holy Ghost ;Yonder radian t Lamp of beauty ’s nup tial-chamber there behold .

6

1 The l ines of wri t i ng drawn up i n order l ike l ines of soldiers.

2 The ‘crescen t ’s finger,

’ i . e . the crescen t moon i tself,by i ts form suggests

an ey ebrow . The fast which is observed dur ing the mon th Ramazan is endedby the appearance of the n ew moon ; th isbe i ng anx i ously looked for, may b esupposed to w ear a brigh ter aspec t than usual i n the eyes of the devoutMusl im

,exhausted w i th long fast ing .

3 The ‘j ewel lers,

’ i . e . the dealers i n beaut i ful fanciesand i deas.4The ‘i nkhorn ’s vaul t ’ is the po t for i nk at one end of the Eastern qalem

dan (pen-and - i nk case ) whi ch is i nser ted i n to the girdle .

5 The oyster-shell which besi des enclosing the pearl,i tself y ieldsmother

of-pearl .6 The Lamp or Taper is the beloved . See Vol . I I

,p . 205, n . 7 . The first

l ine means that she is purer than even the Holy Ghost,by whom conce i ved

the V i rg i n Mary , who is the type of pur i ty .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 10

Never is the w ise di ver ted by the di verse gauds o f state ;B ut the fool , for lust of ofiice , tremble th

’tw i x en hope and fear .

Yonder deep b lue ten t of heaven , whi ch is mourn ing’

s home,doth shine

In the fool ’s unheeding eye a t ile-encrusted belvedere .‘

As the old and threadbare awning of this anc ien t hosp ice 2 seemsIn the sage ’s v ision yonder pal l thou nam

’

st the Star less Sphere .

3

Na°i l i,upon the fing er

-nai l of yonder festal moonDo th a fragment o f the sage ’s bosom-rending hear t appear .

4

Ghazel. [ 2 9 I ]Whene ’er the hear t ’s tumul tuous fiery sea a moment ’s quie t knows

,

Each scar of dule the body bears a w i ld and gory whirlp ool shows.

From end to end th is world ’s a steep and rugged hi ll,the hil l of pai n

,

Where ev ery mat tock-w ielding hope doth but a B i-Si tun expose .5

L e t hearts creep off an d seek the dark,but only le t thy darkl i ng locks

A smusky w i llows bowed droop upon thy cheek ’s fair garden-close .

Whene ’er the wan ton li p le t of thine eyen’

s glance doth murmur soft,

Each movemen t of thy lashes weaves a magi c charm that all o’

erthrows.

Upon this juggler ’sstage,6 O Na’ i l i

,i n know ledge w isdom lies;

’Tis no t from ’neath the derv ish cloak that one the seven gob le tsshows.

’

l

1 R eferring to the b lue-green ti leswherew i th bui ld ings i n Turkey and P ersiaare often decorated .

2 The ‘ancien t hosp ice ’ is the wor ld .

3 The ‘starless sphere ’ is the Primum Mobile o r Empyrean,the n in th or

outermost o f the P tolemai c spheres,which enclosesall the others. Se e Vol . I

,p . 43 .

4The festal moon,i . e . the new moon whose appearance shows that the

Ramazan fast is over and the Bayram fest ival begun . Be i ng crescen t,i t isshaped

some th ing l ike a ben t finger ; t o the nai l o f this issai d to b e fastened a p ieceo f the sage ’s(studiousrecluse ’s) hear t , he be i ng an enemy to all merry-making .

5The mat to ck-w ielder is F erhad . B i-Si ttin,or the P ierless

,is the modern

name of [ Behistun (near Kirmanshah , no ted for i ts Achaemenian inscri p t ions) ,the ] moun tai n through which F erhad cut a road in the vai n hope of w i nn ingShir i n . Here the poe t compares the hopes of men to the disappoi n ted loverwhose arduous and pai nful labours avai led him nothing .

6 The worl d .

7 The seven plane tary spheres are the ‘seven goble ts; ’ here the al lusion is

3 1 1

Ghazel. [ 2 65]

Thou i t is dost gran t this sad and w oeful l ife i n loan to me ;

A y, forsoo th , straigh tway’ twould slay me

,cruel one

,to par t from thee .

Yea,the desert-whirlw in d showsm e how

’tisMejn tin ’

s soul that st i l lRoams

,the weary w i ldered sp i r i t of the wastes o f tormen try.

I

Whi le that I,possessed

,knew n o t mysel f di d reason rend me sore

,

And did make e’

en P lato my disc i p le scan t of w it t o b e .

Trust n o t Jup i ter midmost the heavens to order things ar igh t 2Should he say un to th ine eye ,

‘Thou’

st learned meI,this g ramarie .

’

Nai’ili

,by such a yearn ing am I branded that my si ghs

Show to me th issphere for ever wrap t i n ashen drapery .

Mysti c ism , whi ch played so prominent a part i n the earl ie r

stages of the deve lopment of Turkish poe try ,has eve r si nce

the beginn i ng of the Classi c Pe ri od been reced ing furthe r

and furthe r i n to the background , so that now,when that

Pe ri od is hard upon its c lose ,i t is somewhat surp risi ng to

encounte r a poe t possessed of no l i tt le me ri t and abi l i ty

find ing the re i n the fountai n -head of his i nspi rat io n . F o r

al though the re has been a constan t successio n o f ruyst ic

ve rse w ri te rs duri ng the who le course o f the C lassi c A g e .

these have be e n almost exc lusi ve ly d e rvishes be lo ngi ng to

o ne o r othe r o f the many re l igio us o rd e rs, no t e ve n o ne

among whom can he sai d to have at tai n e d anv e ruiue rree

as a po e t ; whi l e the real ly d ist i ng uishe d rue n o f le t te rs‘ .

tho ug h to uc hing fro m t im e to t im e o n t rause em le utal t hing s.

to some conjuri ng t r ir lr of p ro dur in g a rrurn lre r of rrrt ir les h our up the ° leeseo r und e r the eo nl . The m eaning in that t lrrme rr lro make the g i r ate st sho rr o l

l C llMl' H ' ll l‘

t‘H o t those who really und e rstand the nro

~.t .

Me jn rtn , the lo Ve r‘ o l l .e yla, “ ho i n hi t tre at y an d to “ and” th ro ug hlhe rle rre rl,

5‘ Wh e n pe ruo rrltre d , the plan e t luplte r l-r g e ne ral ly r-p rr u rrt r d M an ad

rn ln irrtralr-r .

3 12

have done so only i n ci dental ly , never making such , as the ir

predecessors d i d , the pr i mary moti ve of the i r work .

Niyaz i,though not a great poe t , wasa man of consi derable

talent and standsa l ong way ahead of the throng of Mevlev i

and K halve t i sheykhswho have of late been the i n terpre ters

of myst i c phi losophy i n Turkish ve rse . Myst i c ism , moreover,

is the key-note of this poe t ’s work ; w hatever e lse is to b e

found in his d iwan is of qui te secondary importance , and

almost as i t w ere acc i dental .

Muhammed,known i n Ottoman history as Misri Efend i

and i n l i terature as Niyaz i , was born at the l i ttle town of

A spuz i, near Malat ia, i n what is nowadays the prov i nce of

Macmurat -ul- CA z iz . After rece i v i ng his first lessons i n myst i c

lore from his father , who was a Naqshb end i’

dervish , he

studied i n Mard in and Cai ro and at the v i llage of Elmal i

i n Anatol ia. When hisstud ies we re comple ted, he was sent

by his last teacher , a great K halve t i Sheykh , toc

Ushshaq i

near Smyrna, the re to ac t as his v i car . B ut ere long th i s

teacher d ied , whe reon' Niyaz i i s set tled i n Brusa, l i v i ng there

i n a ce l l which one of the c i ti zens bui l t for him . The fame

of his sanct i ty having reached K op rili-zada Ahmed Pasha

“the Admirable , he was i n vi ted to Adr ianople where the

court was at that t ime establ i shed , for Sul tan Muhammed

the Huntsman d isl i ked Constant i nople and v isi ted i t asse l domas possib le . Niyaz i

’

washonourably entertai ned in the second

capital of the Empire fo r twenty days, afte r which he was

sen t back to Brusa. By and bye he wasagai n summoned to1 A spuz i, whi ch is beaut iful ly si tuated

,l ies some four kilome ters t o the

south-west o f Malat ia, the inhabi tan ts of which ci ty used to repair thi ther topass the summer season . B ut i n consequen ce of the mil i tary occupat i on ofMalat ia i n 1255(183 9) during the war w i th Muhammed c

A li Pasha of Egyp t,

the ci t izens, who were i n the ir summer-quar ters,were unable to return

,and

thus they acquired the habi t of l iv ing all through the year at Aspuz i , the

resul t be ing that that t own has n ow become the chief p lace of the p rov ince,

while Malat ia is fal l ing in to decay .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 14

him,was

,i f n ot a Christ ian at heart , at any rate very strongly

i ncl i ned towards the doctr i nes of the Christ ian Church . This

notion probably arose part ly from the c ircumstance that

N iyaz i’

s re l igious teachi ng had i nvolved him i n trouble , and

part ly from an i mpe rfec t understand ing of some of hispoems

where i n the name of J esus is ment ioned . In support of his

assumption , Pr i nce Cantemir quotes two of N iyaz i’

s ghaze ls,

of which he offers a translat i on so i naccurate as to prove

how l imi ted was hisknow ledge of l i terary Turkish , and how

l i tt le he was qual ified to form Opin i ons based the reon . On

the other hand , Von Hammer, wh i le correct i n mai n tai n i ng

the groundlessness of the P r i nce ’

s concept i on , is qui te w rong

when he says that the name of Jesus occurs only once i n

N iyaz i’

s d i’

wan , and that the two ghaze lsquoted by Cantemir

are apoc ryphal , and not to b e found among that poe t’

sw orks.

A s a matter of fac t,J esus is ment ioned seve ral t imes i n

N iyaz i’

s verses, though not more frequently o r i n any other

connecti onsthan he isby scoresof other Muhammedan poe ts;whi le as fo r the two ghaze ls, a ve ry moderate amount of

patience isnecessary to d iscove r them in the ir natural p laces

i n the Diwan .

Though Niyaz i’

w rote a good deal of prose,his poet i cal

w ork is confined to his D iwan , which agai n is restr i cte d to

ghaze ls, nothing so wor ld ly as a qasida gai n ing admi ttance

to those sacred pages. These ghaze ls are almost w i thout

except ion mysti cal i n the last degree , and consequently very

often w e l l-n igh impossi ble to understand,so that when trying

to puzzle out the i r sense one finds onese l f i n constant agree

men t w i th the Muft i, of whom Pr i n ce Cantemir te l ls, who ,

on be i ng appealed to on the quest i on of the ir orthodoxy ,repl ied that only God and Niyaz i knew what they meant .

Some of the ghazels are i n Arabic, whi le i n others the

l i nes are al ternate ly i n that language and i n Turkish . Some

3 15

t imes Niyaz i’

i gnores the prosod ial i ncrement known as the

Kesre - i khafi'

fa, just as Veysi does i n the poem translated

i n th is book , and some t imes he obse rves i t , apparently w i th

out rule . In some of his poemshe usesNiyaz i ashismakhlas,

i n some Misr i ; i t is possib le that at one peri od of his l i te rary

l i fe he may have used one of these, at another the other ;

and that the name employed thus roughly i nd i cates the

pe ri od when the poem was wr i tten .

Here are the two ghaze l s , the existence of which is den ied

by Von Hamme r,and on the strength of which Pri nce

Cantemi r woul d make a Chr ist ian of Niyaz i. They are fai r

spe c imens of his style and of the usual myst i c poe try of

Turkey and Persia.

Ghazel. [ 2 9 3 ]I n me forsoo th unbounded ski l l in Names Div ine doth lie

,'

And ever do I journey through the Myst i c Le t te rs’ sky.

2

The stars that stud’ the heaven of my heart may ne ’

e r b e toldI n eve ry sign a thousand suns

,a thousand moons

,have I .

Doc to rs woul d hold i t fo r the i r shame to teach the A It C ;This A l’» C

,that seems so mean

,in my regard is high : 3

In truth,that is the heaven

,the empy rean o f all l o re ;

Wa r on the g round the reo f fo r me unnumbe red j ewe ls lie .

l le re by i nde ed hath Misri b e come o n e tr i th J esu'

s lu'

eath '

,

N aught e o rne th t o nry heart , and naught d ot h pass the re tro rn fo r are .

t The nine t y-n in e Names of t io d , eat' h of wlrir lr has some m en“ v i rtue i n

trryst ie l o re .

7 When speaking of the A re hrrie poe t Nestrrrl,rr e r arrre rrr rre e t ltr‘ ‘

d‘r l l

the “ maths (L ite raltrh in whose d o e t rirre e rrr h le t t e r o t the al phabe t h rs ‘or ttm‘

euo te r’ ir: trig n ilir arre e .

3 This v e rse,wi th the two lo llo wirrg , re le r ag ai n to the nu .trr r rrrrrr o t

the l e tt e r“.

Thlrr hr the e o rt p le t i n llt l r poem o n rr lrlr lr "Mi l” “ lh “m l"

stand i ng it,fo und rr his st rang e o p i n ion . I ll . t rrrrr rlrrt to rr (hr the l ng lr h

o l lrirr Wo rlr ) hr‘lr

'

o r' in it lrr in lar d tho ag re em e nt o l le srr r and “ r H .

" l he re lo re n ry rr o rlr n r ithe r llrt r n o t want . rrtt r llt l 'ltZ -i

3 16

Ghazel. [ 2 94]

I am he who know e th all the mysteries of human lore,

I ’m the l i fe of earth,and I the treasuries o f Truth explore .

H i d w i th i n me lie the secre ts of the Mysteries’ Mystery ;Here w i th in I hold the Trust

,1 and I ’m the treasure-house therefor .

Clear i n every thin g the beauty of the Godhead I behold,

So whene ’er I look on yonder mirrors,j oyan ce c omesme o

’

er .2

Every w ord of mine ’s a k ey t o op e the lo ck ‘A treasure I ;’ 3

E ke of Jesu’s breath am I the close familiar evermore .4

A l l existen t things I ’ve given for the One E x istency ;

N ow am I one w i th Thine Essence,Names

,and A t tr ibutes and glore .

