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    The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
    The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
    The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
    Ebook82 pages1 hour

    The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

    By Omar Khayyam and Edward FitzGerald

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 1969
    Author

    Omar Khayyam

    Omar Khayyam (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet. He was born in Nishapur, in northeastern Iran, and spent most of his life near the court of the Karakhanid and Seljuq rulers in the period which witnessed the First Crusade. (Wikipedia)

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    Reviews for The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

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    • 1/5
      I haven't a clue what I just read, was way over my head. To my poor addled brain it was just line after line of sentences that made no sense to one whose Menopause Fairy has long ago eaten her brain.
    • 5/5
      Lovely illustrations by Dulac.
    • 5/5
      A deserved classic, Fitzgerald's translation of the poetry of Omar Kayyam, here presented in his first two editions, is simply transcendent. In fact I compared the two editions and even though they communicated the same pearl their "shells" were completely different. Fitzgerald said he took liberties with the original verse, and if he did I actually applaud him because what's contained in this volume is nevertheless a living thing in the English language. Rarely have I seen verse this wise, this celebratory, this probing through our materialistic world. If that's what Omar Kayyam had intended to communicate through his verse then Fitzgerald is actually truer to Kayyam than if he had stuck closely to what was literal and there.
    • 4/5
      I originally read this in high school and have not ventured back since then. It is in many ways a long plea for carpe diem and a kind of "To His Coy Mistress" seduction song, with the mistress being both a woman and wine. I was reminded of the number of common expressions which came from this poem. One I did not recall, but admire is:

      "The Stars are setting and the Caravan/Starts for the Dawn of Nothing..."
    • 3/5
      Lovely poetry -- I didn't realize some of the more familiar lines came from this -- "The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on."
    • 3/5
      One thing I learned...Omar Khayyam was all about the wine drinking! I've mentioned before, poetry isn't really my cup of tea but drinking as much wine as I do, it was entertaining to read this collection of poetry. Though marked as 14th century literature according to first known edition, Omar Khayyam actually lived during the 11th and 12th century. To read something this old was definitely interesting. This edition in particular actually contained the first and fourth edition of the book and although very similar, the translations are different. I enjoyed comparing how much the world changes in just a few years. (Sorry I can't remember what the exact years were, and I already returned the book to the library.) Anyway, not bad. And now I've almost completed the poetry across the centuries challenge, only one more book to go! ;)
    • 4/5
      Verses from this are the first I ever memorized and had to recite (that I can remember anyway). It was in 8th grade, and when I reread the book at leisure as an adult, I was amazed at how different my perception of the themes is now that I am 10 years older.
    • 5/5
      Would that I had read this sooner, and frequently.
    • 4/5
      Omar Khayyám was a twelfth-century scientist and poet in Persia. This slim volume contains seventy-five quatrains (rubáiyát) each accompanied by an illustration by Sullivan. The text was translated by Fitzgerald in the late nineteenth century. The central theme of the poetry presented her seems to be drink and be merry, but especially drink. Khayyám is very fond of the daughter of the vine, as he calls it. Some of the poems also reveal a personal philosophy that no one knows why we are here on this earth and we never will learn, so live for today because yesterday has passed and tomorrow never really comes. I enjoyed the poetry, though it was sometimes difficult to understand. (That probably owes to the date of the translation and to my own unfamiliarity with poetry in general.) Each drawing coincides with a quatrain of the poem. The artwork is truly wonderful, line and ink drawings with expressive faces and lithe bodies. I quite liked this book and would like to read another edition, with a more modern translation.
    • 2/5
      I feel like this translation was significantly coloured by Colonial perspectives of translator Edward FitzGerald and lacks the truth of the poetry I expected.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully illustrated in an art deco style in both coloured and b&w line drawings.
    • 2/5
      I was expecting more from this than it seemed to deliver. it's a series of 4 lines verses that sound good, but, mostly, seemed to be concerned with drinking! There's a lot of taverns and pots and vines going on in here. I'm not sure this was the great work of mystical literature I was expecting.
    • 3/5
      This is an odd one. It reminds me of the Book of Ecclesiastes if Solomon had gotten too deep into his cups while writing it. A quick read, though!
    • 5/5
      Having read several other editions of the Rubáiyát, this is the first time I've read one with FitzGerald's foreword and his notes, which added much to the experience this time around.

      I was not previously aware of the debate regarding the possibility of reading Khayyám's frequent references to wine as literal (how I'd previously read it) or as a metaphor for divinity. Interestingly, having introduced me to the debate, FitzGerald comes down firmly on the literalist side. Nevertheless, I've enjoyed reading this one with the metaphor in mind and it will inform future readings. I understand FitzGerald's position, though, as not all of the stanzas lend themselves to a mystical rendition, however that could be due either to his translation or my own lack of spiritual knowledge.

