Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

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Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The Rubiyt of Omar Khayym

Front cover of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam translated by Edward FitzGerald, illustrated by Willy Pogny
The Rubiyt of Omar Khayym (Persian: ) is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his translation
of a selection of poems, originally written in Persian and numbering about a thousand, attributed to Omar Khayym
(10481131), a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer. A ruba'i is a two-line stanza with two parts (or
hemistichs) per line, hence the word rubiyt (derived from the Arabic language root for "four"), meaning
"quatrains".
Translations
The nature of a translation very much depends on what interpretation one places on Khayyam's philosophy. The fact
that the rubaiyat is a collection of quatrains and may be selected and rearranged subjectively to support one
interpretation or another has led to widely differing versions. Nicolas took the view that Khayyam himself clearly
was a Sufi. Others have seen signs of mysticism, even atheism, or conversely devout and orthodox Islam. FitzGerald
gave the Rubaiyat a distinct fatalistic spin, although it has been claimed that he softened the impact of Khayyam's
nihilism and his preoccupation with the mortality and transience of all things. Even such a question as to whether
Khayyam was pro- or anti-alcohol gives rise to more discussion than might at first glance have seemed plausible.
Edward FitzGerald versions
illustration for The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
"Earth could not answer; nor the Seas that
mourn"
The translations best known in English are those by Edward FitzGerald
(18091883).
1st edition 1859 [75 quatrains]
2nd edition 1868 [110 quatrains]
3rd edition 1872 [101 quatrains]
4th edition 1879 [101 quatrains]
5th edition 1889 [101 quatrains]
Of the five editions published, four were published under the authorial
control of FitzGerald. The fifth edition, which contained only minor
changes from the fourth, was edited after his death on the basis of
manuscript revisions FitzGerald had left.
FitzGerald also produced Latin translations of certain rubaiyat.
As a work of English literature FitzGerald's version is a high point of
the 19th century and has been greatly influential. Indeed, the term
"Rubaiyat" by itself has come to be used to describe the quatrain rhyme
scheme that FitzGerald used in his translations: AABA.
However, as a translation of Omar Khayyam's quatrains, it is not noted
for its fidelity. Many of the verses are paraphrased, and some of them
cannot be confidently traced to any one of Khayyam's quatrains at all.
Some critics informally refer to the FitzGerald's English versions as
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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Page of illuminated manuscript by William
Morris, illustrated by Edward Burne-Jones,
1870s.
"The Rubaiyat of FitzOmar", a nickname that both recognizes the
liberties FitzGerald inflicted on his purported source and also credits
FitzGerald for the considerable portion of the "translation" that is his
own creation.
In fact, FitzGerald himself referred to his work as "transmogrification".
"My translation will interest you from its form, and also in many
respects in its detail: very un-literal as it is. Many quatrains are mashed
together: and something lost, I doubt, of Omar's simplicity, which is so
much a virtue in him" (letter to E. B. Cowell, 9/3/58). And, "I suppose
very few People have ever taken such Pains in Translation as I have:
though certainly not to be literal. But at all Cost, a Thing must live:
with a transfusion of ones own worse Life if one cant retain the
Originals better. Better a live Sparrow than a stuffed Eagle" (letter to
E. B. Cowell, 4/27/59).
Perhaps the most famous of FitzGerald's verses is this one, of which
the final version is much beloved:
Quatrain XI in his 1st edition:
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
Quatrain XII in his 5th edition:
"A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!"
Illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan for
Quatrain 11 of Fitzgerald's First Version.
The following are several samples of Fitzgerald's translation,
concluding with another well-known verse (FitzGerald's quatrain LI in
his 1st edition):
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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Illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan for
Quatrain 12 of Fitzgerald's First Version.
Illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan for
Quatrain 51 of Fitzgerald's First Version.
Some for the glories of this world; and some
Sigh for The Prophet's Paradise to come;
Ah, take the cash and let the credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum
And much as Wine has played the Infidel
And robbed me of my robe of Honour, well ...
I often wonder what the vintners buy
One half so precious as the stuff they sell
For some we loved, the loveliest and best
That from His rolling vintage Time has pressed,
Have drunk their glass a round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to rest
But helpless pieces in the game He plays
Upon this chequer-board of Nights and Days
He hither and thither moves, and checks ... and slays
Then one by one, back in the Closet lays
"The Moving Finger writes: and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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Graf von Schack
Adolf Friedrich von Schack (18151894) published a German translation in 1878.