Whatsoever b e on ear th,i n heaven

,is bounden un to me ;

I ’m the tal isman all-po ten t rul in g hid and over t l ore .

I ’m that M isri,I am monarch o

’er the Egyp t of my frame ; 5

Though in form con t ingen t,I ’m in truth the Mystery of Yore .

The fol low i ng is from a somewhat lengthy poem descr ib ing

the “Spiri tual C i ty .

”

Poem . [ 2 95]

My pathway to a c i ty led the wh ich a plai n doth compass fair ;Who en ters i n sees naugh t of death

,he dri nke th of l i fe ’swater there .

1 [ i . e . the Trust (emane t) which God offered to the Heavensand the Earth ;and

, on the ir refusal to under take so heavy a responsib i l i ty as that of represen t ing God in the Phenomenal W orld

,to man . E D . ]

2 The ‘mirrors’ are all phenomena,i n whi ch the myst i c sees reflec ted the

beaut y of God .

3 A l luding to the w el l-known tradi t i on of God ’s say ing ‘I am a hiddentreasure .

’See Vol . I

,p . 17 , n . 1 .

4This is C an temir’s verse ; he mistranslates‘I am the most excellen t seal of things v isible and i nv isible ;‘I am always w i th Jesus

,and w i th him do always agree .

’

5There is here a play upon the name Misr i,which means Egyp tian

,and

which Niyaz i’ probab ly adop ted by way of souvenir of his Cairo l ife .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 18

Ghazel. [ 2 9 6 ]

Bless i t God ! of ni gh tin gales1 the garden brigh t is Aspuz i,Eden ’s bower to mind recal l ing

,fai r i n he i gh t is A spuz i .

Equab le of cl imate , all of joy.

and gladness gathers there ,Coun try of the sages’ banque t of del igh t is Aspuz i .

Deyr—Mesih besi de i ts vir tues holds as naugh t the Stream of L i fe ;When i t floweth

,l ike a graceful gl iding sp righ t is A spuz i .

'

2

“ Then i t dons its greeny garmen t i n the l ovely days of vere ,Soo th the stage where do th the season ’s Khizr l igh t is Aspuz i . 3

A l l around are frui ts as dul ce t as the l i ps of beaut ies fair ;Yea

,a w insome youth w i th sat in green bedigh t is Aspuz i .

O’

er i ts apples are there rubr i cs w ri t ten there w i thouten ink ;Truly

,w ondrous an ensample of God ’s migh t is A spuz i . 4

Therefore are i ts folk w i th w isdom and w i th w it abundan t dowered ;A y, the magaz ine of men of lore and l igh t is Aspuz i .

Good i t is,i f sai d of Eden-gar th ‘

aneath i t r i versflow 5

Yea,and of you bowers of Heaven 3. foresi gh t is A spuz i .

H ad but death ’s cold blast,iliyaz i , never sw ep t o

’

er yonder land,

Who is there that w ould no t w i tness,

‘Eden ’ssi te is Aspuz r .

1 ‘Nightingales’ may here have ‘p oe ts’ as a secondary mean ing .

“

2 This couple t is a l i t t le confused ; A spuz i seeming to b e here taken as

the name of a stream ; possibly the smal l r i ver which flows i n to the TashmaSu

, i tsel f a tributary of the Euphrates, and upon whi ch the t own issi tuated ,bears the same name . D eyr—Mesih

,the JMonastery of the M essiah , must b e

some place in the ne ighbourhood .

3 F or Khizr,the green-clad prophe t

,see Vol . I

,p . 172 , n . I . The ‘season ’

s

Khizr ’ simply means all the greenness of spri ng .

4 This couple t refers t o the we l l-known yazi l i e lma or‘wr i t ten apples’ of

A spuz i . W h en the season approaches '

at which the apples begin t o colour )they are w rapp ed round w i th p ie ces of paper on which wordsor verseshavebeen cut out ; i n this way the surface of the frui t is p ro te c ted from the sun

and so kept pale excep t where the i n c isi ons have been made i n the paper,the resul t be i ng that when the apples come to b e un rol led the w ordsarefound marked upon them in reddish t in ts.

5 ‘Aneath i t How r i vers,

’ often sai d of Parad ise in the Koran .

3 19

W e have but few de tai ls whe re from to construct the bio

graphy of the poe t Naz im . L i t t le concern ing his l i fe appears

to b e known beyond the facts that his name was Mustafa ,

that he was employed as c le rk i n one of the government

offices, and that he d ied at Be lgrade i n 1 107 (1695) dur ing

a campaign agai nst the Austrians,be i ng at the t ime at tached

i n an offic ial capac i ty to the Jan issary corps.

Naz im left a large d iwan,the

‘

g reat er part of w hi ch con

sists of nac

ts or hymns i n honour of the Prophe t . These are

for the most part i n qasida form , but they l ikew ise i n c lude

seve ral of the ghaze ls and other poems. In de ed , Naz im is

probably the greatest naCt -wr i ter i n Ottoman l i te rature whethe r

w e regard the extent o r the mer i t of hiswork . Speaking of

him i n th is conne ct i on , Ziya Pasha says that no othe r poe t

has,been so gi fte d o r has attai ned so much success.

B ut Naz im has a be tter t i t le to our respect , fo r i n all his

wo rk he strove afte r si mpl i c i ty ,so far assuch a qual i ty was

possi b le i n the ag e i n which he w rote . H is vocabulary no

d oubt is ve ry Pe rsian , but his style is easy and natural , his

const ruct i on st raight forward and fre e from obscuri t y , and his

mean ing almost always clear and se l f- e vident . In v ie w o fthis,

the most marked characte rist i c o f Naz in i , i t is, as K e inal

lic y has po i n te d out , some what ast o n ishing that Z iyzi l'

asha

shoul d have co up le d h im w i th Sdn i l, o ne o f the n i ost art itic ial

po e ts o f the earl y'

l’

ransit io n .

[ from an histo ri cal po i n t o f V i e w t he mo st in te i est in

feature o fNaz tin’

s d t in is that it ine lnd e s fo r the tirst t i me .

so far as'

l have b e e n abl e to d ise o ve r , a se e t io n o t'

shan ps.

/\s I h ave mo re than o n c e had o e easio n to I t‘llld l h . the shaup

is the l i te rary d e ve lo pm e n t o l’

t he o r “i lk so n“ , and i ts

i n t ro duc t io n i nt o the d tw .ins o t'

the p o e ts in o ne o t the nnm t

sal ie n t d ist i nc t i o ns li e twe e n the'

l'

i ansit io n and e ai ln i IN t lflt i c.

liy his Wo rk in th is d ii e e t io n Na/ tn i p ro n"

. In . li ne-hi p “ 1th

3 20

the wr i ters of the succeed ing ag e , but otherw ise his poetry

be l ongs to the Classi c school ; for al though his style and

constructi on are s imple , they are , equal ly w i th hisvocabulary ,

qui te Pe rsian .

I f Naz im is i ndeed the earl iest poe t to transform the turk i

i n to the sharqi and promote i t to a place i n his d iwan , his

work becomes one of the landmarks of Ottoman l i terary

history , and acquires an i n te re st and impor tance far beyond

that to b e de r i ve d e i ther from the number of his nac

ts or

the simpl ified P ersianism of hisstyle .

These sharq i’

s, whi ch are placed at the end of the pr i n ted

ed it i on of the d iwan , are seven in number, and be long, with

one excepti on , to what I have descr i bed i n the In troduct i on

as the second or irregular var ie ty of thi s form .

The fol low i ng couple ts , translated from a qasida, give afair

example of N az im ’

s br i l l iant though rather monotonous nacts.

Nac

t . [ 2 97 ]

Guest o f yonder F east where shines the B eatific V isi on ’s l igh t ,Mirror-bearer

, yea, and Mi rror is he l for God’s v isage bright .T ime and space are but the cen tre rounded by his Glory ’s O ‘ 2

R inged the compass of the e i gh teen thousand worlds is by hismight . 3

Ever crescen t,aye abi ding is his perfec tness and power ;

Sans vezir and sans adviser is the Kingdom of his righ t .Sweeps the p ini on of the Cherub im the dust afore his court ;Wai ts the Holy Spir i t

,servan t at his por tal day and night .

Men and genies bide w i th in his Gar th,4 the refuge of the world ;

1 ‘H e’ of course refers t o the P rophe t .

2 In the ori ginal : ‘Be ing and space (i . e . all e x istences) are the dot i n theof the db (glory ) of h is greatness.

’ That is,they are but a l i t tle thi ng

created for his honour. Similar plays on the forms of the le t tersare commoni n Eastern poe try .

3 See Vol . I,p . 54.

4This ‘Gar th ’ is the famous R avza,t hat par t o f the mosque at M edina,

where the Prophe t is en tombed,which is decorated so as to resemble ag arden .

There isa good accoun t of i t i n Sir R i chard Bur ton ’s‘Pi l gr image,

’ Vol . I I,p . 68 .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 2 2

A lack,alack

,that through my yearning for thy charms, the

i

wede

My pat ience wore is ren t,on rosebud w ise

,0 Fairy dear .

l

What wonder i f thy glance ’s shaft abide w i thi n the hear t ?

The table t of en treat y ’s p ierced by wan ton beaut y ’sspear .

Conce i ve no t that the crescen t ’s form is bowed thus for naugh t ,Before thy curvé d eyebrow ’

s shri ne i t loute th from the sphere .

What though i t tremble in the slaughter-house“ of gr ief fo r thee ?

The hear t ’s the flut terin g b ird that for the chase of Love they rear .

The goble t of del igh t w ould b e the brand that burnsmy breast ,The purest w i ne but tears of b lood, w i thouten thee , my Fere .

’Twere mee t thy verse were cal led a carcane t of pearls,Naz im ;

F or th ridden on the string of speech the gems of though t appear .

I shal l give i n conclusi on a translat i on of the first of the

seven sharq i’

s,

the first poem in the nat i ve Turkish form

in this work .

Sharqi’

. [ 2 99 ]

Naugh t of p eace i t findeth o therwhere,my love ;

Yes,my fool ish heart is w i th thee ; yes, w i th thee .

I ’m thy lover,show thyse lf ful l fai r

,my love ;

Yes,my foolish hear t is w i th thee ; yes, w i th thee .

B e thou he edful o f my soul-destroy ing cry ;

Lo , my breast afire for many a flaming sigh ;Un ion w i th thee ’

tis I crave of God Most H igh .

Yes, my fool ish hear t is w i th thee ; yes, w i th thee .

’Tis no t l i t tle I have grieved

,thou away ;

Were i t much i f I should w in t o thee one day?

As thou l istest,w elcome me or say m e nay,

Yes, my foolish heart is w i th thee ; yes, w i th thee .

Though my dwell ing-place,0 Joseph rosy-clad

,

B e, l ike Jacob ’s, i n the house of mourning sad

,

1 When the rosebud opens, i t is sai d to rend its garmen t,i . e . the calyx .

3 2 3

O’er the Egyp t of the hear t thou re ignest glad .

Yes,my fool ish hear t is w i th thee ; yes, w i th thee .

Sin ce thy l igh tn ing-cheek afore the hear t di d learnJoyously I go

,my breast for thee agleam .

I ’m thy lover now,a lover l ike Nazim ;

Yes,my foolish hear t is w i th thee ; yes, w i th thee .

I t w oul d b e unjust to im i tate Ziya Pasha and omit all

men tion of Tal ib ,who , though by no means a poe t of d is

t i nc t i on,le ft a l i tt le d i

’

wan whi ch mer i ts a passi ng not ice .

Muhammed Efend i (such was his name ) was the son of an

i mam at Brusa, e ntered thec

ulema, and ,havi ng served as

judge at Kutahiya and Erzerum , d ied i n 1118 (1706

Accordi ng to Kemal B ey, Tal i b and h is contemporary

Rasikh endeavoured to str i ke out for themse lves new paths

i n poe try , though for the most par t w i th but scant success.

Talib’

s ghaze l s are ,i n deed , un l ike those of the poetswhose

w orks we have been consi de r i ng , be i ng often marked by a

pensi veness ve rging on me lancholy , and ye t mo re frequently

by a ph i losophisi ng tone caught probably from N zib i’

,who

was about th is t ime i n troduc ing a de l i be rat i ve and d idact i c

spi ri t i n to Turkish poetry .

The two fol low i ng ghaze lsw i l l g i ve an i d ea style .

Ghazel. [ 3 00 ]

There is no balan ce t o the righte ous,t rue as e o nse ie nce

'

e \ e ;‘

The re is no cul ture l i ke to knowi ng whe re o ur fai l i ngs lie .“

H o w should the mi rk o f sin o'

e rwhe lm the rad iam y o t wave?

The lo e lm o f night v e i l no t the b right moon 'a v isag e mid the sin .

'

l'

he ‘eye of eo nmzie n r e

'

in a e o nuuo n and aum e n to o ut

‘vole e of'I' hia couple t has painte d i nt o a p i o ve i h , and in quo tn l an na h la l ha a

3 24

From fo rth the fe t ters of earth ’s cares may no one win him free ;To yonder toper e

’

en the w ine-sea waves no file supply . 1

The zealo t w i l l his zeal o try rue so re i n Pardon ’s hour ;No t thus w i l l he repen t who sinned sans hypocr isy .

The skir t bedewed w i th drunken tears is needful thereun to ;Through ar i d zeal o try w insn one to pardon ’sweal th an igh .

Tal ib,

’tis t ime the rosebud of our fond desire shoul d op e,

F or i n these days no smile across the l i ps of hope doth fly .

Ghazel. [ 3 0 r ]

The autumn gusts have scat tered all the rose’s leaves i n b l igh t at last ;The w i nd hath strew n around the bulbul ’s nest i n harsh despi te at last .

Be think thee,hear t o f mine

,how A lexander’smirror is the tomb : 2

The gravestone is that hoste l ’ssi gn whereat we all must l ight at last .

The hear t becomes matured and pure by pressure of the world’s duresse,

As grapes to must,and must t o w ine

,are turned by treaders’ might at last .

The eye of my fond hope isblanched , 3 and old I ’m grown for yearn ing ’spai n ;You J oseph-cheek hath made me e

’en as Jacob

,drear of p ligh t

,at last .

I saw her signal t o the ri val secre tl y,and am fo rdone ;

The eyebrow-fal chion ’s tongue 4hath smit ten sore the wai l i ng spr igh t at last .

