ḴEṢĀLI ČELEBI

 

ḴEṢĀLI ČELEBI (Hisâlî Çelebi; d. Budapest, 1062/1651-52), Ḥosayn, Ottoman poet and writer born in Budapest at an unknown date.  His divān is the only source of information about his life. He learned Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, and Persian during his childhood. According to the records in his divān, he served as an official of the revenue office (defterdar) in the town of Zevil in Hungary. All we know of his life story is that he traveled to Baghdad to visit his relatives, participated in the Ottoman-Austrian wars, and died in poverty in Budapest in 1062/1651-52 (Ercan, 2008, pp. XXI-XXIII).

Hisâlî compiled two anthologies of parallel (naẓira) poems, one of Persian (Laṭāʾef al-ḵiāl) and the other (Maṭāleʿ al-naẓāʾer) of Turkish poetry, both classified thematically. Laṭāʾef al-ḵiāl is kept in two manuscripts at the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul (Lala İsmail, no. 575; Esad Efendi, no. 2383).

Maṭāleʿ al-naẓāʾer, compiled in two volumes, contains samples of Turkish parallel poems by poets living in the Ottoman empire.  It also includes some poems by well-known Persian poets such as Ḥāfeẓ, Saʿdi, Jāmi, and ʿOrfi Širāzi. Maṭāleʿ al-naẓāʾer is available in several manuscripts at the Nuruosmaniye Library, nos. 4252, 4253 (autograph?); Süleymaniye Library, Lala İsmail, no. 576; Esad Efendi, no. 2883; Millet Library, Ali Emiri, Manzum Eserler, nos. 566, 679, 680, 681, 682 (from autograph); the first volume was edited and submitted as doctoral thesis by Bilge Kaya in 2003.

Hisâlî also wrote Turkish poems. Recurring keynotes of his poetry are love, mysticism, and natural themes, but it also contains a range of folk idioms and proverbs. Two manuscript copies of his divān are available at Istanbul, Millet Library, Ali Emiri, Manzum Eserler, no. 130; and Edirne, İl Halk Kütüphanesi, no. 2119. It has also been edited by Özlem Ercan (2003 and 2005).

Bibliography:

Amir Sārem, “Ḵeṣāli,” in Anuša, ed., 2004, pp. 358, 724.

Ḥasan Anuša, ed., Dāneš-nāma-ye adab-e fārsi: adab-e fārsi dar Ānātuli wa Bālkān VI, Tehran, 2004, p. 358. 

Idem,  “Laṭāʾef al-ḵiāl,” in idem, ed., 2004, p. 724.

Bursalı Mehmed Tahir, Osmanlı Müellifleri, ed. A. Fikri Yavuz and İsmail Özen, 3 vols., Istanbul, 1971-75, II, pp. 172-73.

Özlem Ercan, “Peşteli Hisâlî Dîvânının Tahlili (İnceleme-Metin),”  Ph.D. diss., Uldag University Institute of Social Sciences, Bursa, 2003.

Idem, “Peşteli Hisâlî Dîvânında Biçime Dayalı Tekrarlarla Ahenk Sağlama,” Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi  VIII/8, 2005, pp. 95-122.

Bilge Kaya, “Hisâlî: Hayatı-Eserleri ve Metâliü’n-Nezâir İsimli Eserinin Birinci Cildi, (İnceleme-Metin),” Ph.D. diss., Gazi University Institute of Social Sciences, Ankara, 2003.

Idem, “Nazîre Mecmûaları ve Hisâlî’nın Metâliü’n-Nezâiri,” Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi VIII/8, 2005, pp. 47-56.

Pešteli Ḵeṣāli, Divān, ed. Özlem Ercan, as Peşteli Hisâlî Dîvânı, Istanbul and Bursa, 2008.

Mehmed Nail Tuman, Tuhfe-i nâilî, 2 vols., Ankara, 1999, I, p. 250.

Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Ansiklopedisi, 8 vols., Istanbul, 1977-98, IV, pp. 217-18.

Türk Dünyası Edebiyatçıları Ansiklopedisi, 8 vols., Ankara, 2002-2007, V, p. 29.

Taḥsin Yāziji [Tahsin Yazıcı], Pārsinevisān-e Āsiā-ye Ṣaḡir, Tehran, 1992, p.  33. 

(Osman G. Özgüdenli)

Originally Published: January 1, 2000

Last Updated: January 10, 2014