Quatrain 151 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Gnnt mir, mit dem Liebchen im Gartenrund
Zu weilen bei sem Rebengetrnke,
Und nennt mich schlimmer als einen Hund,
Wenn ferner ans Paradies ich denke!
Omar Kayyim'
Friedrich von Bodenstedt
Friedrich Martinus von Bodenstedt (18191892) published a German translation in 1881. The translation eventually
consisted of 395 quatrains.
Quatrain IX, 59 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Im Frhling mag ich gern im Grne weilen
Und Einsamkeit mit einer Freundin teilen
Und einem Kruge Wein. Mag man mich schelten:
Ich lasse keinen andern Himmel gelten.
Edward Henry Whinfield
Two English editions by Edward Henry Whinfield (1836-1922) consisted of 253 quatrains in 1882 and 500 in 1883.
Quatrain 84 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
In the sweet spring a grassy bank I sought
And thither wine and a fair Houri brought;
And, though the people called me graceless dog,
Gave not to Paradise another thought!
J.B. Nicolas
The first French translation, of 464 quatrains in prose, was made by J.B. Nicolas, chief interpreter at the French
Embassy in Persia in 1867.
Prose stanza (equivalent of Fitzgerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Au printemps jaime masseoir au bord dune prairie, avec une idole semblable une houri et une cruche de
vin, sil y en a, et bien que tout cela soit gnralement blm, je veux tre pire quun chien si jamais je songe
au paradis.
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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John Leslie Garner
An English translation of 152 quatrains, published in 1888.
Quatrain I. 20 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Yes, Loved One, when the Laughing Spring is blowing,
With Thee beside me and the Cup oerflowing,
I pass the day upon this Waving Meadow,
And dream the while, no thought on Heaven bestowing.
Justin Huntly McCarthy
Justin Huntly McCarthy (18591936) (Member of Parliament for Newry) published prose translations of 466
quatrains in 1889.
[1]
Quatrain 177 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
In Spring time I love to sit in the meadow with a paramour
perfect as a Houri and goodly jar of wine, and though
I may be blamed for this, yet hold me lower
than a dog if ever I dream of Paradise.
Richard Le Gallienne
Richard Le Gallienne (18661947) produced a verse translation, subtitled "a paraphrase from several literal
translations", in 1897. In his introductory note to the reader, Le Gallienne cites McCarthy's "charming prose" as the
chief influence on his version. Some example quatrains follow:
Look not above, there is no answer there;
Pray not, for no one listens to your prayer;
Near is as near to God as any Far,
And Here is just the same deceit as There.
(#78, on p. 44)
And do you think that unto such as you;
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew:
God gave the secret, and denied it me?--
Well, well, what matters it! Believe that, too.
(#85, p. 47)
"Did God set grapes a-growing, do you think,
And at the same time make it sin to drink?
Give thanks to Him who foreordained it thus--
Surely He loves to hear the glasses clink!"
(#91, p. 48)
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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Edward Heron-Allen
Edward Heron-Allen (18611943) published a prose translation in 1898. He also wrote an introduction to an edition
of Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo) s translation into English of Nicolass French translation.
Example quatrain (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
I desire a little ruby wine and a book of verses,
Just enough to keep me alive, and half a loaf is needful;
And then, that I and thou should sit in a desolate place
Is better than the kingdom of a sultan.
Franz Toussaint
The best-known version in French is the free verse edition by Franz Toussaint (18791955) published in 1924. This
translation consisting of 170 quatrains was done from the original Persian text, while most of the other French
translations were themselves translations of FitzGerald's work. The ditions d'art Henri Piazza published the book
almost unchanged between 1924 and 1979. Toussaint's translation has served as the basis of subsequent translations
into other languages, but Toussaint did not live to witness the influence his translation has had.
Quatrain XXV (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Au printemps, je vais quelquefois masseoir la lisire dun champ fleuri. Lorsquune belle jeune fille
mapporte une coupe de vin, je ne pense gure mon salut. Si javais cette proccupation, je vaudrais
moins quun chien.
A. J. Arberry
In 1959, Professor A. J. Arberry, a distinguished scholar of Persian and Arabic, attempted to produce a scholarly
edition of Khayyam, based on thirteenth-century manuscripts. However, his manuscripts were subsequently exposed
as twentieth-century forgeries.
Robert Graves and Omar Ali-Shah
While Arberrys work had been misguided, it was published in good faith. The 1967 translation of the Rubiyat by
Robert Graves and Omar Ali-Shah, however, created a scandal. The authors claimed it was based on a
twelfth-century manuscript located in Afghanistan, where it was allegedly utilized as a Sufi teaching document. But
the manuscript was never produced, and British experts in Persian literature were easily able to prove that the
translation was in fact based on Edward Heron Allen's analysis of possible sources for FitzGeralds work.