      However that may be, this remains my favourite book of poetry (admittedly out of a relatively limited exposure to verse).
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed the Rubaiyat so much that I memorized it as a young man, while walking home from work. I was only able to recall the entire book 4 times, but I can still recall certain quatrains.
    • 5/5
      Collins' delightful little edition, 6" x 4", red-leather-bound, includes an introduction by Laurence Housman, illustrations by Marjorie Anderson, and versions of both the 1959 and the 1868 versions of the poem.
    • 4/5
      The poetry is beautiful, the rhyme scheme is melodic, and the illustrations definitely enhance the words. I came away with an appreciation of the beauty of the words, the pictures, and life in general. It can be read in about an hour. It can be studied and analysed for a lifetime.
    • 4/5
      A great poem rendered in rhyming format by Edward FitzGerald. This book also has very beautiful illustrations by Edmunt J. Sullivan.
    • 3/5
      An interesting linguistic curiosity
    • 5/5
      The particular edition I read comes with an amazing wealth of detail, including a long introduction, a facsimile of the original manuscript and detailed information on the translation from the Persian (Farsi). Unfortunately I only managed to read a few pages of the introduction and didn't have time to read the quattrains with the attention they deserved. As a result, I have only my own uneducated impressions to go by. I was fascinated by the tension and ambiguity between divinity and earthly pleasures (wine). My sense was that this tension is deliberate. A colleague summed it up beautifully as the impossible tension between the desire to live divinely, but the knowledge that it is physically impossible to do other than live in the real world, which involves acquiring money and possessions, and earthly pleasures. This is an impossible tension to reconcile and yet it exists. What did seem clear was the view that it is better to worship God sincerely in a tavern than to feign worship in a mosque. Absolutely fascinating reading.
    • 5/5
      Timeless & Deep Poetry, with a good dose of obtuse, philosophical humor. Highly Recommended.---

    Book preview

    The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Omar Khayyam

    The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, by Omar Khayyam

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

    almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

    re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

    with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

    Title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

    Author: Omar Khayyam

    Translator: Edward Fitzgerald

    Release Date: July 10, 2008 [EBook #246]

    Last Updated: February 4, 2013

    Language: English

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM ***

    Produced by Judy Boss, Gregory Walker, and David Widger

    RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM

    By Omar Khayyam

    Rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald

    Contents

    Introduction

    Omar Khayyam, The Astronomer-Poet of Persia.

    Omar Khayyam was born at Naishapur in Khorassan in the latter half of our Eleventh, and died within the First Quarter of our Twelfth Century. The Slender Story of his Life is curiously twined about that of two other very considerable Figures in their Time and Country: one of whom tells the Story of all Three. This was Nizam ul Mulk, Vizier to Alp Arslan the Son, and Malik Shah the Grandson, of Toghrul Beg the Tartar, who had wrested Persia from the feeble Successor of Mahmud the Great, and founded that Seljukian Dynasty which finally roused Europe into the Crusades. This Nizam ul Mulk, in his Wasiyat—or Testament—which he wrote and left as a Memorial for future Statesmen—relates the following, as quoted in the Calcutta Review, No. 59, from Mirkhond's History of the Assassins.

    'One of the greatest of the wise men of Khorassan was the Imam Mowaffak of Naishapur, a man highly honored and reverenced,—may God rejoice his soul; his illustrious years exceeded eighty-five, and it was the universal belief that every boy who read the Koran or studied the traditions in his presence, would assuredly attain to honor and happiness. For this cause did my father send me from Tus to Naishapur with Abd-us-samad, the doctor of law, that I might employ myself in study and learning under the guidance of that illustrious teacher. Towards me he ever turned an eye of favor and kindness, and as his pupil I felt for him extreme affection and devotion, so that I passed four years in his service. When I first came there, I found two other pupils of mine own age newly arrived, Hakim Omar Khayyam, and the ill- fated Ben Sabbah. Both were endowed with sharpness of wit and the highest natural powers; and we three formed a close friendship together. When the Imam rose from his lectures, they used to join me, and we repeated to each other the lessons we had heard. Now Omar was a native of Naishapur, while Hasan Ben Sabbah's father was one Ali, a man of austere life and practise, but heretical in his creed and doctrine. One day Hasan said to me and to Khayyam, It is a universal belief that the pupils of the Imam Mowaffak will attain to fortune. Now, even if we all do not attain thereto, without doubt one of us will; what then shall be our mutual pledge and bond? We answered, Be it what you please. Well, he said, let us make a vow, that to whomsoever this fortune falls, he shall share it equally with the rest, and reserve no pre-eminence for himself. Be it so," we both replied, and on those terms we mutually pledged our words. Years rolled on, and I went from Khorassan to Transoxiana, and wandered to Ghazni and Cabul; and when I returned, I was invested with office, and rose to be administrator of affairs during the Sultanate of Sultan Alp Arslan.'

    "He goes on to state, that years passed by, and both his old school- friends found him out, and came and claimed a share in his good fortune, according to the school-day vow. The Vizier was generous and kept his word. Hasan demanded a place in the government, which the Sultan granted at the Vizier's request; but discontented with a gradual rise, he plunged into the maze of intrigue of an oriental court, and, failing in a base attempt to supplant his benefactor, he was disgraced and fell. After many mishaps and wanderings, Hasan became the head of the Persian sect of the Ismailians,—a party of fanatics who had long murmured in obscurity, but rose to an evil eminence under the guidance of his

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