My zeal w i ll ne’er consen t to love ’s fair honour be ing ren t,e lsew ise

I shoul d renounce the w ine of yonder charmer’s lo ve-del igh t at last .

0 cupbearer,roll up strai gh tway the carpe t o f l iesse

,for soo th

The drunken hand le ts fall the robe hi lari t y hath digh t at last .

i The r i ppl ing waves are here l ikened to the tee th of a file,and a file is

used fo r cut t ing through chains. The i dea is that no one can w in freedomfrom the caresof l i fe

,from whi ch even w i ne myst i c or o therw ise canno t

free the toper .

2 A lexander the Great ’s magic mirror,i n whi ch he coul d behold all that

was taking place .

3 W i th weeping .4The curved eyebrow of the beaut y is l ikened to a fal chion or scimi tar ;

the ‘tongue ’ is the blade .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 26

passi ng his t i me , as he himse l f te l ls us, be tw een the cap i tal

and Ad rianople . At length , i n 1096 Mustafa Pasha

hav ing been appoin te d to the command of the troops ope r

at i ng in the Morea, Nab i Efend i accompan ied him th ither .

B ut i n 1685his patron d ied ,whereupon Nab i made the

p i lgr image to Mekka and Med ina, on his re turn from whi ch

he took up his resi dence i n A leppo . Bal taj i Muhammed

Pasha, he who was to d ic tate peace to Pe ter the Great 1 on

the banks of the Pruth,hav ing been named governor of

that c i ty, conce i ved a great affec t i on and e steem for the

poe t , and when in 17 10 he wassummone d to Constanti nople

to succe ed the last of the K op rilis i n the grand ve z irate ,

he took Nab i’

along w i th h im and procured for him the

office of A nadoliMuhaseb ejisi, or Aud i tor for Anato l ia, w hich ,how ever, wassoon exchanged for that ofSuwa

’

r iMuqab elej isi,o r Col lator for the Cavalry . Nab i d ied , upwards of e ighty

years of ag e , on the 3 rd of the F i rst Reb ic of 1 124(12 Apr i l

and wasbur ied at Scutar i , where his tomb , which had

b een neglected and al l ow ed to fal l i n to d isrepair , wasrestored

some few years ag o through the e fforts of a few pe rsons

i nte reste d i n Turkish l i terature .

Nab i was for l ong one of the most popular among the

Turkish poe ts; i n deed , i t isst i l l the custom among certai n

classes, when one d esires to praise the e l oquence of a speaker

o r to r i d i cule the affectat i on of a pedan t , to say that‘he

speaks l i ke Nab i . ’ One e lemen t of th is popular i ty lay no

doubt in the immense var ie ty o f subj e ct and manner that

characte r ises his w ork . F o r Nab i was not on ly gi fted w i th

talent , he waspossessed of ambi ti on , the ambi tion of assert i ng

his l ordshi p over eve ry fie l d i n the w i de domai n of l i terature .

H e woul d b e master al i ke i n poetry and prose , and not i n

1 [ Or“the Mad

,as the author suggests i n a penci l no te, w i th a referenc e

t o the A cademy for January 2 2,1898, pp . 89

—90. E D . ]

3 27

one branch alone of these , but i n all ; qasida, ghaze l , and

mesnev i must equal l y bear w i tness t o his versat i l i ty ; poems

re l igi ous, phi l osop hi c , d idacti c , and romant i c,songs of love

and w i ne , myst i c and mater ial , all are there to prove the

many-si dedness of his gen ius. Sim i lar ly w i th prose ; he w r i tes

b iography , 1 history ,2 trave ls, 3 and le tters;

4 i n short , there

isscarce anythi ng w i thi n the l i terary sphe re of hisday that

he does not attempt .

On l ooki ng through the col lected poems of Nab t w e are

struck first of all by his extraord inary fac i l i ty of ve rsificat ion ;

we fee l , as E k rem B ey puts i t , that the re isnothi ng wh i ch he

coul d n ot have thrown in to poe t i c form , had he so desired .

B ut i t is d oubtful whe the r th is marve l lous fac i l i ty was i n

real i ty a boon , as i t led to a d i ffusi on of energy in a number

of d ifferen t d i rect i ons,succe ss i n each one of which cal lsfo r

abi l i t ies w i de l y varying i n nature , and rare l y i f eve r found

uni ted i n a si ngle w r i ter. I n all of Nab i’

s wo rk the re isski l l ,

i n much of i t t here is talent , but i n none of i t isthe re gen ius.

H is poetry can bear no comparison w i th that o f the g reat

maste rs,his ghaze ls are cold and tame besi d e the passio n

o f F uzuh’ o r the g race o f N ed im ,his qasidasg row pale and

i neffe ctual be fore the b ri l l iancy o f the pan egyri cs o f N e f‘t,

and his romant i c mesne v i sho ws flat and uninsp i re d whe n

co nt rasted w i th the i maginat i ve b eaut ies o f She ykh ( ihalib

l lad Nab t, who possesse d bo th t ale nt and i ndust ry ,c o nee n

t rate d hisatte n t i o n o n o ne part i cular b ranch o t'

p o e t ry, i nstead

o f d ivid ingr i t as Ire d id ,he mi g ht i nd e e d have m issed some

Vazyl i S iye r-i Veysi

,tr t

'o ut i li ttlt lio u o t V eyat

’

u i dle of the'

l'

frrlkh-i thun in r ha, an aee o un t o t t he taki ng o t t'

am in iu ( t‘o d o ltat b y

the “ mud Ve zi r Ko p l ili-l ddn Ahme d t

’

m ha in t oh' t .'

l'

uht'

e t-uI-I tare rn e yn , an uu o uut o t the autho r 's | o urue v trom ‘u utai r to

Mt ‘lt htt tt li rl M edina : thin W i rt h “ an t t te l t i n I n ui t .Mnnnlm

'ut,the le t te rs o t Nabt t ullt‘ i te d atl i i li l i d r athMIn . t i n ad i t d o dn

zada ’A lud-ur-R nhln r lte y,

3 2 8

th i ng of his popular i ty w i th the mul t i tude , but on the other

hand he woul d have been more l ike ly to achie ve a posi t i on

in the first rank of the poe ts of Turkey .

L i ke most eminent poe ts, Nab i is representat ive of his

t ime . I n his work and th is is its chief i nterest the

Classi c A g e j o i ns hands w i th the Transi t i on . W e have seen

how,eve r si nce the Archai c Pe r i od , i t hasbeen the custom

of Turkish poe tsto seek the ir i nsp irat i on i n the con temporary

l i terature of Persia, how Je l al -ud -D in , Nizam i , J am i ,c

Urfi’

,

Shevkat and many others have successi ve ly served asmode l s

to the wr i ters of Turkey . Nab i is the last to fo l low this

trad i t ion ; after his t i me Ottoman poetry no longer reflects

as i n a mirror the varying phases through which that of

Persia passes. And that is why I have cal led Nab i’ the last

of the Classi c poets of Turkey ; he is the last to obey that

anci ent though unw r i tten rule wh ich b ids the Turkish poe t

l ook to his Persian brother to d ire ct hissteps .

The great Persian poe t of Nab i ’s t ime was Sa’

r’

ib ,l so i t

is he whom the Turk natural l y chose for master . That Sa’ i b

was a man of gen ius isshow n c learly enough by the fact

that he wasable to i nvest w i th a fresh v ital i ty the mor ibund

poetry of Persia.

2 Avo id i ng al i ke the we l l-worn myst i c ism

of the fol lowers of Je la’

l-ud -D i’

n and the now threadbare

Bacchanal ianism of the school of Hafi z,Sa’ i b made his c lear,

transparent ve rse the i n terp re te r of a common -sense phi lo

sophy which , be i ng new to Persian poe try , was hai le d w i th

all the i n te rest of the unfami l iar . The same phi losophisi ng

tone , borrow e d d irect from Sa’ i b,character ises a great deal

of Nab i’s verse , and affords occasi o n for the d isplay of one

of its most sal ient features, that rhe tor i cal figure techn i cal l y1 Sé

’ib was born in Isfahan about 1010 (1601—2 ) and died about 1088

(167 7— 8)2 [ A gai n I must expressmy en ti re dissen t from th isv iew o f Persian poe try .

S e e 11 . I on p . 3 25sup ra. E D . ]

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 30

of L i terature , censuresh im for his long successi onsof Pe rsian

gen i t i ves, a faul t wh ich he shares i n common w i th Fuzul i ,

but w i th less excuse . Even Ziya Pasha, who l ooke d upon

Nabi as one of the great l ights of Turkish poe try , finds

himse l f constrai ned to offer an apology for the Khayrabad

on the score of itshav ing been w ri t ten i n the author’

sol d ag e .

A s i n quest i ons of d i ct i on and vocabulary th is poe t proves

himse l f to b e the ul t imate issue of Pe rso -Turkish c lassi c ism ,

so i n the matters which he consi ders and i n his manne r of

confron t ing them he showshimse l f the i mmed iate forerunner

of the Transi t i on . H is ghaze lsare not given over to the rose

and the n ight ingale , the spr i ng and the cupbearer ; w hen he

does not phi losophise he w r i tes about th ingswhich he has

seen , or d i lates on places w i th which he is famil iar, such as

Mag hnisa, A leppo or Constant i nople . H e is the first great

Turkish poe t whose w ork is systemati cal ly obj ecti ve . An d

it is here , I be l ieve , that we shal l find the true se cre t of

his popular i ty . F o r the first t ime a poe t of real eminence

speaks as a fe l l ow -Turk to his Turkish countrymen ; his

language may i n deed at t imes b e fore ign , that isst i l l the

custom of the schools, but what he has t o say i s some thi ng

w i th whi ch all can sympath ise and which all can understand .

A t last the gen ius of Turkey isbeginn i ng to find an utterance .

Nab i’

s ghaze ls al one form a fair-si zed volume , to each

secti on of which is prefixed a quatrai n . I t is i n the ghaze ls

that the i nfluence of S zi’ ib is most apparent ; we have i n

both poe ts the same c lear,i nc isi ve language and the same

sentent iousstyle . I t ishere too that the proverbsand maxims

are mostly i n ev idence , and i t is here that the poe t is so

fond of moral isi ng i n histerse , epigrammat i c way. The ghaze ls

have general ly be en re ckone d among the most successful of

Nabi’

sworks. The remarks of Ziya Pasha, who may b e taken

as the spokesman of the school of cr i t i c ism immediate ly

3 3 1

preced ing that of the presen t day,we l l reflect the l ight i n

whi ch Nab i was regarded by lovers of poe try be fore the

Western cul ture of the mode rn scholars had led them to

demand from l i terature some th i ng other than what had sat is

fied the ir fathers. I n the ghaze l , says the Pasha, Nabt was

the wor l d -conquer i ng K husrev , i n none of whose work is to

b e seen e i the r obscur i ty o r feebleness, whose verses st i r upthe soul as one reads them , and are free from the sl i ghtest

vest ige of harshness . Me taphors are t o him as his pr i vate

property ; and i n the appl i cat i on o f prove rbshe has no r i val ,

for al though much has been w r i tten i n this way, the re are

no sugar-swee t phrases such as his; whi le those pleasant

figure s of his are even as wax i n his hand , to which he

gi ves whatsoever fair form he pleases. This last remark is

true enough i n i ts way ; fo r as we have already seen , Na’

b i

wasgi fted w i th a wonderful powe r of versificat ion ,and could ,

w i thi n his own l im its, do pretty w e l l what he l iked . B ut to

say t hat there is nothi ng i n his ghaze ls e i the r obscure o r

fe eble i s a r i d i cul ous exagge rat i on , see i ng that although he

has many beaut i ful verses and not a few wholl y admi rable

ghaze ls wh ich are both t rul y poe t i c and t rul y phi loso phical ,

the great bulk o f his wo rk is ve ry d i ffe re nt ; so d i ffe re nt

that search i ng th rough his d iwan fo r the ve rses o freal me ri t

is,acco rd ing to li k rem lley,

l i ke gathe ri ng tlo we rs i n a fi e ld

of hemlock . li k rem lley is a mo d e rn c ri t i c , o ne o f those

whose t rai n i ngr hasmad e t hem lo o k fo r so me thing mo re fro m

po e t ry than m e re ve rbal fin ish and i |uili hling i ng e nui ty .am l

who se antago n ism is i n variab ly aro use d hy the p re se ne eo t

the latte r p re te nd e r. As th is se e o ud p re te nd e r is unhap p i ly

much to the fro n t i n these g havi' ls o fNaht , it is no t sm

p risi ng that l‘ik t' em l ivy sho uld tim l so l i t t le the l e t o p le ase

him,and sho uld d e e lai e o fNalu, as l '

°

u'

ad l 'asha d ul o t a

much laud e d se i ihhle r o f his day. t hat his “ fi l ls u semhh s

3 3 2

a paste puff, whic h though i t lookssubstantial enough , is i n

real i ty but an empty she l l .

The qasidas do not rank qui te so high as the ghaze ls;

even Z iya Pasha reckons them for the most part as of ‘the

category of superfiuit ies.

’ This form , he admits, d i d not

al toge the r sui t the gen ius of Nab i . Sti l l he has a few good

poems of the kind , part i cularly a hymn to God , another to

the Prophe t, and two poems, one (the Sulhiyya) ded icated

to the Grand Ve z ir Huseyn Pasha on the conc lusi on of the

Peace of Carl owi t z , the other (thec

A z liyya) addressed to

Mustafa Pasha on the occasi on of his deposi t i on from some

office . B ut on the whole , Nab i’

sqasidasare evi dently laboured ,

and he has forced his nature i n composi ng them ,which is

unworthy of so great a maste r of language , who ought to

have done be tter work than this. Ziya adds that the poe t

Mun if who cop ied Nab i surpassed him i n this d ire ct i on .