[2]
Quatrains 11 and 12 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Should our day's portion be one mancel loaf,
A haunch of mutton and a gourd of wine
Set for us two alone on the wide plain,
No Sultan's bounty could evoke such joy.
A gourd of red wine and a sheaf of poems
A bare subsistence, half a loaf, not more
Supplied us two alone in the free desert:
What Sultan could we envy on his throne?
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs
A modern version of 235 quatrains, claiming to be "as literal an English version of the Persian originals as
readability and intelligibility permit", published in 1979 by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs. Their edition
provides two versions of the thematic quatrain, the first (98) considered by the Persian writer Sadeq Hedayat to be a
spurious attribution.
98.
I need a jug of wine and a book of poetry,
Half a loaf for a bite to eat,
Then you and I, seated in a deserted spot,
Will have more wealth than a Sultan's realm.
234.
If chance supplied a loaf of white bread,
Two casks of wine and a leg of mutton,
In the corner of a garden with a tulip-cheeked girl,
There'd be enjoyment no Sultan could outdo.
Karim Emami
In 1988, the Rubaiyat were translated by a Persian translator for the first time. Karim Emami's translation of the
Rubaiyat was published under the title The Wine of Nishapour in Paris. The Wine of Nishapour is the collection of
Khayyam's poetry by Shahrokh Golestan, including Golestan's pictures in front of each poem.
[3]
Emami was an
outstanding translator of English in Iran, who had also translated many contemporary Persian poems.
Example from Emami's work:
It's early dawn, my love, open your eyes and arise
Gently imbibing and playing the lyre;
For those who are here will not tarry long,
And those who are gone will not return.
Example quatrain 160 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
In spring if a houri-like sweetheart
Gives me a cup of wine on the edge of a green cornfield,
Though to the vulgar this would be blasphemy,
If I mentioned any other Paradise, I'd be worse than a dog.
Ahmed Rami
Ahmed Rami, a famous late Egyptian poet, translated the work into Arabic. His translation was sung by Umm
Kulthum.
Ahmad Saidi
In 1991 Ahmad Saidi (19041994) produced an English translation of 165 quatrains grouped into 10 themes. Born
and raised in Iran, Saidi went to the United States in 1931 and attended college there. He served as the head of the
Persian Publication Desk at the U.S. Office of War Information during World War II, inaugurated the Voice of
America to Iran, and prepared an English-Persian military dictionary for the Department of Defense. His quatrains
include the original Persian verses for reference alongside his English translations. His focus was to faithfully
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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convey, with less poetic license, Khayyams original religious, mystical, and historic Persian themes, through the
verses as well as his extensive annotations. Two example quatrains follow:
Quatrain 16 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XII in his 5th edition, as above):
Ah, would there were a loaf of bread as fare,
A joint of lamb, a jug of vintage rare,
And you and I in wilderness encamped
No Sultans pleasure could with ours compare.
Quatrain 75:
The sphere upon which mortals come and go,
Has no end nor beginning that we know;
And none there is to tell us in plain truth:
Whence do we come and whither do we go.
Other languages
Many Russian-language translations have been undertaken, reflecting the popularity of the Rubaiyat in Russia
since the late 19th century and the increasingly popular tradition of using it for the purposes of bibliomancy. The
earliest verse translation (by V. L. Velichko) was published in 1891. The version by Osip Rumer published in
1914 is a translation of FitzGerald's version. Rumer later published a version of 304 rubaiyat translated directly
from Persian. A lot of poetic translations (some based on verbatim translations into prose by others) were also
written by German Plisetsky, Konstantin Bal'mont, Ts. Banu, I. Tkhorzhevsky, L. Pen'kovsky, and others.
In Polish, several collections of Rubaiyat have appeared, including one by Professor Andrzej Gawroski, which is
regarded as the best.
Poet Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven (18731932, author of Die Stem van Suid-Afrika) produced the first
translation in Afrikaans. Herman Charles Bosman wrote a translation in Afrikaans published in 1948.
Eric Hermelin translated the Rubaiyat into Swedish in 1928.
G. Sankara Kurup produced a translation into Malayalam (1932)
Thirunalloor Karunakaran translated the Rubaiyat into Malayalam in 1989.
Duvvoori Ramireddy translated the Rubaiyat into Telugu in 1935.
Maithili Sharan Gupt and Harivanshrai Bachchan translated the book into Hindi in 1959.
