BY : Omar Khayyám and Edward

FitzGerald
OMAR KHAYYÁM
• The Persian astronomer, mathematician, and poet
Omar Khayyam (1048-ca. 1132) made important
contributions to mathematics, but his chief claim to
fame, at least in the last 100 years, has been as the
author of a collection of quatrains, the "Rubaiyat.“
• Omar Khayyam was born in Nishapur in May 1048.
His father, Ibrahim, may have been a tentmaker
(Khayyam means tentmaker). Omar obtained a
thorough education in philosophy and mathematics,
and at an early age he attained great fame in the
latter field.
EDWARD Fitzgerald
• Edward FitzGerald was born as Edward Purcell in
1809, in Suffolk. His father, John Purcell, assumed
the name of his wife’s family, the Fitzgeralds. The
English poet and writer are best known for
translating The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
• Edward FitzGerald was born into a wealthy Anglo-
Irish family at Bredfield House in Bredfield. His
father was a Member of Parliament for Seaford in
Sussex. In 1816, the family moved to France
 RUBAIYAT

A Rubaiyat is a poem using

stanzas called rubai. This is a
quatrain (4-line stanza) written in
iambic pentameter or tetrameter.
The rhyme scheme is aaba. The
Rubaiyat stanza is also called the
"Omar stanza."
 RUBAIYAT

• Shortly after Omar's death, collections of rubaiyat circulated

under his name. These poems consist of 4 lines of 13 syllables
each with the rhyme scheme AABA or AAAA; the rhythm within
each line is rather free.
• Rubaiyat had been popular in Persia since the 9th or 10th century
as occasional verses extemporaneously recited by all classes of
persons; they were used both to express a sort of hedonistic
appreciation of life and also Sufi mystical experiences.
 RUBAIYAT

• Omar's Rubaiyat is known in the West largely through the

rather inaccurate paraphrase translation of Edward
FitzGerald (1859), which in any case seems to contain a
number of non-Khayyamian verses.
 RUBAIYAT

Verse 3.
And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted – "Open then the Door.
You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more."
This verse continues the Dawn theme of verses 1 and 2
with a Cock crowing. Lines 3 and 4 say, in effect, life is
all too short, and when we die, that is it – there is no
coming back
 RUBAIYAT

Verse 6.
And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine
High piping Pélevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine!
Red Wine!" – the Nightingale cries to the Rose
That yellow Cheek of hers to'incarnadine.
• This is a very obscure verse. David is the author of the
Psalms in the Bible (see also the Qur’an, Surahs 4.163 and
17.55), but instead of singing his holy songs (Psalms), he
calls for wine, perhaps because, from an Omarian point of
view, singing about Wine is ultimately just as significant as
singing about God.
• Actually, there is a little more to it than this, as we shall see
shortly, but first we need to take a look at the strange
connection between the Nightingale and the Rose.
 RUBAIYAT

Verse 14.
The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes – or it prospers; and anon,
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face
Lighting a little Hour or two – is gone.
The aims of Worldly Hope
are fleeting, no matter
whether that hope ends in
failure (burnt to Ashes) or
success (for even success is
like Snow, it melts and is
gone all too soon.)
Everything is transient.
 RUBAIYAT

Verse 61.
Then said another – "Surely not in vain
My substance from the common Earth was ta'en,
That He who subtly wrought me into Shape
Should stamp me back to common Earth again."
The question here is the eternal one: why does God
give human beings life only to take that gift away
from them again when they die? The last two lines
contrast the subtle shaping or creation of Man from
Clay, which is Life, with the brutal stamping back to
common Earth again, which is Death.
 RUBAIYAT

Verse 62.
Another said – "Why, ne'er a peevish Boy
Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy;
Shall He that made the Vessel in pure Love
And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy!"
This continues the theme of the last verse: would God
lovingly create Man (the Vessel, made from Clay), only to
destroy his creation again, as if “in an after rage” (ie. in
death)?
PREPARED BY: FAITH ARNIE D. CANOY