Ḥusniyyāt or Ḥasen Shi‘r as an Independent Genre in Classical Turkish Poetry
Bünyamin TaşThe word ḥusniyyāt and the phrases uslūb-i ḥasen, naẓm-i ḥasen, shi‘r-i ḥasen and ṭarz-i ḥasen, which are found in verse and prose classical Turkish literature texts, are used in a way that refers to a special literary term that is widely known, apart from their dictionary meanings. However, to my knowledge, no explanation of the terminological meaning of these expressions can be found in contemporary sources. In some recent scholarly publications, some determinations regarding the terminological function of the word ḥusniyyāt were included. However, the compositions uslūb-i ḥasen, naẓm-i ḥasen, shiʿr-i ḥasen and ṭarz-i ḥasen were not the subject of academic research. Therefore, it remains unclear whether these expressions, especially the phrases other than ḥusniyyāt, have a terminological equivalent, and if so, in what sense they are used. This study aims to determine, through the attestation of the texts in the canon, whether the words and phrases in question are used for terminological purposes and, if they are specialised literary terms, what kind of texts they refer to. In this framework, firstly, more than two hundred works of dīvān, mathnavī, tadhkirah and majmu‘ah in the field were scanned, the relevant attestations were identified, and the meaning of the mentioned phrases in the context was tried to be determined. As a result of the analyses and evaluations, it was determined that both the word ḥusniyyāt and other phrases were used as a special literary term denoting poems about beauties and love, as the equivalent of “güzelleme” in Turkish folk poetry in classical literature.
Divan Şiirinde Müstakil Bir Tür Olarak Hüsniyyât veya Hasen Şiir
Bünyamin TaşManzum ve mensur klasik Türk edebiyatı metinlerinde rastlanan hüsniyyât sözcüğü ile üslûb-ı hasen, nazm-ı hasen, şi‘r-i hasen ve tarz-ı hasen terkipleri, sözlük anlamlarının dışında, yaygın olarak bilinen özel bir edebiyat teriminden söz eder mahiyette kullanılmıştır. Ancak dönemin çağdaş kaynaklarında mezkûr ibarelerin terimsel anlamlarına yönelik bir açıklama görülememiştir. Modern dönemde ortaya konan bazı bilimsel yayımlarda ise hüsniyyât sözcüğünün terimsel işlevine yönelik bazı tespitlere yer verilmiş, ancak üslûb-ı hasen, nazm-ı hasen, şi‘r-i hasen ve tarz-ı hasen terkipleri akademik araştırmaların konusu edilmemiştir. Hâliyle bu ibarelerin, özellikle hüsniyyât haricindeki terkiplerin, hem terimsel karşılıklarının olup olmadığı hem de böyle bir özellikleri varsa ne anlamda kullanıldıkları meselesi belirsizliğini korumaktadır. Bu makalede söz konusu sözcük ve terkiplerin terimsel amaçla kullanılıp kullanılmadıklarının tespiti ve özel bir edebiyat terimi olmaları hâlinde ne tür metinleri imlediklerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu çerçevede öncelikle saha içindeki divan, mesnevi, tezkire ve mecmua cinsinden iki yüzü aşkın eser taranıp ilgili tanıklar belirlenmiş ve mezkûr ibarelerin bağlam içindeki anlamı tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Yapılan inceleme ve değerlendirmeler sonucunda ise hem hüsniyyât sözcüğünün hem de diğer terkiplerin, halk şiirindeki güzellemenin klasik edebiyattaki muadili kabîlinden, güzeller ve aşk konulu şiirleri imleyen özel bir edebiyat terimi olarak kullanıldıkları belirlenmiştir.
Most of the terms in classical Turkish poetry are not clearly defined by contemporary sources. Instead, these terms are indirectly identified and uncovered by contemporary researchers based on sentences recorded in works in the form of dīvān, mathnavī and tadhkirah. One of these terms, which appears in the texts of poetry and tadhkirahs and is considered to be in need of detailed research in terms of its definition and function, is the term ḥusniyyāt or ḥasen shiʿr.
In fact, this term, especially its expression in the form of ḥusniyyāt, has previously attracted the attention of other scholars. Thus, an accurate explanation of the term has been provided in the aforementioned publications. This study aims to fill in the missing aspects of the subject based on the attention of the aforementioned publications because these publications were limited to the word ḥusniyyāt based on a limited number of examples and did not mention the singular form of the same concept, ḥasen shiʿr. This study sets out to reveal that ḥusniyyāt refers to the totality of the works that are singularly described as ḥasen shi‘r. Therefore, both terms are literary terms for the same concept, with the attestation of a possible and sufficient number of works, and the following conclusions have been reached:
In the tadhkirahs, the word ḥusniyyāt is used in almost every context in which it is used to denote a specific type of poetry. On the other hand, in poems are used in a way that can be understood in one or both of its dictionary and terminological meanings.
In the texts of tadhkirah and poetry in which the word ḥusniyyāt is used in its literal sense, the sense in which the word is used is not specified. However, it is clearly stated that the texts considered within the scope of elāhī (hymn), na‘ṭ (a poem in praise of prophet Muhammad), hecv (satire), hazal (fun), and foḥsheyyāt (obscene texts) are not considered ḥusniyyāt.
The texts presented under the name of ḥusniyyāt in tadhkirahs and dīvāns are love poems written with a focus on the beauty of the beloved.
The term ḥusniyyāt is also used in tadhkirahs and poetry examples to denote the dīvān containing love poems written with a focus on the beauty of the beloved or the relevant section containing verses of the aforementioned nature. In this respect, an appropriate dīvān, majmu'a, or chapter can be called a dīvān/majmu‘a/chapter of ḥusniyyāt.
Although it is understood that no definite form limitation was made for this style based on the poems recorded as examples of ḥusniyyāt in the texts, it was determined that the ghazal form came to the forefront in terms of constituting the overwhelming majority of the attested texts.
The phrases uslūb-i ḥasen, naẓm-i ḥasen, shiʿr-i ḥasen and ṭarz-i ḥasen, which have almost no examples in the tadhkirahs but are frequently found in poetry, are explicitly used in many couplets in a terminological function as the name of a special style in the sense of “praising the beautiful” or “poetry sung in praise of the beautiful,” that is, love poetry centred on beauty.
It has been evaluated that it would be possible and valuable to express the compositions uslūb-i ḥasen, naẓm-i ḥasen, shiʿr-i ḥasen and ṭarz-i ḥasen, which are all used as literary terms with the same meaning, under a single name and a standard term, ḥasen shiʿr.
While poets often used the singular phrase ḥasen shiʿr deliberately for the verse it was used in, tadkirah writers used the plural form ḥusniyyāt to express the totality of the same type of texts. It has been concluded that the terms ḥasen shiʿr and ḥusniyyāt are identical terms expressing the same style of poetry.
While poems on the subject of beauty and love are called ḥusniyyāt and ḥasen shiʿr in classical Turkish poetry, the fact that the same type of poems is classified as “güzelleme” in Turkish folk literature is evaluated as the result of a possible adaptation and the need for an independent research on the subject is emphasized.