Kantichandra Ghosh, Muhammad Shahidullah (in 1942), Kazi Nazrul Islam (in 1958) and Shakti Chattopadhyay
(in 1978) produced translations into Bengali
D. V. Gundappa translated the work into Kannada as a collection of poems titled "Umarana Osage" in 1952
Gopal Chandra Kanungo illustrated and translated the book into Oriya in 1954. Devdas Chhotray adapted Edward
Fitzgerald's work in Oriya and recorded it in musical form in 2011.
Sir John Morris-Jones translated direct from Persian into Welsh in 1928.
Thomas Ifor Rees produced a Welsh translation, published in Mexico City in 1939.
Francesco Gabrieli produced an Italian translation (Le Rubaiyyt di Omar Khayym) in 1944. Alessandro Bausani
produced another translation in 1965.
Franque Le Maistre produced a Jrriais version (based on FitzGerald's 1st edition) during the German occupation
of the Channel Islands 19401945.
Robert Bin Shaaban produced a version in Swahili (dated 1948, published 1952)
Kerson Huang based a Chinese version on FitzGerald's version. Other than that there are altogether 48
translations(partial or complete) into Chinese, the complete list can be found at Baidu Baike.
In 1990, Jowann Richards produced a Cornish translation.
Scottish poet Rab Wilson published a version in Scots in 2004.
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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Fan Noli produced an Albanian translation, the melody and poetics of which are highly regarded.
At least four versions exist in the Thai language. These translations were made from the work of Edward
FitzGerald many years ago. Their respective authors are HRH Prince Narathip Prapanpong, Rainan Aroonrungsee
(pen name: Naan Gitirungsi), Pimarn Jamjarus (pen name: Kaen Sungkeet), and Suriyachat Chaimongkol.
Haljand Udam produced an Estonian translation.
The poet J. H. Leopold (18651925) rendered a number of Rubaiyat in Dutch.
The Kurdish poet Hajar translated the Rubaiyat in his Chwar Parchakani Xayam, which is also available as an
audiobook in which the narrator sings the verses.
Armenian poet Kevork Emin has translated several verses of the Rubaiyat.
The Assyrian journalist and poet Naum Faiq translated the Rubaiyat into the Syriac language.
The Assyrian author Eshaya Elisha Khinno translated the Rubaiyat into Sureth (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic)
In Finnish language first translations were made by Toivo Lyy in 1929. More recently Jaakko Hmeen-Anttila
(1999 and 2008) and Kiamars Baghban with Leevi Lehto (2009) have translated Khayyam in Finnish.
The earliest translation in Hungarian consisted of a few stanzas taken from the French version of Nicolas, by Bla
Erdi in 1919-20. Lrinc Szab finalized his translation of the Fitzgerald version in 1943.
First Czech translator is Josef tbr. At first he translated from English (from Fitzgerald's "translations") (1922),
after that from original language (1931). Translation from original can be found on Czech wikisource (770
poems). Next translators are mentioned here.
The first translator into Slovene was Alojz Gradnik, his translation being published in 1955. It was translated
again by slovene translator and poet Bert Pribac in 2007 from the French Toussaint edition.
[4]
The first translation of nine short poems into Serbo-Croatian was published in 1920, and was the work of Safvet
beg Baagi. In 1932, Jelena Skerli-orovi re-published these nine, alongside 75 more poems. In 1964, a noted
orientalist Fehim Bajraktarevi published his translation of Rubaiyat.
H Thng Tuy translated from English into Vietnamese (from FitzGeralds 1st edition) in 1990.
Nguyn Vit Thng produced a Vietnamese translation of 487 rubaiyat, translated from English and Russian in
1995, published in Hanoi in 2003.
Xabier Correa Corredoira published a Galician translation in 2010.
Hemendra Kumar Roy translated the Rubaiyat into Bengali.
Christos Marketis translated 120 rubaiyat into Greek in 1975.
Srimadajjada Adibhatla Narayana Das (18641945) translated the original Persian quatrains and Edward
Fitzgerald's English translations into Sanskrit and pure-Telugu. Pandit Narayana Das claimed his translation was
more literal than that of Fitzgerald. See: Ajjada Adibhatla Narayana Dasu
In Japan, until 1949, more than 10 poets and/or scholars made translations into Japanese.
[5]
The first complete
translation from Persian into the modern Japanese language was made by Ryosaku Ogawa in 1949, which is still
popular and has been published from Iwanami Shoten (it is now under public domain and also freely available
from Aozora Bunko). Historically, the first attempt is 6 poems translated by Kambara Ariake in 1908. In 1910,
Kakise Hikozo translated 110 poems from the 5th edition of FitzGerald's translation. The first translation from
Persian into the classical Japanese language was made by a linguist Shigeru Araki in 1920. Among other various
translations, Ogawa highly evaluates Ryo Mori (ja: )'s one produced in 1931.