The famous Khayriyya isgeneral ly reckoned to b e Nab i ’s

maste rpiece . Th is is a l ong d idacti c poem in mesnev i v'

erse

addressed to the wr i ter ’s son E bu3

l-Khayr,from whose

name the t i t le is deri ved . The exact date of the poem is

not ment ioned ; but near the beginn i ng Nab i’ te l lsus that

he wrote i t i n A leppo where he was l i vi ng quie tly after

hav ing se rved i n d i fferent capac i t ies for thi rty years, some

t imes in the capital , some t imes i n Adrianop le . H e further

says that E bu °

l-Khayr was e ight years ol d when the book

was w ri tten , and had been born when he himse l f was i n his

fifty- fourth year . Thisw oul d gi ve someth ing l ike 1692 as the

date of composit i on . A s befits its purpose , the K hayriyya is

w ri tten i n a clear and si mple style, w i thout affectat i on and ,

unl ike the other m esnev i,the Khayrabad , comparat i ve ly free

from P e rsian isms. The advi ce which i t c ontai ns is most e x

cellent , and i f the young E bu 3

l-Khayr fol l owed h is father’

s

counse ls he must have grown up a v irtuous man and a

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 34

l ies; its poet i cal me r i t is of sl ight account , but i t g ives a

fai thful p i cture of the Turkish soc ie ty of two hundred years

ag o . And a woeful p i c ture i t is; th i ngs have not improved

si nce Veysi penne d his Mon ishment to Constant inople . The

venal i ty and corrupt ion of the legal tr ibunals, w here the holy

law of Isl am was Open ly sold to the highest bi dder ; the

merci less oppressi on of the pashas who , even when they

woul d have acted just ly , had of necessi ty to play the tyran t

and extort from provinces swept bare by the rapac i ty of

the ir prede cessors the money they we re requi red to send

up to the capi tal ; the vo ice less anguish of the common

people,he l pless v i c t ims of judge and governor al ike ; such

are among the th ings depi cted in the K hayriyya i n words

the very d irectnessand si mpl i c i ty of which have an e loquence

far more c onvi nc i ng, and there fore far more real , than all

the Pe rsian rhetor i c o f N ef‘

i .

A book on the l i nes of the K hayriyya, that is a ser ie s

of counse ls add ressed by a father to hisson, was new to

Turkish poetry , though the i dea is very old i n Eastern l i t

e rature . The Qabus-Nama, wri tten i n Persian prose about

the end of the tenth cen tury of our era by Pr i nce Qabus of

Jurj an fo r hisson G il an-Shah, is probably the prototype so

far as the non -Arab l i teratures of Islam are conce rned . This

book has been three t imes t ranslated in to Turkish , ‘ and i t

may possib ly have be en from i t that Nab i’ first got the i dea

of his work . The w e l l -known poe t Sunbul -zada V ehb i’

,who

d ied at the beginn i ng of the n ine teen th cen tury , w rote a

nazira to the K hayriyya, which he cal led the L utfiyya afte r

1 F irst ly , by A q-Qazi-oghl i in the t ime of Bayezi d the Thunderbol t ’s son

P r ince Suleyman , who was ki l led in 8 13 secondly,byMerjumek Ahmed

b i n I lyas for Murad I I i n 835 th irdly by Nazmi-zada Mur tezain 1 1 17

(1705 The first of these versi ons is very rare,but I happen to have

a MS . copy in my col lec ti on,from which I ' have been able t o ascertai n

the name and peri od of the translat or .

3 35

his own son who was named L utf-ul l ah ; but i t is not equal

t o Nab i ’s poem .

Ziya Pasha had a h igh opi n i on of thiswork , the admirable

style and phraseology of which , he says, enchant the ear of

the l i stene r, the poem not hav ing been wri tten by way of

expe riment , but as a mode l t o the ski l ful . H e goes on to

praise the art ist i c manner i n which ‘the e l de r ’ p ictures the

state of the Empi re i n his t ime , the tyranny of the ve z irs

and the cond it i on of the poor,and winds up by d ec lar i ng

that Nabt teaches w isdom and moral i ty to the ag e and

i nstructs the w orl d i n r ighteousness . The K hayriyya is one

of the very few Turkish poe t ical works whi ch have found a

Western e di tor ; the late M . Pav e t d e C ourte ille hav ing

publ ished an ed i t i on of the text , ac compan ied w i th a F rench

prose translat i on , i n 1857 .

The Khayrabad,Nab i ’s romant i c mesnev i, is lesssuccessful .

I t is the work of the author ’s o ld ag e , hav i ng be en wr i t ten ,

as a chronogram at the end i n forms us, i n 1 117 (1705some si x years be fore his death . I t was d ist i nct ly a re tro

grade ste p ; in the K hayriyya the re had been a st re t ch fo r

ward to the t imes that we re to come ,i n the Khay ra

'

bad

the re is a harking back to the days of l lamd i o r laim ic

i.

I n the Khayriyya Nab t had wri t te n in plai n st raig ht fo rward

Turkish ; i n the K hayr; il>:id he o ut- l’e rsian ises the Pe rsian

isi ng scho o l . L i ke the earl ie r m esne v i, th is po em is nam e d

from the autho r’

sso n ,the l i te ral mean i ng o f the t i t le Khay r

ahad be i ng the lid ilic e o f Khay r, that is, o f ( io o d . The

sto ry i tse l f is part ly a t ranslat i o n , part l y o rig i nal . Nah i to o k

a hrie f tale fro m the famo us o ld l’e rsian po e t Sheykh l’e rtd

ud -l ) ln t ranslate d o r ad ap te d it , and the n w ro t e a

co ntinuat i o n o f his o wn i nve n t i o n .

'

l’

he w isd o m o fsueh a

She ykh l"e rhl-ud-l t in '

A t trt r was ki l led to 0 17 ( t ) to ) lo the I it t k o t N tulut p tt i

hy the Mong ol“ .

3 36

p roceed ing is doubtful ;C

A t ta'

tr’

s l i t t le story is complete i n

i tse l f, the ve ry vagueness of the end he ighten ing the art ist i c

e ffe ct . This is qui te done away w i th by Nab i’

s add i t i on ,

which is c lumsi ly tacked on , and al toge ther out of harmony

w i th what hasgone be fore , creat i ng a new centre of i nterest

and complete ly changing the characte rs of the actors i n the

l i tt le drama. This last po i nt , however , is perhaps the th ing

of most i nterest i n Nab i’

s con tri but ion ; King K hurrem , for

i nstance , who i nC

A t tar’

s hands isa thoroughly Persian type ,

be comes qui te a Turk w hen he passes i n to those of Nab t.

Sheykh Ghal ib , whose fine poem Beauty and L ove is,

accord ing to his own account , the resul t of a chal lenge to

produce a work worthy to b e placed al ongsi de the Khayrabad ,

issomewhat severe i n his remarks on the latter, al though his

str i c tures are i n the mai n suffic ient ly true . Thushe cr i t i c ises

the extreme P ersian ism of Nab i ’s language,and blameshim

for tamper i ng w i th Sheykh c

A t tar’

sstory , as i f, he says, that

poe t were l i ke l y to have le ft astory i ncomple te . Then , having

found faul t w i th the descr i p t i on of the heaven ly steed Buraq

i n the sect i on deal i ng w i th the Ascensi on of the Prophe t ,whi ch he justl y p laces be low N ef

c

i’

s poems on horses, he

goes on to take Nab t to task for his c i rcumstant ial account

of the marriage of two of his pr i n c i pal characters. Thinking

to me et the possib le excuse that simi lar passages occur i n

Ni zami (why N i zam i rathe r than anothe r P) , Ghal ib de clares

that the Pe rsian l ibert i nes pay no respect to the propr ie t ies,

and that i t isunne cessary to imitate such w ri ters i n every

detai l , statements whi ch are no doubt perfe ctly true , ye t

none the less the Sheykh ishere somewhat hypercr i t i cal and

comes per i lously near to p laying the part of a Turkish Mrs.

Grundy . H e w i nds up w i th some rather tr i v ial carping at

Nab i’

for hav ing made a hero of a th ie f.

Ziya Pasha is natural ly vexed w i th Ghal i b for having made

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 3 8

Look thou wi thi n the ve i l , and cast all dread and fear away ,F or is no t that whi ch come th after every woe del igh t?

Did one un to the lover say t o sacr ifice his l ife

Upon the path of love , were’t no t a j oyance to h issprigh t ?

Al though we have no place of re fuge ’gai nst thy tyran t stroke ,Is no t thisweary to i l un to thy tender hand and sl igh t ?

W i l t thou th ine every w ish at tai n from For tune all thy days,Do th luck no t come by turns t o each

,thou mean and sordid W igh t ?

Sin ce all the world al ike requires the high Creator ’s care,

Is’

t no t i ndign t o crave a creature ’s ai dance for thy p ligh t ?

Nabt,is

’t no t the t i ri ng-mai d of yonder br i de , the Truth ,

Who makesmy voice ’s tongue a reed those me taphors to wri te?

Ghazel. [ 3 0 3 ]

F irst roast upon the sp i t of loyal ty that hear t of thi ne,

Then from th is tavern old do thou demand the draugh t of w i ne .

Since all the p ic tures i n thisshow of be ing pass away,

Engrave ‘awake ’ upon thy hear t , then thee to sleep resi gn .

The seemliness of reverence learn thou from yonder trees,And le t thy very shadow press the water ’s rug

1 supi ne .

Thin e understanding ’s mirror burn ish bri gh t from all besi de ;F or shame ! do th ev er guest to lodge i n house unc lean design ?

Behol d thy deeds,erase the hope of all reward therefor

,

And then sincer i ty ’s fair face from underneath w i l l shine .

Uplift thy handsw i th prayerful in ten t ; but st i l l for all

Thy worshi p ’s fai l ings,round thy shamed cheek the ve i l en tw ine .

Nabt,

’ tw i l l make the seed of hope to y ield a thousand-fold ;So to that house of trust

,the breast o f earth

,the whole consign .

Prayer-rug ; the surface of the water be ing considered as a prayer-rug onwhich the reflec ti ons of the trees are prostrated .

3 3 9

Ghazel. 3 04]

Yonder wan ton youngl ing agai n abroad do th stray ;Wel l mi ght Eden ’s peacock turn all eyesstrai gh tway . 1

Never can earth prosper sans the waves o f stress;Water

,i f i t reste th

,stagnates i n decay .

Every losel feeleth no t rep roach ’sw ound ;Clo th uncut become th no t ' the needle ’s p rey . 2

Strange is’t i f the new-made conver t b oast of zeal ?Great the show of servi ce new-bought slaves display .

Longing,for thy figure makesst ony hear ts c oque t ;Graven l ines the si gne t ’s brow w i th grace array .

Perish,that thy be ing ’s essence may appear ;

D raugh t un drunken never makes the sp i ri t g ay.

Swee t the home,0 Nab i

,c on ten tmen t ’s n ook do th y ield ;

Pi ty ne ’er a mortal l iste th the re t o stay .

Ghazel. [ 3 05]

En th ral led beneath the l o ved one ’ssoul-enchan ting smile we lie,

B ut ye t n o share of yonde r l onged-fo r blessi ng comes us n igh .

What should that queen of beaut y t reat st range rs courteousl y ?A st range r i n he r favour’s t own we roam wi th t ear and sigh .

'

l’

he peacock is famous i n Muhammedan lege nd as hav ing i n conjunc t i onwi th the se rpen t assist e d Satan to e nt e r the t lard e n of lfaleu to t empt .\dunt .As a punishmen t fo r his part i c i pat i on i n the plo t

,he was de p ri ved of his

be aut i ful vole e,whe rewi th he used dul ly to ehun t the p raises of l iod in the

main st re e ts o f H eaven . The id ea he re is that t his b i rd , “ hose b euutv “ onfo r him i t p rominen t plac e i n l

’

mud ine s no mm h surpasse d b y the low lyI

o bj e c t o f the poe t 's ut'fe e t io n that he might “ e ll make e ve ry ‘e ye

' i n his tai lan e ye t h rough Wll it lt to glue on tln t t lt lt l ll t i llue i eutm e .

'1 A n c lo th whi le nt lll In the p leu b e to i e it has be e n t lt l i n to shape and

re nd e red h t fo r mak i ng i n to i t g mm i n t,in n o t wounde d b y the u-ed le ( t. e .

is n o t st i t che d ) , no the rude and um ultui ed among me n are no t u p t om hn l

lo t‘ the i r li o o l inhn entt,

o t‘ it t h e y m e

, do no t toe l ll .

340

N ow wherefore from the reed-pen ’s pulse shoul d e’er our fingers stray ,

Sin ce we for e loquence’s heal th the leech ’s cal l ing ply ?

’Tismee t that we should make of p raise the tex t of our discourse ;F or we

’re the preacher from imaginat ion ’s pulp i t h igh .

The rosebuds chan t the Verse of Tr iumph mid that myst i c b owerW i th in the which as n ight i ngale we ever si ng and fly .

W e grieve no t e ven though the r i val ’s hear t b e ’gai nst ussore ;Because

,that we ’re his ri val to o

,we can no W ise deny .

l

Our dai ly bread more eagerly seeksus than we i t seek '

Ye t vain ly st i ll,0 Nab i

,we for i t impat ien t cry !

Ruba 1. [ 3 06]

H ow often have we seen the crue l fal l on woeful w ise ,They who are fain to rend an d tear the hear t that bleeding lies.

E’en when such ones l i ve out their days

,they dwe l l mid hate and shame

,

But br ief most o ften is the l i fe of them that tyrannise .2

Mukhammes. [ 3 07 ]

N 01 smiling flore t nor d ew drop is mine i n this g ay par terre ;N or traffic

,nor merchandise

,nor co in i n this busy fair ;

N or migh t,nor power to p ossess

,nor more nor less

,for e

’er ;

N or strength nor l ife apar t,nor wound nor balm to my share ;

0 that I kn ew what I am,What ismine

,i n th is wo rkshop here ! 3

The l ife is the gift of God,and ex isten ce a gran t div i ne

,

The breath is of Mercy the boon,and speech is of Grace the sign

,

The body is bui l t of the Lo rd,the soul is the Breath benign

,

The powers are the trust of Migh t,the sensesW isdom ’

s design .

0 that I knew what I am,what ismine

,i n thisw orkshop here !

1 The common-sense way i n which Nabi regards that c onstan tly recurringpersonage ‘

the r i val ’ is charac terist i c .2 The i dea amplified i n this quatrain is exp ressed is the proverb

)>lg l 5! e ff My ,‘shor t is the l i fe of the b ird of p rey . ’

3 The par terre , the fair,and the workshop are all

,of course

,the world .

I have no concern w i th ear thly affairs, ye t I woul d fai n know what i t all means.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

342

I can turn no t the morn to eve,nor the mirk midnight to day ;

I can turn no t the air t o fire,nor the dust to a '

watery spray ;I can make no t the sphere stand st i l l nor the steadfast h i l ls to sway ;I can change n o t by mine own w i l l the autumn t o l ove ly May ;0 that I knew what I am

,what is mine

,i n thisworkshop here !

