Divan poet (B. 1460, Amasya – D. 1506, Amasya). The first woman divan
poet of the Ottoman period, Mihrî Hatun was also one of the first female poets
along with Zeynep Hatun whose name was known. Her real name was Mihrümah
according to Evliya Çelebi, Fahrünnisa or Mihrinnisa according to Bursalı
Mehmed Tahir, and Mihrî, being both her real name and pseudonym, according to
Âşık Çelebi. In fact, her father Yahyazade Mehmeh Çelebi, a kadi, has thought
that the pseudonym 'Mihrî' (sun, love) would fit to her. Her father was also a
poet and used the pseudonym Belâyî. Like many of her contemporaries, not much
is known about Mihrî. As what was written about her was derived from the
preceding source, they all resemble each other. The curtains shading the poet
became even thicker because very few academic researches made use of what was
written before rather than her poems as data. Actually, Mihrî gave most of the
necessary hints about herself in her poems. Even though her birth date is not
known accurately, it is comprehended from her poems that she lived up to
forty-five. She was brought up receiving a good education. The period when
Bayezid II was the governor of Amasya, the city was known to have been a
culture and art center. Worthy scholars, poets and other artisans who were
around Şehzade (T.N. prince) Bayezid provided an academic environment causing
this prince to be brought up well.
Mihrî Hatun participated in the social meetings on science and poems
which Ahmet, the heir of Bayezid II and the governor of Amasya organized in Ahmet’s
palace, at a time when women were illiterate and were not able to take part in
the men's environment. This shows that she was a respected and admired poet at
the time. She drew attention by participating in those meetings. Told to be
very beautiful, had a romantic relationship with İskender Çelebi, the son of
Sinan Pasha, but many more men fell in love with her due to her beauty at the
time, Mihrî Hatun reportedly fell in love with Müeyyetzade Abdurrahman Çelebi;
however, her real love was for İskender Çelebi. However, it is reported in the
sources that she couldn't marry him either. She didn't abstain from openly
dealing with love in her gazelle poems.
Though Mihrî Hatun was a very beautiful woman, she didn't marry. It is told that his love for İskender Çelebi
didn't go far from a platonic one. Mihrî Hatun was a beloved and respected
person among the people around her for her knowledge, beauty and art. She was
one of the most remarkable poets among the female poets due to plain and
sincere expression in the love poems she wrote. She happened to be
underestimated because she was a woman; however, she quarreled baldly with her
contemporaries. She was recognized for her odes and gazelle poems which she
wrote generally with a plain language. The only thing hindering the poems, in
which names, seasons, exchange of feelings, place names were listed, from
reading them as if they were a diary, was the compulsory order of the divan
poem.
The language Mihrî Hatun used was quite plain but deep with respect to
her contemporary poets. This was probably because she initially didn't think of
writing a poem, where the topic and order were determined by someone else. In
that vein, she relied on "imal" (tending the syllable to be read
longer) and "zihaf" (reading as if it were a short syllable due to
poetics). She wrote poems with a plain language and tenderness. Her poems are
told simply. She was greatly influenced by poet Necati, regarded as one of the
founders of Divan poetry. Even though it was not seen much in divan literature,
she wrote poems dealing with current issues at the time. There were also rumors
that she took Necati Bey as a role model and sent her poems trying to learn his
thoughts. There was reportedly an emotional intimacy between Necati Bey and
her. She wrote an epigram for the well-known poem 'Döne Döne' by Necati Bey.
Indeed, many of her poems looked like epigrams written for his poems. The purpose
of such epigrams was to demonstrate him that she had caught up with him.
On the other hand, Necati Bey, one of the founders of divan literature,
was so certain of the popularity and power of his poems and so proud, even
arrogant, that he took the epigrams written for his poems in stride. Still, the
fact that the epigram writer was a woman hurt his pride. According to Necati
Bey, it was good for her to write in Turkish rather than Arabic and Persian,
but the lengthening and shortenings of sounds to obey to the measure were
unforgiveable flaws.
Mihrî Hatun came to
Her “Divan”, consisting of
gazelles, odes, and quatrains, were published by USSR Science Academy Institute
of Asian Communities in 1967 in
REFERENCE:
Murad Uras/ Resimli Kadın Şair ve Muharrirlerimiz (1957), Abdülkadir Karahan /
Mihri Hatun (İslâm Ansiklopedisi (c. 8, 1957), Refik Ahmet Sevengil / Eski
Şiirimizin Ustaları (1964), Mübeccel Kızıltan / Divan Edebiyatı Özelliklerine
Uyarak Şiir Yazan Kadın Şairler (Sombahar, Ocak-Nisan 1994), Sennur Sezer /
Türk Safo’su Mihri Hatun (1996), Behçet Necatigil / Edebiyatımızda İsimler
Sözlüğü (18. basım, 1999), Meydan Larousse Ansiklopedisi (1998), Ana Britannica
Ansiklopedisi (1992), İhsan Işık / Türkiye Yazarlar
Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve
Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) - Ünlü Edebiyatçılar
(Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 4, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous
People (2013).