Naum Faiq, A prominent Assyrian journalist and author translated the quatrains into Syriac. The translation exist
in its manuscript form and remains unpublished.
In Ethiopian all of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam are under Amharic language on Ethiopian university. you could
read itinerary of Houshang Shamee to Africa.
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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Authenticity and analysis
The number of quatrains attributed to Khayyam varies from about 1,200 (according to Saeed Nafisi) to over 2,000.
Many scholars believe that not all the attributed quatrains are authentic and some have been added to Khayyam's
Diwan in later years for various reasons. A few literary researchers, for example, Mohammad-Ali Foroughi and
Farzaneh Aghaeipour have selected and published a subset of the quatrains believed to be original using various
research methods.
Mystical interpretation
"Wine of the Mystic" by Paramahansa Yogananda, is an illustrated interpretation of the FitzGerald translation. Each
quatrain is accompanied with Persian text, a glossary of terms, Yoganada's spiritual interpretation, and practical
interpretation. It won the 1994 Benjamin Franklin Award in the field of Religion. Yogananda makes an argument for
the mystical basis of Khayyam's Rubaiyat.
In Who is the Potter? ,
[6]
Abdullah Dougan, a Naqshbandi Sufi, provides a verse-by-verse commentary of the
Rubaiyat. Dougan says that while Omar is a minor Sufi teacher compared to the giants Rumi, Attar and Sanai, for
us he is a marvelous man because we can feel for him and understand his approach. The work is much more
accessible than Sanais for instance; "Every line of the Rubaiyat has more meaning than almost anything you could
read in Sufi literature". Dougan says that the many critics of Fitzgerald miss the point as he is only an instrument for
what Allah wanted to happen there have been many more literally correct translations, but Fitzgeralds is divine
inspiration, something far superior, a miracle. In Dougans opinion, while many read the Rubaiyat literally and hence
see Omar as a materialist, he is in fact a spiritual teacher and is much maligned because people do not understand
him. Abdullah Dougan says the work is deeply esoteric and "if you approach the quatrains with that in mind, the
poem will have a tremendous impact on you as you try to understand it."
Religious beliefs were deeply instilled in the people of the time, which gave much influence to the clergy, and the
prosecution of poets who made statements contradictory to religious messages were prevalent, as was the case with
Hafiz (whose house was raided several times, and was forced to burn some of his more liberal poems) and Ferdowsi
(who was branded a heretic and was not permitted to be buried in the Muslims graveyard).
The mystic interpretation of themes in poetry which were contrary to Islamic teachings became popular after the
Safavid dynasty rise to power and the establishing of Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of Iran. At
this time poets such as Ferdowsi (who glorified the pre-Islamic Iran and patriotism), Hafiz (with his Epicurean view
on life) and Khayyam (with openly agnostic themed poetry) had already found their roots among Iranian culture and
their works were looked upon as masterpieces of Persian literature. In order to justify their popularity and lay
credence to their messages, many Haram themes were interpreted as having hidden mystical meanings and
parallels were drawn between verses and Shi'a themes and traditions. Some religious hardliners however repudiated
Khayyam and the like altogether (and to a lesser extent still do today).
Everything aside, Khayyam never identified himself as a Sufi nor did anyone in his time. On several occasions, in
fact, he mocks the devoutly religious who criticize the non-religious.
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Influence
Literature
Like Shakespeare's works, Omar Khayym's verses have provided later authors with quotations to use as titles:
The title of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novel Some Buried Caesar comes from one of the Tentmaker's quatrains
(FitzGerald's XVIII), for example.
Eugene O'Neill's drama Ah, Wilderness! derives its title from the first quoted quatrain above.
Agatha Christie used The Moving Finger as a story title, as did Stephen King. See also And Having Writ.
Lan Wright used Dawn's Left Hand as the title of a science fiction story serialized in New Worlds Science Fiction
(JanuaryMarch 1963).
The title of Allen Drury's science fiction novel The Throne of Saturn comes from a quatrain which appears as the
book's epigraph.
Equally noteworthy are these works likewise influenced:
The satirist and short story writer Hector Hugh Munro took his pen name of 'Saki' from Edward FitzGerald's
translation of the Rubaiyat.
The American author O. Henry humorously referred to a book by "Homer KM" with the character "Ruby Ott" in
his short story "The Handbook of Hymen. " O. Henry also quoted a quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
in "The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Highball."