H is power hath brough t me forth from No t-be i ng and made me b e,

When st i ll i n the w omb I slep t for my needs p rov i ded H e ;

W i th noble gi fts,concealed and revealed

,H e nur tured me

,

Through m e hath H e ve i led H is B eaut y,that n one upon ear th may see .

0 that I knew what I am,what ismine

,i n this w orkshop here !

I f the eye of insigh t b e opened, as the visi on of God ’ tw i l l knowThe endlessshiftings and changes that all th ings undergo ;The display of the H i dden Treasure is this ocean ’s restlessflow

,

This toi l and travai l o f Nature,this glori ous pomp an d show .

0 that I knew what I am,what ismin e

,i n this workshop here !

The stores of Con t ingen t Be ing are al ternately ful l and spen t,

The mirror-chamb er l of For tune n ew figures do th st i ll presen t ;On w onder-frui t bestrew i ng

,O Nabi

,is aye i n ten t

This ancient orchard w in d- tossed w i th face un to autumn ben t . 2

0 that I knew what I am , what ismine, i n this workshop here !

The next quotati on is from the exordium of the Qasi’

da- i

C

A z liyya, as i t is cal led ; that is, the qasida w hi ch Nab i

presented to his patron Mustafa Pasha,on the lat ter

’

s d is

missal from office .

From the Deposal Qasida. [ 3 08]

Where ’s he who of the w i ne of office taste th swee t and fairWho doth no t at the last the drowse of deposi t i on share ?The short - l i ved rose of fortune blown in thissw i ft-fading gar th

1 Shishe-Khane,

or mirror-chamber,is the name gi ven to an apar tmen t of

which the ce i l i ng an d walls are decorated by be ing coated w i th smal l p iecesof looking-glassstuck on to the plaster at var i ousangles. The effe c t ispr ismat i c

,

and the refle c t i ons constan tly change as one moves about i n the room .

'1 ‘This ancien t orchard ’ is the world,whi ch is e ver produc ing the frui tage

of strange even ts.

343

To sm i te the sp iri t ’s brain w i th rheum do th never,never spare .

1

The pl igh t of him inebriate at for tune ’s feast is this;A t t imes he drains the cup , at t im es he drees the ache o f carThough fairly digh t a whi le they stand

,they ’l l ye t b e swep t away ;

The beaker ’s turn , the season of l iesse , are constan t ne ’er .

Though sun were saddle and though moon were st irrup,l ost they ’d b e

,

I f ’neath the thi gh b e yon career i ng steed,the sphere con traire .

F or all the bat t lemen ts of fortune ’s palace scrape the sky,

Ye t of i ts arches none the scri p t of permanency bear .

The starry hosts disp erse ; one day emp ty of cup he ’ l l b e ,Though ’neath hissigne t

,l ike the moon

,the even ing p rov in ce were .

2

I t never hath been heard or seen si nce t ime its course began,

That e ’er fulfilmen t ’s beauty o’er desire ’s own path did fare .

The for tune o f the worl d is but a heap of shift ing sand,The ten ts are ever p i tched on some fresh anguish or despair .

There is no hope for any t o escape the R ustem-sphereWhich e

’en the n ight-adorning moon doth in i ts hal o snare .

3

B ut seldom on the troubled sea of for tune do th there riseTo he l p upon its course the bark of hope a favouring air .

’a‘r: ’A‘r a'

i W: "X: vi: éii ii if? Jr: fr: Xi a“ a as is

That chapter o f the K hayriyya ent i tled “ Conce rn ing the

Troubles of Pashaship” is pe rhaps the most i nte rest i ng ,b rrt

i t is too long to gi ve he re i n its ent i re ty ; I have , the re fo re ,

had to rest sat isfied w i th a se le ct i on o f ce rtai n passages.

F rom the Khayriyya. [ 3 09 ]

Irro id e re r o f e te rnal fo rtune fai r,

playe r on swe e t w isd o rn ’

s

0 10 fl I' Q 0 Q Q Q

Vear’ rr no t fo r office o r fo r high estat e ,

'

l'

ho poe ts some t imes al lud e to a r'

e rtairr spe e ies o f red rose the srrre llirri

o l’

wlrie lr p ro rlue e d a e o ld in the head .

2 Khi I Ia-i Sham means al ike ‘the e ven ing p ro virn e'

and “the p ro r irrr e of

Sy ria,

’

and so gi v es an rrn t ranslutalrle pan .

3 The I‘e rsiarr he ro ht rr-rte rn use d o tt e n to lit-n o hi . e rre nrle -u: h i re the halo

lrr figure d as u lama . round the rrro n lr.

l‘il ia.

’l K hay r, the poe t'

a an “,i t in the trr-rt irr-tarrr r‘ add re u ed .

344

Demean thee no t by seeki ng t o b e great .They in high placesw ee t no t of repose ;Peace bides where never sovran may depose .

Posi t i on is no t wor th dismissal ’s pai n ;Oppressi on pays no t back the p r i ce agai n . 1

F or pashaship i ncur no t ex i le dire , 2

W i th p i pe and tabor en ter no t the fire .3

Bind no t thy heart un to the tabor ’s blare ;The rol l of drums comes pleasant from afar.

4

The pasha’s lo t is but a l i fe long bane,H is on ly harvest anxi ousnessand pai n .

H is name may b e above the stars on high ,The whi le i n midmost hel l his days go by .H issoul is ruined as his post may b e ;

Ask no t of his e ternal dest iny .H e wrecks the shri ne of Fai th , i f he op press;I f he do no t

,he b ideth por t i onless.

Were all the sorrows told he underg oes,Cairo and Baghdad were no t worth those woes.

Midst of alarums passe th he h is years,H is gai n his hear t ’s blood and h is bi t ter tears.

Unlesshisme i n ie well he clo the and feed,

Though he command them,none hiswords w i ll heed .

Ye t his demesnessuffice no t t o prov ideA l l he must lav ish upon every si de ;There reste th no t i n his demesnes a spo tF rom whence the needful money may b e go t .H is forerunners have made the

'

land a waste,

1 One canno t w ring all the money spen t in procur ing the post out of thepeople under one ’s author i ty .

‘2 The pashas,governors of provinces

,had t o resi de at the ir prov in cial

cap i tals,far from the me tropol is.

3 The prov incial governors used to have fife and drum bands.4A lluding to the p roverb fi lf 0

333-5 w . “ “ jug O

MB)”“the

sound of the drum comes pleasan t from afar,

” i . e . admire the splendour ofthe great but do no t seek to approach them . [ The pro verb is orig i nal lyP ersian, and is familiar t o readers of F i tz G erald i n the l i ne : “N or heed therumb le of a distan t D rum . E D . ]

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

346

From the Khayrabad . [ 3 10 ]

One eve when the stel lar flamb eaux brigh tI l lumed w i th the ir beams the core o f nigh t ,The King

,who to mirth did aye i ncl ine ,

Bade that they spread a feast of w i ne .

The sweat of the w i ne i n streams did pour,And pearls and corals1 bedecked the floor .

No such feast di d the narc isse ’ eye

E’

er i n the w orld ’s rosegarden spy.

Arow shone the camphor tapers for th,

The crystal p iers of the hal l of mirth .

L ike a shi ft clad the gar th the pav i l i on ,°

2

Each ruddy rose asa w in dow shone .3

To fetch i t down to sw im i n the pondThe foun t at the moon flung i ts lasso-bond . 4

The flute did the ‘Cormoran t ’ prelude play,5

On the marge of the pond l i t the w i ne-geeseThe pond was the eye of the garden brigh t ,I ts sheeny foun t was the thread of sight . 7

L ike the mandol ine that beauteous threadEver a pleasan t musi c played . 8

V i ol and mandol ine ’

g an plain ,And each ben t ear t o the o ther ’sstrai n .

1 That is,the brigh t drops o f spi l t w ine .

2 That is,the creepers covered the pav il io n l ike a garmen t .

3 The red roses shone agai nst the wal l l ike w i ndows flashing back the

sun ’s rays.

4The ‘foun t ’ is the jet d ’eau; the lasso be i ng the je t springing high in tothe air .

5The ‘Cormoran t ’ (Qara Bataq ) is the name of a w el l-known me lody .6 A spec ial ki nd of w ine-flag on w i th a l ong neck and shaped some thingl ike a goose or duck is cal led bat t -i mey o r

‘w i ne-goose .

’ H ere such flag onsse t by the margin of t he pond where the revel lerssit are l ikened to w i ld-geesethat have al igh ted there on the minstre l beginn ing to p lay the ‘cormoran t ’ air.

7 The je t is here regarded as the ‘thread of si ght ’ (i . e . e i ther the l ine ofsigh t or the op ti c nerve) t o the pond consi dered as the eye of the garden .

8 The plashing of the re turn ing waters of the je t is here l ikened to thetwanging of the mandoline . The ‘thread’ i n the prev ious couple t now standsfor the string of the mandoline .

347

M easured there was the Magians’ w ine ;The tambour ines bewai led for p ine .

The songsters raised the voi ce t o si ng,

A n d all the orchestra j o i ned the r i ng .The castane ts i n the dancer’s handBeat measure

,a merry chat teri ng band .

L ike t o a j el l y trembled fairThe hips of the dancers dan cing there .

The flame of desire ’mong the guests wasstrewnBy the air Sabaand the N ev-rri z tune .

1

The minstrels at tuned the things they p layed,The harp bowed head to whate ’er they sai d .

Though flute and flag eolet found repute,

Over the flag eolet triumphed the flute .

As i t were,the musi c and son g to hear

The sky to ok the co t ton from out i ts ear .2

Sai d the minstre l : ‘Tw ist its ear i f e ’er‘The mandol ine st ifle the dul c imer .

’ 3

Each instrumen t the which lai d bareThe secre t

,t o b reak n o w i re took care .

4

The flute bew i ldered them great and low ,

’Twas a conqueri ng k ing to vanquish woe .

W i ne put the hosts o f dole to fli gh t ;Ll .o o t

’

was the flute ’s part i t io n bri gh t . ls

In the she nke r’s hand d id the b rimming bowl

Make the burgeoned rose bush envy thole .

'

l'

he w insome finge rs t h at c laspe d thenr swe e ti’laye d wi th the gob le ts d e ft an d me e t .The jars to the b eake rs bowe d the

W i th wi t ty spe e ches the j este rs p lay ed .

'

I’

lre names o f tWo musi cal ai rs.

'

3'

l’

hat is,the re we re no e londa i n the why.

i!' i ’hat is

,‘st ' rew the pe g to st re t ch o r re lax the st ri ng , srr that the o ne

i nst rum en t, may no t, ove rpowe r the o t lre r.

’

'

I’

e i 4| irnun | to b reak the w i re o r st ri ng , in lig uraliVe iv ll‘rt ' rl to r to makea b lunde r ; he re bo th the Iig urat ive and the l i t e ral me an in g are ke pt i n r icW .

5 (g han inre l ) is pe rhaps the rran re o f an air .

'

I'

arprtnr, the wo rd re nd e rr d

ir)’ ll t l‘il t l 'r l l l ll l l l| rtt l l

’

tl lrrl, rm ri t l t tt 'rlt lt l te rm ,

“d un

"

As the y re p ie lrinlre ri i ltc lrr .

348

Each made to surge t o the edge ’sshoreThe lusc iouswaves that his gob le t bore .

The flag on was e’

en as the changing moon,

A crescen t now,now a p len i lune .

1

W e have now reached the c lose of these two centur ies

and a hal f wh ich I have named the Classi c Per i od ofOttoman

poe try . I have chosen this name , as I have before explai ned ,

not because I consi der the work then produced supe ri or to

that of later t imes, or because i t i n any way fulfi ls the con

d it ions we are accustomed to deman d ere we concede that

t it le ‘

; but because , i n the first p lace , duri ng this l ong term

of years, the re has been a t rad i t ional standard of exce l lence

recognised and accepted by all, and because , i n the second ,

this standard has been the col lect ive work of the greatest

w r i ters of the great per i o d of Persian l i terature , a mass of

work which has be en regarded , and not unjust ly , as forming

a c lassi c l i te rature i n med ieval’

Iran . Up t i l l now this has

been the constant and only mode l of the Turkish w r i ters, who

have moul ded i n accordance w i th i t every minutest de tai l

of the ir work . I t is the classi c poe try of Pe rsia as a whole

that has had this tremendous i nfluence ; i n d iv i dual maste rs,as they successive l y appeared i n Pers ia

,have found i n due

t ime the ir fol lowe rs and i m itators i n Turkey, but not one

among them has been predominant duri ng the whole course

of these two hundred and fifty years. And thusOttoman

poetry , whi le alwaysunde r the d irect and i mmed iate i nfluence

of that of Persia, hasbee n eve r changing,fol low i ng the latter

from stage to stage of its evoluti on , as, accord ing to the

pre tty fancy of ol den times, the sun-flowe r ever turns to

face the sun as he makes his progress across the sky. And

this passage from phase to phase i n the wake of the poetry

of Pe rsia has up t i l l now const i tuted the on ly l i fe of that

i That is, now qui te full,now more or less emp ty .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

350

original l y i nduced by the force of c i rcumstances has gone

on increasi ng i n strength from those days to the peri od we

have now reached . The aim of succeeding generat i ons of

poe ts has been to bui l d up a l i terary id iom as remote as

possib le from the speech of every-day l i fe , an i d i om from

which eve ryth ing Turkish that coul d b e e l im inated shoul d

b e removed , and i n to which everything Pe rsian that coul d

b e i ntroduced shoul d b e brought . The resul t of all this is

that the language w he re i n these poe ts w rote is, and always

has been , utterly un inte l l igi ble to the vast maj ori ty of the

people . The poe ts w rote for themse l ves, or at most for one

anothe r ; not for the publ i c , whom they al toge ther ignored .

