Rubaiyat of Omar KhayyamIn the eleventh century, in Persia, there lived a mathematician named Ghiyathuddin Abulfath Omar bin Ibrahim al-Khayyami--or, Omar, son of Abraham, the tent-maker. Omar wrote poetry, and while his rhymes received little attention in their day, they were rediscovered and translated into beautiful English--more than seven centuries later--by a gentleman and scholar named Edward FitzGerald. It was a meeting of minds, a great collaboration of the past and the present, and FitzGerald's rendition of those passionate verses has become one of the best loved poem cycles in the English language. With their concern for the here and now, as opposed to the hereafter, Omar Khayyam's quatrains are as romantic today as they were hundreds of years ago; they are a tribute to the power of one moment's pleasure over a lifetime of sorrow, of desire over the vicissitudes of time. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, presented here with Edward FitzGerald's original preface, is truly a classic, and it will stand forever as one of our finest monuments to love. |
Common terms and phrases
and-sans End Ashes-or it prospers Bahrám Belovéd Beside me singing Book of Verse-and Bough Bowl buried Cæsar bled but-Wine Calcutta Caravanserai Clay Couch-for cried dánad u dánad drink Drink!-for dynasty EDITION EDWARD FITZGERALD Fate fill the Cup Firdúsi fire of Spring flung Garden Háfiz haps Hasan Hátim heard Heaven hither hurried Whence Hour or two-is Hunter-the Imám Mowaffak Jamshyd Kaikobád Khiam Khorassán King Lip it murmur'd-"While little Hour lovely Head Lucretius Malik Shah merry mighty Mahmúd Moon Muezzin Mushtara mystical Naishápúr Night Nightingale Nizám al Mulk old Khayyám Omar Khayyám Omar's Paradise enow Péhlevi Persian red The Rose Rubáiyát Rustum Sabbáh Shah-náma story Súfi Sultán after Sultán Sultán rises Sultan showered favours Supper-heed Tetrastichs THEE Throne Throne of Saturn TO-DAY Translated Turns Ashes-or two-is gone Vernal Equinox verse Verse-and Thou Beside Vessel Vintage Vizier whither Wilderness is Paradise willy-nilly blowing Wine