Oliver Herford released a parody of the Rubaiyat called "The Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten" in 1904, which is
notable for its charming illustrations of the kitten in question on his philosophical adventures.
The American horror author H P Lovecraft created an Arab poet Abdul Alhazred to whom was attributed a
couplet:
That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange aeons even death may die.
Lovecraft was obsessed with the Arabian Nights and had no doubt read the Fitzgerald translation - the couplet
follows Fitzgerald's metre and rhyme pattern for the first half of a Khayyam quatrain.
The artist/illustrator Edmund Dulac produced some much-beloved illustrations for the Rubaiyat, 1909.
The play The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) by Sean O'Casey contains a reference to the Rubaiyat as the character
Donal Davoren quotes "grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, and mould life nearer to the heart's desire."
The Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges discusses The Rubaiyat and its history in an essay, "The Enigma of
Edward FitzGerald" ("El enigma de Edward FitzGerald") in his book "Other Inquisitions" ("Otras Inquisiciones",
1952). He also references it in some of his poems, including "Rubaiyat" in "The Praise of the Shadow" ("Elogio
de la Sombra", 1969), and "Chess" ("Ajedrez") in "The Maker" ("El Hacedor", 1960). Borges' father Jorge
Guillermo Borges was the author of a Spanish translation of the FitzGerald version of The Rubaiyat.
Science fiction author Paul Marlowe's story "Resurrection and Life" featured a character who could only
communicate using lines from the Rubaiyat.
Wendy Cope's poem "Strugnell's Rubiyat" is a close parody of the FitzGerald translation, relocated to modern day
Tulse Hill.
One of the title pages of Principia Discordia (1965), a co-author of which went by the pen-name Omar Khayyam
Ravenhurst, features its own spin on the quatrain most quoted above:
A jug of wine,
A leg of lamb
And thou!
Beside me,
Whistling in
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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the darkness.
The Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf based his novel Samarkand (1988) on the life of Omar Khayyam, and the
creation of the Rubaiyat. It details the Assassin sect as well, and includes a fictional telling of how the
(non-existent) original manuscript came to be on the RMS Titanic.
In the opening chapter of his book God is Not Great (2007), Christopher Hitchens quotes from Richard Le
Gallienne's translation of Khayyam's famous quatrain:
And do you think that unto such as you
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew
God gave the secret, and denied it me?
Well, well--what matters it? Believe that, too!
S.P. Ward's Rubaicon (2013) is a poetic parody of the life of Omar Khayyam and uses the rubai form in parts of
its rhyming scheme.
The title of Daphne du Maurier's memoir Myself when Young is a quote from quatrain 27 of Fitzgerald's
translation:
Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.
Cinema
Filmmaker D.W. Griffith planned a film based on the poems as a follow-up to Intolerance in 1916. It was to star
Miriam Cooper, but when she left the Griffith company the plans were dropped; he would ultimately film Broken
Blossoms instead.
A canto was quoted and used as an underlying theme of the 1945 screen adaptation of The Picture of Dorian
Gray: "I sent my soul through the invisible, some letters of that after-life to spell, and by and by my soul did
return, and answered, 'I myself am Heaven and Hell.'"
The Rubaiyat was quoted in the 1946 King Vidor Western film Duel in the Sun, which starred Gregory Peck and
Jennifer Jones: "Oh threats of hell and hopes of paradise! One thing at least is certain: This life flies. One thing is
certain and the rest is Lies; The Flower that once is blown for ever dies."
The 1951 film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, starring James Mason and Ava Gardner, opens with an
illuminated manuscript of the quatrain beginning "The moving finger writes...".
In the film The Music Man (based on the 1957 musical), town librarian Marian Paroo draws down the wrath of the
mayor's wife for encouraging the woman's daughter to read a book of "dirty Persian poetry." Summarizing what
she calls the "Ruby Hat," the mayor's wife paraphrases FitzGerald's Quatrain XII from his 5th edition: "People
lying out in the woods eating sandwiches, and drinking directly out of jugs with innocent young girls."
The film Omar Khayyam, also known as The Loves Of Omar Khayyam, was released in 1957 by Paramount
Pictures and includes excerpts from the Rubaiyat.
The Rubaiyat was quoted in the film 12 Monkeys (1995) around 11 minutes in.
In Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful a copy of the text in French is quoted in English: "Drink wine, this is life eternal
//This, all that youth will give to you//It is the season for wine, roses//And drunken friends//Be happy for this
moment//This moment is your life." The book is a gift given flirtatiously to Diane Lane's character by Olivier
Martinez who plays rare book dealer Paul Martel in the film.