And this highly art ific ial i d i om ,whi ch now at the close of

the Classi c Per i od, after the e fforts of some three centuries

and a hal f,we find flour ishing as the l i terary dialect of

Turkey, is beyond all quest i on extreme ly beaut i ful . So de ft ly

has the r i ch but de l i cate Persian embroi dery been worked

upon the Turkish background that the two , whi le each

remai ns perfectly d ist i n ct,form one harmon ious though re

splendent whole . The scope whi ch i t affordsfor art i st i c ski l l

i n the choi ce of words and i n the mani pulat i on of phrases

renders th is i d i om a de l i cate and subtle i nstrument i n the

hand of a maste r ; and to such as can apprec iate i t there

is an aesthe t i c pleasure i n the study of poems l ike those of

N efc

i or Na’ i l i consi dered sole ly and simply asworks of art ,w i thout regard to any mean ing the i r words may convey .

B ut, i n order to apprec iate this

, any man ,b e he Turk or

fore igner , requires, and alwaysmust have required , a special

educat i on . And here i n lay its w eakness; th is wonde rful

language never was al i ve . I t is the art ific ial product of scho

lars, e laborate d as a med ium fo r the d isplay of the ir own

i ngenui ty . I t coul d not last ; no man eve r spoke habi tual l y

i n the strange beaut i ful Pe rso -Turkish of the Classi c authors,

35I

whose w orks, i f read al oud , woul d have been incomp rehen

s ib le to all but a very few of the ir contemporar ies. The

moment that poe try be came anythi ng beyond a toy i t had

to go, as the K hayriyya of Nabt can bear w i tness. Even as

the conventi onal i d i om of a l i terary coter ie , i t contai ned

w i thi n i tse l f the e lements of de cay ; the re was eve r presen t

from the begi nn ing the danger whi ch e ventual ly proved fatal ,

that the Persian embroide ry shoul d encroach too much upon

the Turkish background,and shoul d eventual l y cove r and

conceal th is al toge ther . When this happened , as w e have

seen i t d i d at the close of the Classi c A g e , there wasnothing

le ft but to set about undoing the w ork whi ch i t had taken

all the se cen tur ies to complete . I f we look upon the history

of the Archai c and Classi c Per i ods as that of the gradual

bui l d ing up and deve l opme nt of this art ific ial Pe rso-Turkish

l i terary id i om, we may regard the histo ry of the Transi t i on

and Modern Schools as that of its gradual d emol i t io n and

d echne .

I have spoken of the language , but i t is the same w i th

the spi ri t whi ch the re i n found expressi on . The spi ri t o f Pe rso

Turkish poe try had no t rue l i fe ; its semblance of l i fe was

but a se ries o f changes refle cted from a fo re ign l ite rature i n

a fo re ign land . I t may i nd e ed b e that these changes we re

no t al toge the r the resul t of d e l i be rate i mi tat io n o n the part

o f theC

Osmanli po e ts; i t is possi b l e that the Ze i tge ist that

was at wo rk in Pe rsia passe d in due co urse o ve r'

l‘

urkey

to o,and that c e rtai n id eassuc c essi ve ly ti l l e d the i nte l le ctual

air i n e i the r co unt ry . llut suc h is no t the o p i n io n o f the

Turks th emse l ves; and this much at any rat e is c e r tai n . t hat

it. was i n variab ly at t he hands o fso m e g re at l'

e r‘

sian p o e t

that these id eas re c e i ve d the i r tirst , and we n rav ad d the i r

linal, exp ressi o n in l i te rary fo rm .

l int tho ug h the sp i ri t o f l'

e rso'

l‘

ur isislr r rrlt rrre had t in rs

352

but a shadow of l i fe , the genius of true Turkish poe try has

begun to st ir . In the w orks of Yahya Efendi and his fol lowe rs

there is a germ of vital i ty dest ined to spr i ng i nto the ful l

l i fe of later t imes. Now i n the ghaze ls of the master and

his school , now i n the sharq r’

s of Naz im , for hal f a century

has this l i v i ng e lement been struggl ing desperate ly wi th the

paralysi ng forces of convent ional i ty and trad it i on , t i l l at

length in the K hayriyya i t has hurled the enemy to the

ground . Thereupon all Turkey isexul tant , and , hai l i ng Nab i

as King of Poets, crowns h im w i th a wreath which two

hundred years have not avai led to wi ther .

This conque ri ng spir i t , which is non e other than the

nat i onal gen ius, has come , l i ke the pri n ce i n the fai ry tale ,

to awake the Turkish Muse from her l ong sleep , has come

to re lease her from the mesmer ism of the Pers ian , under

which for these three centuries and a hal f her every step ,

her every movement , has been but the response to some

pass of he r control ler .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

354

Taper and Moth was also treated by Zait i ; see pp . 57and one by Yahya B ey.

This promised Append ix was not wr i tten i n itsfinal form ,

but amongst the author’

s papers I have found a packe t

labe l led “App end ix A . R omances,” contai n i ng roughly-penc i l led

abstractsof the six poemsenumerated above ; of Nab i’

sKhayr

abad (pp . 3 35 and of of Sheykh G halib’

sBeauty and

L ove (Hum uC

fskg ) , toge ther w i th a few detached notes on

Barbe d the minstre l o f K husrev P erv iz, Sheb d iz , his horse,

and other persons and thi ngs connected w i th this ce lebrated

monarch of the House of Sasan , probably based e i ther on

the F EW/Hfd -fldfli é of L ami 1, o r on the K husr ev u S/zz'

r z’

n of

Sheykh i (vol . I , pp . 3 14—3 35) o r one of the other poe tswho

have treate d of th is popular theme .

Had the author l i ved to prepare th is volume for the p ress,

he woul d no doubt have modified thisAppend ix consi de rably,si nce at some per i od subsequent to that when he wrote the

passages to which re ference is made above he obtai ned a

manuscr i p t (N°

. 51) of the K uZ Z Zj/ya’

t , or Col le cted Works, of

L a'

mic

i’

,

1as we l l as two other copies (N os. 2 62 , 27 1) of the

Contenti on o f Spr i ng and W i n ter . Fol low i ng the pri nc i ple

which hasgui ded me throughout i n e d it i ng thiswork,

I here

reproduce , w i thout ampl ificat i on , and w i th the sl ightest al ter

at ion possib le , the rough notes designe d to form this A p

p endix , as my fr iend left them .

1. Seldma’

n and A ésdl.

There was once i n Greece (Yunan ) a great King , who had

for his counc i l lor a sage of i n comparable w isdom . The King,

desir i ng a son to succeed h im,consul ted the sage on th is

subj ect . The sage , be i ng a determined misogyn ist,strongly

1 Si n ce w ri t ing this,howev er

,I find that this manuscri p t con tainsonly the

qasi das, ghaze ls, e tc . an d no t the mesnevis of L amici .

355

d issuad ed h is maste r from marr iage , and fierce ly denounce d

the whole race of w omen ; but unde rtook to create for the

King , by vi tal essence extracted from him, a son and he ir .

This, by some marve l l ousprocess, he succeeded i n doing ; and

the boy, who was named Selaman (a name he re de r i ved from

sdlz'

m “ fre e from de fe ct,

” “sound , and a’

smdn “ heaven” )grewup a marve l of beauty and i nte l le ctual perfect i on . Absal

,

a beaut i ful young girl , who wasappo in ted to ac t ashisnurse

and governess, fe l l despe rate ly i n l ove w i th him ,and strove by

all sorts of fem i n i ne arts to arouse i n h im asimi lar passi on . In

thisshe ul t imate ly succeeded , and t hey passed a year toge ther

i n amorous dal l iance e re the King and the Sage ,becoming

acquai n ted w i th the state of the case,summoned Selaman i nto

the i r presence and b itter ly upbrai ded h im fo r hisconduct . H e

repl ied that he coul d not al te r hisnature , no r dr i ve the image

of Absal from his heart ; and ,vexed and alarmed by the i r

reproaches, resolved on fl i ght w i th he r t o a d istant count ry .

Mounted on a r i d i ng-came l , they came , afte r a w eek’

s t ra

ve l l i ng,to a l o fty mountai n ,

whi c h they c l imbed w i th d i fficul ty .

Beyond this they d iscove red a boundlesssea,fi l led w i th mar

ve l l ons fishes; and on the sho re of th issea a boat , shaped l ike

the crescen t moo n , i n which they embarked . A fte r a vq ag e

(fl'

two days, they canu: to an hdand hke Huz lshnuba o ft he

lflessed,tnfig ht tvh lt zd l n tanntw (d l o ve l y fli nve rs and inrds

of go rg e ous plumage . H e re the y land e d , and ,und isturbe d by

fo e , ce nso r ln'

t hud ,t i n d< the i r hH rd lde asure , surn iun t hn i

lry e ve ry cdnnnn rd nature tvhie h C LH d t i tfllhflnC C ( H'

tn inhd e r

to the i r d e l ig h t .

M eanwhi l e l i nt: K i ng ,bi tt e rly t list t e sse i l at the llig ll l u l

'

his

w in, :mul unalde to haunt h i nn those aro un t l luin “ int he i he

had g i nnn e o nst wi zi t tnufie uni n in hi \\ hhd i lu* sau Se L tnuu1

:uui /\bsd | d tve Hing t i nnd luu°

i i n the le a 1\t h i st he \\as

lo th to d est ro y the i r hap p i ness, but ltnaiiy, se e in g that il l !

356

son shewed no sign of repentance , his anger wasst i rred , and ,

by some mesmeri c exe rc ise of hisw i l l , he prevented Selaman

from approaching his mistress. This cause d Selaman b i tter

d istress,i n the midst of which i t dawned upon him that his

father ’s i nfluence wasbe i ng exerted thus i n order to save him

from himse l f. H e thereupon re turned to hisfather and humbled

himse l f be fore him ; but , unable to bear the reproachesheaped

upon him ,he agai n fled w i th Absal i nto the w i l derness, where

the two lovers, w eary oflife,constructed and kindled a funeral

pyre , i n to w hi ch , hand i n hand , they recklessly hurled them

se l ves. Once agai n , how ever,the King , whose magic mi rror

had shew n h im all that wasgoing on, exe rted hisw i l l-power i n

such a way that , wh i le Absal was burned to ashes, not a hair

of Selaman ’

s head was i njure d . The pr i nce lamented b i tterly

that the fire had not destroyed him and spared Absal , o r

at least had not consume d them both . The King,fi l led w i th

grie f at hisson ’

sanguish,

’

ag ain consul ted the sage , who under

took to console Selaman . Thishe succeeded in do ing by inspiri ng him w i th love for a ce lest ial beauty named Zuhra

(Venus) , whose pe rfecti ons he c onstantl y descr i bed to him ,

unt i l love for th is d ivi ne be i ng at length so took possessi on

of Selaman’

s heart that , as he prayed for a visi on of these

ce lest ial charms, the i mage of Absal was al toge ther b lotte d

out from his remembrance .

The story concludes w i t h the desc r i pt i ve of a great feast

given by the King to all the nobles and great ones of his

realm , who take the oath of al legiance to Selaman,now

purged from earthly passi on and grow n w orthy of the crow n .

An epi logue gives the key to the al legory . The King rep re

sents the Creat i ve Inte l l igence (c

aql-i the sage

, the

F i rst I nte l l igen ce Selaman, born of no earthl y mother, the

human soul ; Absal , the lustful and rebe l l i ousbody ; and the

sea, sensual desire . Selaman ’

ssudden inabi l i ty to app roach

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

358

oar. The latte r i n vades the terri tor ies of the Fai ry-Ki ng ,

who ,howeve r, conquers h im and marr ies his daughter F er i’ .

These two than se t out w i th Vam iq to he l p h im i n’

his

search after C

A z ra. Vam iq and his foster-b rothe r Behmen in

adve rte ntly trespass on the hun t i ng-groundsof King Ardesh ir,

who attacks them . I n the fight whi ch ensues, Behmen captures

Ardesh ir, but V zim iq is wounded . A rd eshir’

s daughter , the

Pri ncess Dilp e z ir , comes w i th much treasure to ransom her

fathe r,and all repair together t o the Cast le Dil -Kusha

,whe re

Vam iq’

swoundsare treated by the physi c ian P ir w i th ther ia

cum . Meanwhi le TurfQahraman , King of Balkh , comesw i th

an army to demand from the Pr i ncessthe surrender of Vamiq

and Behmen . H e is me t w i th a re fusal , and the reupon lays

siege to the fortress of N akhjuvan , where they are . I n the

battle whic h ensues, Behmen is taken pr isone r , and the

Pr i ncess Di l-p e z ir fl ies w i th Vam iq and P ir to Cast le Di l

Kusha’

to implore the aid of L ahij an and his w i fe Fer i’ ,who have reached this place i n the i r search for C

A z ra,to

whose adventures the story now turns. H e r father,perce i v i ng

her passi on , enqui res conce rning its durat i on and obj ect of

he r nurse , who , moved to p i ty by her sorrows, fl ies w i th

he r i n the autumn season to He rat, whe re they take l odgings

i n the house of an old woman . Thi ther come also the Pr i ncess

Di l-p e z ir and P ir the physi c ian , who find C

A z raand her nurse

and te l l them all that has happened , whe reupon they resolve

to go to c

Uman disguised asmerchants. The Fai ry-King L ahi

j an , whi le flying ove r the sea,hears from a ship b en eath him

the wai l i ng of C

A z rafor V aim iq and of D i l-p e z ir fo r Behmen .

