Ambiguity as the Creator of Multilayered Poetry: An Example of a Gazel by Fuzûlî

In this study, I analyze a sixteenth-century Turkish gazel by Fuzûlî using a technique from the book Linguistics Meets Literature. By applying this technique, first used to analyze Emily Dickinson’s English poems, to a Turkish poem, I find Fuzûlî’s deliberate use of ambiguity. I examine whether all types of ambiguity (lexical, syntactic, and referential) are instantiated in the poem and how this affects the overall interpretation of the poem. I find that they are all present in the poem and that the poet deliberately uses them to make his poem open to multiple meanings. This use results in two different overall readings: the “Powerful Lover” reading, which portrays a dynamic, powerful and arrogant lover, and the “Powerless Lover” reading, which portrays a stable, powerless, and shy lover. Therefore, interestingly, two poets from different times and cultures use ambiguity to create multilayered poems, and ambiguity has always had that function.