The Rubaiyat was quoted in the film The English Harem (2005):
"Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire// To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire!// Would not we
shatter it to bits-and then// Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!"
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
13
Music
The British composer Granville Bantock produced a choral setting of FitzGerald's translation 1906-1909.
Using FitzGerald's translation, the Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhaness set a dozen of the quatrains to
music. This work, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Op. 308, calls for narrator, orchestra, and solo accordion.
The Rubaiyat have also influenced Arabic music. In 1950 the Egyptian singer Oum Koulthoum recorded a song
entitled "Rubaiyat Al-Khayyam."
Woody Guthrie recorded an excerpt of the Rubaiyat set to music that was released on Hard Travelin' (The Asch
Recordings Vol. 3).
The Human Instinct's album Pins In It (1971) opens with a track called "Pinzinet," the lyrics of which are based
on the Rubaiyat.
Elektra Records released a compilation album named Rubiyt in 1990 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of
the Elektra Records record label.
Coldcut produced an album with a song called "Rubaiyat" on their album Let us Play! (1997). This song contains
what appears to be some words from the English translation. This was probably influenced by the ambitious 1970
album by jazz-soul harpist Dorothy Ashby, "The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby," which has become something of a
cult classic. The lyrics quote from several of the poem's verses, and the tracks' highly stylized and heavily
reverberated production values and pop mysticism have made it a favorite of samplers, beat-diggers, and fans of
psychedelic jazz and R&B.
The famed "skull and roses" poster for a Grateful Dead show at the Avalon Ballroom done by Alton Kelley and
Stanley Mouse was adapted from Edmund J. Sullivan's illustrations for The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
[7]
The work influenced the 2004 concept album The Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam by the Italian group Milagro
acustico(it).
The song "Beautiful Feeling" by Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, on 2004 album Ways and Means,
includes the lyrics "A jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thee, lying on a blanket underneath that big old spreading
tree." This song was used as the theme song in the 2004 Australian television drama, Fireflies.
Television
In one 6-episode story arc of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Bullwinkle finds the "Ruby Yacht of Omar
Khayyam" in the town of Frostbite Falls (on the shores of Veronica Lake, no less).
A copy of the Rubaiyat plays a role in an episode of the TV series New Amsterdam and is shown to be the
inspiration for the name of one of the lead character's children, Omar York.
In the Australian 2014 television drama, Anzac Girls, Lieutenant Harry Moffitt reads from the Rubaiyat to his
sweetheart, nurse Sister Alice Ross-King.
Other media
In Cyberflix's PC game Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, the object is to save three important items, the Rubaiyat
of Omar Khayyam, one of Adolf Hitler's paintings, and a notebook that proves German officials were attempting
to gain geo-political advantage by instigating communist revolution. Two passages from the book are also
included in the game as clues to progress the narrative.
Some versions of the computer game Colossal Cave Adventure feature a ruby-covered yacht called "Omar
Khayyam" (a pun - the "ruby yacht" of Omar Khayyam).
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
14
Other
In Australia, a copy of FitzGerald's translation and its closing words, Tamam Shud ("Ended"), were a major
component of the unsolved Taman Shud Case.
The Supreme Court of the Philippines, through a unanimous opinion penned in 2005 by Associate Justice
Leonardo Quisumbing, quoted The Moving Finger when it ruled that the widow of defeated presidential candidate
Fernando Poe Jr. could not substitute her late husband in his pending election protest against Philippine president
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, thus leading to the dismissal of the protest.
There was a real jewel-encrusted copy of the book on the Titanic. It was won at an auction and was being shipped
to New York. The book remains lost at the bottom of the Atlantic to this day.
Anniversary events
2009 marked the 150th anniversary of Fitzgerald's translation, and the 200th anniversary of Fitzgerald's birth. Events
marking these anniversaries included:
The Smithsonian's traveling exhibition Elihu Vedder's Drawings for the Rubaiyat at the Phoenix Art Museum,
November 15, 2008February 8, 2009
The exhibition Edward Fitzgerald & The Rubaiyat from the collection of Nicholas B. Scheetz at the Grolier Club,
January 22March 13, 2009.
The exhibition Omar Khayym. Een boek in de woestijn. 150 jaar in Engelse vertaling at the Museum
Meermanno, The Hague, January 31April 5, 2009
The exhibition The Persian Sensation: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in the West at the Harry Ransom
Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin, February 3August 2, 2009
An exhibition at the Cleveland Public Library Special Collections, opening February 15, 2009
The joint conference, Omar Khayyam, Edward FitzGerald and The Rubaiyat, held at Cambridge University and
Leiden University, July 610, 2009
The Folio Society published a limited edition (1,000 copies) of the Rubiyt to mark the 150th anniversary.