H e b r i ngs the ship to the nearest island , where the voyage rs

d isembark ; then all four mount on d im and fly off, L ahij an

go ing in front to carry the good news to Vam iq , who issoon

uni ted to C

A z ra, whereupon they cont i nue the i r j ourney to

Balkh to de l i ver Behmen from hisTuran ian captor . A battle

359

takes place , the Turan ian King is de feated and fl ies to the

land of Antun the Frank , and V ém iq re leasesBehmen from

pr ison ; but , wh i le they are st i l l rej o i c i ng over the ir success,

An tum’

s army comes and d igs p i tfal ls, i n to one of which

V zim iq fal ls. H is fr iends pray Heaven to re lease him , and

at th is juncture arr i vesKing Me rz uban of Tris,who hasalso

fal len i n l ove w i th G

A z ra from a portrai t of her which he

hasseen,and who now de l i ve rs he r

,toge ther w i th Di l-p e z ir ,

Behmen,P ir and the nurse , from Autun

’

s hands, afte r wh ich ,

l i ke Mejnun he goe s mad w i th l ove of c

A z ra. A nt t'

in and

the King of Tur are defeated , and flee to the Pe rsian Gul f,

taking w i th them V émiq ,who remai ns a capt i ve i n the i r

hands. Afte r be i ng d ri ven about for six days by storms, they

fal l i n to the hands of In d ian fire -worshippers, who se t them

in the midst of a great fire , i n tend ing to sac rifice them to

the i r god . Antun and the King of Tur are burned to ashes,

but so great is the flame of Vam iq’

s l ove that the fire canno t

prevai l agai nst h im ,se e i ng which the I nd ians fal l at h is fee t

and adore him . Meanwhi le C

A z ra,D ii-pe z ir, Behmen ,

I’ ir and

the nurse se t out to search fo r V a’

m iq . They reach , i n the

course of the i r wande ri ngs, the land ofthe Z e ng is, o r Abys

si n ians, who take them prisone rs. I -Ie lhilan , King ofthe Z e ng is,

who holds capt i ve l luma, the daughte r o fthe King o f(’

ash

me re ,attempts to assaul t and | ) il at a caro use ,

but is ove rcome by them . i lnm aand commise rate o ne

ano the r, and re lat e to o ne ano the r t he i r h ist o ries. M eanwhi le

V zim iq ,havi n g escape d fro m the lnd iaus. wand e rs, l i ke a

se c o nd Mejut'

in,

o ve r hill and dal e , ho ld i ng e o nve rse o n ly

w i th the w i ld beastsand b i rds. /\t le n g th he j o i nsa earavan

whieh b ri ng s h im t o the (’

ast le o f l le lhil. in . who m he d e fe ats.

and who til es t o Me rz uluiu o f'

l’

us. tak ing n i th h in t

and “ tuna. Me rz ub ziu,ho n e ve r , i nste ad o fhe lp i n g hnu.

easts

him i n to priso n ,and se ndsa m esse n g e r t o his r ast le to b r in g

360

Vam iq ,Di l-p e z ir, Behmen , P ir and the nurse . Thus Vam iq

andC

A z ra are agai n un i ted . The former asksMerzuban ’

s

permissi on to visi t his parents, but , as i t isw i n ter , Merz ubanadviseshim not t o go himse l f, and sendsP ir t o King Ardeshir

and the nurse to the King of G haz na to i nv i te them to the

wedd ing . At this juncture comes the newsthat Fe r i hasbeen

captured by the demon Ghur . Vamiq thereupon hastens to

Mount Qaf, w here he finds L ahij an sadly perplexed by the

l oss of his w i fe Fer i . By the aid of a tal i sman , howeve r, he

final ly , afte r overcoming many dang e rs from demons and

dragons, reaches the grave of King Tahmuras the Demon

binder (D iv e ffects the re lease of Fer i' , whom he

restores to L ahij an . A l l three than repair to Tus, where ,

after a great feast , Vamiq is marr ied toc

A z ra, Behmen to

D i l -p e z ir, H elhilan (who has been re leased from capt iv i ty at

<’

A z ra’

s request) to Huma , and P ir the physi c ian toc

A z ra’

s

nurse ; and so the story ends.

3 . Visa and E dw in .

The story opens w i th the ce leb rat i on of the N ev-7 222 , o r

Persian N ew Year , by the King of Jurj an , who converses

w i th the lad ies of his court . One of these , Shehrev or Shehr

banu, w i fe of Munqad the King of Me rv exci ted by the

carouse , descr i bes to him the charms of her daughter , V is

or V isa, so graphical ly that there and then he fal l s i n love

w i th her . Next day Shehr-banuregrets what she has done ,

fear i ng lest i t may lead to the i nvasi on of her husband ’s

terri tory . She se ts out for Merv, and , on her arr i val there ,

tr ies to p eruad e her husband Munqad to gi ve V is i n marriag e at once to he r cousi n V eyrev . Meanwhi le the King

of Jurj an sends his ol d nurse to Merv to gather further in

formati on about V i’

s; and , on heari ng her favourable report,

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 62

eventual l y reaches Herat , where he finds and recove rs his

be l oved V isa. A fter de feat i ng and slaying a min ister who

has rebe l led agai nst h im ,he seeks out a great Sheykh , and ,

under his gui dance and di rect i on , d edi cates himse l f to the

myst i c and contemplat i ve l i fe .

4. Taper and Moth .

Taper (Shemc

) and Moth (P ew/ zine) appear i n this romance

as proper names. The former , descr i bed asa beaut i ful dark

haired and rosy-cheeked mai den , dwe l ls i n the Sunset- land ,

constantly wai ted on by two slaves, a Greek named Camphor

(K eifz’

nf ) and a negro cal led Ambergris At a banque t

which she gives to her friends, two of the guests, named

Bottle and G lass,fal l to quarre l i ng, unt i l at length W i ne

makes peace be tween them . A t th is poin t there enters the

banque t-hal l a poor , l ove l orn strange r from the East , name ly

Moth the hero of the tale . H e catchessight of

Taper i n her pav i l i on , and fal ls i n love w i th her . Ambe rgr is

the slave chides him fo r i n trud ing un inv i ted in to the feast .

H e thereupon turns appeal i ngly to Taper, who w i thdraws

her ve i l and thereby comple tes her conquest . Moth , ov e r

come by her beauty , wan de rs out i nto the garden , where

he remai ns all night . I n the morn i ng Zephyr, the gardener ,

comes to tend the flowers, w hi ch he finds all i n confusi on

and d isarray from the p revi ous n ight ’s carouse . Hear i ng a

moaning i n a corne r of the garden , he proceeds th i ther and

d iscove rs Moth , w i th whom he converses. H e than goes to

King Spr i ng (B elair ) to complai n of the confus i on of the

garden ; and Spri ng sends his emz’

r L ightn ing to punish the

flowe rsfo r the ir d isorde rl i ness. L ightn ing rearshisred banne r

and rushes on the garden to execute the King ’

s commands,but Moth in tercedesw i th God

, who causes the storm to pass

363

by . Taper now plans another banque t , and sends her slave

Ambergris to i nv i te Moth to b e present . There ensues a

d ispute of the usual mnnez’

s a type be tw een Ambe rgr isand

Camphor as to the i r respe ct i ve mer i ts,which is brought to

an end by the appearance of a rad iant sheykh o r sai n t

named Nuru’ l l ah , “the L ight of God , who givesa myst i cal

explanat i on of the subj ect of the ir d ispute . L ast ly at a th ird

and final banque t , Taper orders Moth to b e brought i n to

her immed iate presence,whe reupon , overcome w i th e cstasy

of love , he d ies at her fee t , and she,ove rcome w i th regre t ,

weeps great tears all through the n ight and expires i n the

m orn ing .

5. T/ze Confenz‘z’

en of Sp r ing and Wz

'

nlef .

I n thispoem , which desc ri besi n al legor i cal fo rm the c ontest

of the seasons, Spri ng and W i nte r are rep resented as two

great rival Kings, whi le Summe r is but the friend and al ly

of the former, and Autumn the harbinge r and he ral d of the

latter . The poem opensat the po in t whe n W i nte r , encampe d

on Mount O lympus, has d ri ve n Sp ri ng from B rusa and the

surround ing country , and compe l le d him to re t reat w i th his

fo rces to the plai ns besi d e the sea-sho re . Sp ri ng no w p re pares

to at tack his e n emy , but be fo re d o i n g so se nds h im in due

fo rm a summo ns to w i thd raw ,wh i ch he e nt ruststo hishe rald .

the Ze phyr . W i n te r, o n re c e i v i ng thi s chal le ng e , rag esmo re

furio usl y than e ve r,t eats up the m essage and easts it i n

Ze phyr’

s fac e,and cal ls o n his ho sts to at tae k S p ri ng w i tho ut

d e lay .S p ri ng the reup o n p re pares t o resist him . and tirst

sends fo rward t in : sn o w -d ro ps as seo uls i n to the e nem y'

s

te rri to ry .

' i ’ bese are so o n re ~info | e e t l by the p i iuuo ses and

o the r sp ri ng fl o we rs, and the eart h o p e ns its t re asure s t o t lu

adv anc i ng C o nque ro r, p o uri n g fo rth the si l ve r o l the li tm tlw ,

364

the j ewe ls of the flowe rs, and all its other hi dden r i ches.

The marshal l ing of Spri ng’

s army is next descr ibed ; the red

capped anemones are compared to Turkmans, the tul i ps to

theC

az ebs or l ight horse , the j onqui ls and daffod i ls to the

jan issaries, the camomi le and jasmine to the (ig na’

(sergeant)and kydya (i ntendant) of that corps, w hi le the v i ole ts, l i l ies,

and other spri ng flowersare made to represen t other branches

of the serv i ce . When all is ready, the b itterns begin to drum ,

and the cuckoos, derv ish- l i ke , to cry“ Ya

’

H ie!” Meanwhi le

W i n te r hasentrenched himse l f i n the depthsof Mount Ol ym

pus, and , no longer ventur i ng to at tack by day, confines

himse l f to n ight-attacks, i n wh ich hisbattal i ons, led by F rost

and i cy W i n d , swoop dow n on the advanc i ng hostsof Spr i ng ,which however

,assoon as the sun appears

,dr i ve them back

i n to the mountai ns. Spr i ng encourageshisarmy, te l l i ng them

that W i n ter ’s e ffortsw i l l but comple te hisdownfal l the sooner .

The four w i nds are here i n troduced , and hol d d iscussi on

toge ther . Then Spr i ng ’

s army begins agai n to advance , and

captures the two shri ne s of Daghl i Baba and Geyikl i Baba

at the foot of Mount Olympus. Thence they extend gradual ly

h igher and highe r unt i l they dr i ve the forces of W i n ter out

of the ir last entrenchments. After a per i od of rest and en

joyment passed in all de l ight,the hospi table l ord Summer

i nv i tesSpri ng to a magn ificent banque t , which is the culm in

ati ng poi nt of the romance ; for after i t Spr i ng fal lssi ck ,spoi led , toge ther w i th hisarmy , by surfe i t of luxury .

“ W i n ter ,i n formed of this by the spies whom he keeps i n Spr i ng

’

s

camp , is fi l led w i th j oy , and b i ds his vassal Autumn Blast

go w i th his rai de rsand ravage the realmsof Spri ng , choosi ng

fo r the moment of attack the autumnal Equi nox . Thisassaul t ,which spreads conste rnat i on through the camp of Spr i ng , is

fol lowed up at a short i n terval by a summons t o surrender

addressed by W i n ter to Sp r i ng i n terms as haughty and

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 66

sw i ft w i l d asses i n the Desert , and i n fighting w i th l ionsand

d ragons. One day, when , rest i ng from his favour i te past ime ,

he waswande r i ng through hisPalace of K havernaq , he came

upon a c losed door whi ch he had not previously not i ced .

Prompted by curi osi ty , he made his way i n to the room to

which i t gave access, and there d iscovered seven pi ctures

(the“ Seven E ffig ies

”after w hich the Romance is named )

representi ng as many beaut i ful p ri n cesses, to w it , Furek ,daughte r of the King of Ind ia; Nu

c

man- i-Naz , daughter of

the Khaqa’

n of Turkistan ; Humay ,daughter of the Caesar ;

Nesri n -nush , daughte r of the King of the Slavs; A z e riyun ,

daughter of the King of the Sunset- land ; Durust i, daughte r

of the Persian Kisra (C hosroes) , and Naz -Pe ri, daughter of

the King of Khware zm or Khiva, w i th all of whom he

straightway fe l l i n love . H e had , however , no t ime to think

of such things just than , for newssuddenly reached them

that his father Y e z d ijird had d ied , and that a usurper had

se i zed the throne . Thereupon he at once se t out for Pe rsia,

and, afte r a br ie f struggle , de feated the usurper , and seated

h imse l f on his father ’s throne .

One day, soon after hisaccessi on , he was out hunti ng , ac

compan ied by a favour i te slave-gi rl named F itne

who had the boldness to chal lenge his ski l l i n archery by

de fying him to shoot a w i l d ass through the hoof. Just as

the King bent his b ow to shoot, the an imal put up its foot

to scratch its ear, and the arrow , unerr i ngly aimed , transfixed

hoof and ear toge ther . F itne,so far from exhib i t i ng any great

e nthusiasm o r admirat i on,mere ly remarked ,

“ Pract i ce makes

pe rfect ! ” Behram was so angere d at th is that he orde red

her to b e put to death , but she , by her en treat ies, prevai led

on the exe cut i one r to let he r escape . She then took up her

abo de i n a remote vi l lage,and , obtai n i ng a young cal f, made

a practi ce of carrying i t dai ly on her shoulde rs up a fl ight

367

of stairs. H er strength waxed in proporti on to its grow th ,

and i n t ime a rumour reached Behram of a w onde rful gir l

i n a certai n v i l lage who coul d carry a ful l-grow n bul l up a

fl ight of stai rs. Moved by cur i osi ty he visi ted the place,

saw the performance , re cogn i zed his former favouri te,and

compl imented her on he r achievemen t , to whi ch agai n she‘9 9

repl ied ,“ Pract i ce makes pe rfect Behram thereupon not

only forgave he r, but made he r his w i fe .

Behram,hav ing successful ly repe l led an i nvasi on of his

terr i tory by the Khaqan of Turkistan , at length has le isure

to thi nk once more of the seven beaut i ful pr i ncesses whose

portrai ts he saw i n the Palace of K havernaq ,and sends

ambassadors to the i r respe ct i ve fathe rs to demand the ir hands

i n marr iage . A l l the ambassadors re turn w i th favourable

repl i es,whereupon Behram en te rtai nshisnoblesat asplend id

banque t , at which Sheyda,a pupi l o f Sin immar , who had

assisted his maste r i n the bui l d i ng of K have rnaq , offe rs to

const ruct fo r the King a gorgeous palace i n whic h to rece i ve

and ente rtai n the seven p ri ncesses. Hav ing rece i ved the King’

s

c ommands to d o this, he makes i n the palace seve n Pavi l i ons

o r lie lv id e res (the [ Ye/ l [ Wang/an) fo r the seven p ri ncesses,

each d e co rate d i n a d i ffe re nt co lour app ro p riate to itsmist ress

and to the plane t which p resi d es o ve r he r d est i ny . \Vhe n

all is compl e te d ,and Sheyda , m o re fo rtunate th an hismaste r

S in immar , has be e n fit iy re ward e d fo r his ski l l and lab o ur ,

t he Pri nc e sses are i nstal le d each i n he r o wn pavi l io n , and

Ile hram p ro c e e ds to v isi t them in turn . lie g inuiug o n Saturday ,

in : fi rst vhfi ts t in: P rhi c ess ( d’

liuihn tvht i i id tald ts the llhud\

l’av ilio n , p resid ed o ve r by Saturn ; o n Sunday he g o es to

the K luiq ztn’

s daug hte r i n the Ye l lo w t’

av i l lo n d e d i cate d to

t in: th in ; t in hlo ui hiy,to t ln : Prh te e ss o f li h tvat e / n i h i the

G re e n ’

av ilio u o f the M o o n ; o n'

l’

ue sday t o the Slavo n ic

Pri n c ess i n the R e d i'av ilio u d e d ic ate d t o Mars; o n

368

day to the Pri ncess of the Sunse t- land i n the Blue Pav i l ion

ded icate d to Mercury ; on Thursday to the Pe rsian K isra’s

daughter i n the Sandal-w ood- col oured Pav i l ion ded i cated to

Jupi te r, and on F r i day to Caesar ’

s daughter Humay i n the

whi te Pav i l i on ded icated to Ve nus. On each occasi on Behram ,

out of compl imen t to the Pri ncesswhom he isv isi t i ng,arrays

himse l f i n garments of her colour ; and each P r i n cess i n turn

entertai ns him w i th a l ong story , these stor ies forming a

consi derable port i on of the book .

In addi t i on to the above matte r , the Romance give s some

account of the i nst i tut ions of Behram , and of var i ous acts

of just i ce performed by him , and concludes w i th the w e l l

known story of his death , which issai d to have been caused

by his fal l i ng in to , and be i ng engul phed by, a morass or

quaking bog , whi le engage d i n his favour i te sport of hunt ing

the w i l d ass. H e was never seen agai n , and , as the Persians

punn ingly say,

“the g ar (or w i l d -ass) became hisg ar (or

7 . The K ing and B eg g ar (S/za'

n u

The port ion o f th is romance not analysed i n the text (pp .

12 2— 125sup r a) is i n br ie f as fol lows. Geda comes to Con

stant inOple and there , i n the A t Meydan, sees Shah , whom

he i mmed iate ly re cogn i zesas the or igi nal of hisvisi on,walk

i ng w i th three compan ions. Having.

learn ed his name , and

been warne d of his harshness towardssuch as woul d seek

his fr iendship , he i n d i tesa g naz el to the obj e ct of hisadm ir

at i on . H is friends i n vai n counse l h im to desist , and final ly

take him to an aged sai n t,who prays that his passi on may

pass away , but he requests the sai nt rather to pray that i t

may i ncrease , whereupon “

his fr iends,deeming his madness

i ncurable , leave him . H i therto Geda has reveale d to no one

the obj e ct of his passi on,but one day,

whi le out wal king,he mee ts Shah , and is so overcome that he is obl iged to

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 70

d i es. Shah comes, and by hisgrac iousand kindly behav iour

restores Geda to heal th . To asce rtai n how much Shah cares

about Geda , some of his comrades i nform him that the latter

is dead , whereat Shah mani fests the deepest sorrow , unt i l the

tr i ck is explai ned to him . Shah agai n me e ts Geda,who is

d isguised , re cogn i zes h im , and i nv i tes him to hishouse , but

a r i val agai n i n tervenesand obtai nshisd ismissal . They agai n

mee t , and Shah promises t o visi t Geda one day i n hishouse ,

but adds that i f he finds him from home when he comes,

he w i l l never see him agai n . Geda remai ns i n his house for

a whole month , but Shah does not come to h im . H e isagai n

reproached by his fr iends for his hope less passi on , but he

te l ls them that he has not been unrequi ted for hisfai thful ness,

si nce Shah once came to v isi t him in a d ream . The poem

ends, as descr ibed on p . 124supra,w i th the “ Cal l from the

Unseen” which b i dsGeda re cogn i ze all earthly love asbased

on i l lusi on , and de clares to h im that the l ove of God’

sEternal

Beauty can alone sat isfy .

8 . The K hayraha'

a’.

This Romance of Nab i ’s is,i n its ear l ier porti on , part ly

based on the [ Za’hi -na’

rne (“Div ine Book”) of the Great Persian

myst i c F er idu’

d -D in<:Attar (ki l le d i n the sack of N isha

’

pur

by the Mongols about A . H . 62 7 z A . D . and the

story is also al luded to by Ni zam i . The scene is lai d at the

court of K hurrem Shah , King of Jurja’

n, and the story Opens

w i th a great banque t gi ven by h im to hisnoblesand court iers,

at which are present his young favouri te J av id and a gi fted

poe t , Fakhr- i-jurjan .

l The latter fal ls i n love w i th J av id ,

whom the King thereupon presents to him ,to the aston ish

1 Th is is the name of a real poe t,the author of the P ersian romance of

V isa and Ramin descr ibed at pp . 3 60—3 62 sup r a, who flourished in the

middle of the e leven th century of our era.

3 7 I

ment of all who are present . The poe t Fakhr , d istracted

be tween love of J avid and fear lest the King may change his

mind when the w i ne is out of him , dete rmines to awai t what

the morrow may br i ng forth , and meanwhi le shutsup J av id

in a vaul t unde r the throne , the k ey of which he entrusts, i n

the presence of the court iers,to the warden of thi s chamber .

When the King awakes next morn ing,he b itter ly regrets

what he hasdone, but , d isdai n i ng to make man i fest hissorrow

for the loss of his favour i te , he seats h imse l f on h is throne

and proceeds to transact his busi ness as usual . The key of

the vaul t under the throne isbrought to h im , and the cour

t iers explai n to h im that his favouri te is shut up there .

Overj oye d , he de scends i n to the vaul t , whe re he finds only

a heap of ashes , whence he concludes w i th sorrow that Jav id

has been burned i n a c onflag rat ion caused by one of the

candles. Both the King and the poe t are d ist racted w i th

gr ie f ; the latte r be takes himse l f to the Dese rt , whi l e the

forme r makes over the affai rs of the state to his min iste rs,

and announceshis i n tent i on ofremaining i n the vaul t , the re to

end his days i n med itat i on and praye r . He re the sto ry , ast old

by F eridu’

d -Din c

A t tar, ends: what fol lows isadd ed by Nab t.

j av id had not real l y pe rished i n the fire whi ch lrad co rr

sumed his b ed . A cunning burglar named C lraizik had mad e

a tunne l lead ing to the vaul t trad e r the th rone ,w ith a view

to future ro bbe ry ; and ,hap pe n ing to v isi t the vaul t o n the

n igh t whe n Jx’

rvfd was co nfined the re ,he found him in im

mine n t dange r of d est ruct io n fro m the fire which had acc i

d e ntal l y b roke n out duri ng his sle e p , and . having rescued

him,bo re h im i n a fai n t i ng c o nd i t i o n to his o wn ho use .

j av id , o n re c o ve ri ng his se nses, t lrauits ('

lralah fo r sav ing his

l i fe,and p romises to o b tai n fo r him a reward fro m t he King .

b rit i nsists o n c o nc eal i ng his safe ty fo r a t ime i n o rd e r to

pun ish the K i n g fo r mak ing him c r to

3 7 2

Meanwh i le the King , ke eping vigi l i n the vaul t,becomes

sensib le of a current of air , which he trac es to the tunne l .

H e proceeds to explore the tunn e l , whi ch leads him to

Chalak’

s house,where he finds j av id asleep . J av id wakes

up and flees from the King,who fol lows him

,pursued i n

turn by Chalak,on whose hee ls fol low the wat chman

whom the noise has alarmed . Jav id final ly turns down a

passage whi ch leads him i nto a rui ned mosque , i n the centre

of the courtyard of which is a deep we l l overshadowed by

an old tree , i n whi ch j av id takes refuge,hoping to conceal

h imse l f amongst the leaves. Howe ver the branch to which

he c l ingsbreaks,and he fal ls i n to the we l l . The King d escends

afte r h im by means of a rop e , fol lowed by Chalak . J av id

plunges i n to another subterranean passage , whi le the watch

men remai n at the top of the w e l l , cast i ng stones at the

fugi t i ves. These fol low the passage ente red by Javid unt i l i t

final ly b r i ngs them to the bottom of anothe r we l l , through

which they ascen d by means of a rop e i n to a beaut i ful

garden , i n the midst of w hi ch they find a gorgeous pavi l i on,

i n which isa beaut i ful mai den . By her si tsa hi deous demon

named Tamtam,who has l ong tormen te d the n e ighbourhood ,

and who has now come to se i ze and d ishonour the mai den ,

whose mothe r and servants have fled , abandon ing he r to he r

fate . Whi le the King and J av id ,hi dden amongst the trees,

are consi de r i ng what to do , they are se i zed by five of Tam

tam ’

s confede ratesand led i n to the pavi l i on , whe re the demon

re cogni zes, i nsul ts, and th reatens t o ki l l them . Meanwhi le

Chalak arr i ves, and , see i ng the i r pe ri l,de term i nes to save

them . H e first throwsa past i l le amongst the five confederates

of Tamtam ,who are engaged i n dr i nk i ng w i ne ; thisstup ifies

them , and he the reupon cuts off the ir heads. H e next ap

p roaches the demon Tamtam , who is endeavouri ng to force

the gir l t o submi t to his odi ous embraces, and stri kes off

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 74

be fore him . At the general w ish , Fakhr asks the King to

explai n by w hat mystery Jav id isst i l l al i ve and i n heal th ,

and the King te l ls the story ,spec ial ly praisi ng the conduct

of Chalak,who

,be i ng r i chly rewarded

,not only abandons

robbery h imse l f, but , by handsome gifts and e l oquent p er

suasi on , i n duces all the th ieves of the c i ty to fol low his

example . A week of'

general rej o i c i ngs and i l luminat i ons of

the c i ty ensue , after whic h K hurrem Shah marries Jav i d to

the girl o f the pavi l i on i n the garden w i th great pomp and

c i rcumstance , conferr i ng on the br i degroom a robe of honour

and a high post at

.

the Court . Chalak , w i thout i nforming

anyone of his i n tent ion,goes off to Kirman to take prisoner

the treacherousKing of that c i ty , whom he drugsand br i ngs

back w i t h him to his house , where he shuts him up w i th

the assassi n whom he had sent to ki l l K hurrem Shah . H e

then i nforms K hurrem Shah of w hat he has done , and he ,

d isregard ing the adv i ce of his min isters to put the King of

Kirman to death , summons him before h im and treats h im

w i th honour . The two Kings dwe l l t oge ther for some t ime

and become firm fri ends, and final ly the King of Ki rman is

permitted to return to his coun try, whi le the heroes of the

story, K hurrem Shah , J av i d and Chalak , spen d the rest of

the ir l i ves i n happi ness and content .

This concludes the abstractswhich , as i t woul d appear, the

author i n tende d to i n corporate i n thisAppend ix ; for the l ong

analysisof G halib ’

s“Beauty and L ove” (H usn uc

75/29) i ncluded

i n the same packe t may more fitly b e assign ed to the next

volume, i n which that poe t and his work w i l l b e d iscussed .

The analyses of L amici ’s poems, except the Seven E ffig ies,

appear to have bee n taken d ire ct ly from Hammer-Purgstall’

s

def Osmmzz

'

sc/zm D iem/3 24723 1 vol . I I , pp . 29—112

(Budapest , and the same isprobably the case asregards

Yahya Bey ’

s King and Beggar and Nabi’

s Khayrabad .

APPEND IX B .

F irst l i ne s of the Turkish Text of the Poems translated

i n Volume I I I .

5m m My Us.» ;

55)L. x>r

A? Q ’s.) a?

) Juan a-lj?

5&5 l d lé

Jan a.) dull/Oi dyfi U ’Q fl

lCJ LAD

Oo J BM

“if“ i uo

6 3K:a;

jA J

p and al “ A ns Jes us(also a t

5.1;t dd aJU L3. ) L5‘Jj

l)” J .) hfl J ;

Pl

p“) f?

at ) “UM) ) 3

mlJK L‘: se x y;

kfib Adj } CKlLA D

' am j ekal d ra b

.

k w jjl)L,! M r

ebukal ”n o Mi ?IQ

UMUN Q

HUME) mo p alrQJ D

‘UM

an ” ! use”! and J,‘ ”in u,»

”we PMff Mi U r”? 3 m“ "ff ”

dumb“ “

Um“ gal 3 02A )

3 76

l, LS

A CKSUL>L55L> 9 $15CKM

JLfl

W » fi n e a“60

° 7?

am d b )

“F3 0951”

d) ,Lu la d d

)o p l

A ) ; o oL5

.jai l el

lylGAL/of) w i t

jjj ‘h

L id ”

)O vw g

‘

g l 0L? l) O

LP

Ob m l aLac wLL JLs

Jig» C); j g

‘

rflfi‘~>L9~ an” ) rfi r

° P as?LS“S

o il

s-

c. of? a.) p r

jg LALé

Cfilbtim i

d

)

el if LEM

v.19 655ad d

/

o) ; w 6

‘up

figs. LR. i f as; s, Us? as

may ag g i) 3Lg v i lla/o ufl l

Lfi l

UM? Oasb

e hujl lcm aw l LSL>1

Us; 03s f

agg ot) .

Us.” mu J,

‘

w )?vb

cc?» 59 “ so?

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 78

$3) at . rez; a; gr.» t o

fue l d m

3 9 d M ld bigi

3 559 M su‘

Ci t.) i oblm lUsél03 5

OQMLM

j)L i

nco

ln‘slj l QJL> M MA MO b

i. )

5st; 59> gt ; d,‘ tiff

afia, M ot-C

..JLQvi tal Q QLQZ

L5l

dried, M W

GM> g ag e,

afrt )59

ofiLi, ei l z> ax i s/4.9 flo at ab l Jar.

W ‘ “l “W “ P cal?w J ~>y>6 ‘

W :rs lit /o

, Q M ’S mw ”3

w LS U al)

gyfi afim sf P b

i6195o

j>

“W tup»? L"Mb a

”? “ 465“

fl? HAL-b

l x f 5350.3.s55 d~>L~ M 3 ‘r

’j bl gm) “

J AMS; algal.)D359

a?

an» altsGrass; (

asalso 3

ell6A J &4.&4w3 l aw l

wjm ag o

/

L3, aw) ,

lu l A ?

cg )L) . O

le, at§o

)oUni t» Jo

W :6 M J ; 5NKJLA ~°

fa?) M lg a b j j

f sd gbfin

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join