References
[1] Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Justin Huntly McCarthy MP. [London] : D. Nutt, 1889. (Source: Trinity College
Dublin Library (http:/ / library. catalogue.tcd. ie/ record=b13332609~S9))
[2] Aminrazavi, Mehdi: The Wine of Wisdom. Oneworld 2005, ISBN 1-85168-355-0, p. 155
[3] Emami, Karim. Ups and Downs of Translation, Tehran, 1988, pp. 134-169
[4] Rubaije Omera Hajjama (http:/ / www. mullasadra. com/ knjige/ RUBAIJE. html)
[5] Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat. Translated by . Iwanami Shoten, 1949 (revised ed. in 1979), pp. 167-173. ISBN 978-4003278314.
[6] Abdullah Dougan Who is the Potter? (http:/ / www.gnosticpress. co. nz/ ?page_id=149) Gnostic Press 1991 ISBN 0-473-01064-X
[7] Selvin, Joel. " Alton Kelley, psychedelic poster creator, dies (http:/ / www. sfgate. com/ cgi-bin/ article. cgi?f=/ c/ a/ 2008/ 06/ 03/
BAQS111UJ4.DTL)". San Francisco Chronicle. 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Rubiyt of Omar Khayym (Le Gallienne)
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
15
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Omar Khayyam.
Listen to The Rubiyt of Omar Khayym (http:/ / librivox. org/
the-rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam-by-omar-khayyam-2/ ) translated by Edward Fitzgerald - Free Audiobook at
LibriVox
Listen to The Rubiyt of Omar Khayym (http:/ / archive. org/ details/ rubaiyat_legallienne_1301_librivox)
translated by Richard LeGalliene - Free Audiobook at The Internet Archive
The illustrated Rubiyt of Omar Khayym (http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/
TheRubaiyatOfOmarKhayyam-FirstVersion-Illustrated), translated by Edward Fitzgerald, at Internet Archive.
The Persian Poet (http:/ / www. omar-khayyam. org), contains the translations by Edward FitzGerald and a
biography.
Graves and Ali-Shah. (http:/ / tls. timesonline. co. uk/ article/ 0,,25336-1947980,00. html)
Project Gutenberg: etext#246 (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ etext/ 246) (translation by Edward FitzGerald) and
etext#5408 (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ etext/ 5408) (a parody by Wallace Irvin)
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (http:/ / www. okonlife. com/ poems/ ) a collection of rubaiyat in Persian,
accompanied by several translations into English and German.
The entire book (http:/ / sharewareebooks. com/ eBooks/ Literature/
Edward_FitzGerald,_"Rubaiyat_of_Omar_Khayyam") in DNL E-Book format.
Fitzgerald's translation (http:/ / www. androlib. com/ android. application. com-staircase3-rubaiyat-AmED. aspx)
as an app for Android mobile phones.
The complete four edition translations (http:/ / www. kellscraft. com/ rubaiyatcontent. html) by Edward
FitzGerald, with illustrations by Blanche McManus at Kellscraft.com.
A comparison between (http:/ / members. iinet. net. au/ ~ploke/ Omar/ compare. html) the translations by
Heron-Allen and Talbot.
Syracuse University's Special Collections Research Center (http:/ / library. syr. edu/ information/ spcollections/ )
has in its Rare Books holdings more than 300 different editions of the Rubaiyat
The Harry Ransom Center (http:/ / www. hrc. utexas. edu/ collections/ books/ holdings/ khayyam/ ) at the
University of Texas at Austin holds over 1,500 items related to the Rubaiyat, including two copies of the first
edition, hundreds of editions, translations, and parodies, several Persian manuscripts containing rubaiyat, and
ephemera, manuscripts and correspondence documenting the phenomenon of "Omariana"
Who is the Potter? (http:/ / www. gnosticpress. co. nz/ ?page_id=149) - a commentary on the Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam by Abdullah Dougan - a modern Sufi's understanding.
at Baidu Baike (http:/ / baike. baidu. com/ view/ 949677. htm) can find a list of 48 Chinese translations.
Welcome to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (http:/ / theland. antgear. com/ Rubaiyat/ index. html) A growing
collection of famous and obscure translations of the Rubaiyat.
Toussaint's Translation (French) (http:/ / wikilivres. ca/ wiki/ Robaiyat)
Article Sources and Contributors
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