The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that
Edward FitzGeraldEdward FitzGerald was an English writer, best known as the poet of the first and most famous English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The spelling of his name as both FitzGerald and Fitzgerald is seen...
gave to his translation of a selection of poems, originally written in
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and of which there are about a thousand, attributed to
Omar KhayyámOmar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....
(1048–1131), a
Persian poetPersian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
, mathematician and astronomer. A
ruba'i is a two-line stanza with two parts (or
hemistichA hemistich is a half-line of verse, followed and preceded by a caesura, that makes up a single overall prosodic or verse unit. In Classical poetry, the hemistich is generally confined to drama. In Greek tragedy, characters exchanging clipped dialogue to suggest rapidity and drama would speak in...
s) per line, hence the word
rubáiyát (derived from the
Arabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
rootThe root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
for "four"), meaning "
quatrainA quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...
s".
Translations
The nature of a
translationTranslation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
very much depends on what interpretation one places on Khayyam's philosophy. The fact that the rubaiyat are 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
SufiSufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
. Others have seen signs of
mysticismMysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, even
atheismAtheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, or conversely devout and orthodox
IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. FitzGerald gave the Rubaiyat a distinct
fatalisticFatalism is a philosophical doctrine emphasizing the subjugation of all events or actions to fate.Fatalism generally refers to several of the following ideas:...
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
The translations that are best known in English are those of about a hundred of the verses by
Edward FitzGeraldEdward FitzGerald was an English writer, best known as the poet of the first and most famous English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The spelling of his name as both FitzGerald and Fitzgerald is seen...
(1809–1883).
- 1st edition – 1859
- 2nd edition – 1868
- 3rd edition – 1872
- 4th edition – 1879
- 5th edition – 1889
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 "
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 one’s own worse Life if one can’t retain the Original’s 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, which can be traced back to at least two original quatrains that FitzGerald conflated into one:
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!"
|
The following are several samples of Fitzgerald's translation, concluding with another
well-known verse (FitzGerald's quatrain LI in his 1st edition):
Some for the pleasures here below
Others yearn 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."
Graf von Schack
Adolf Friedrich von Schack (1815–1894) published a German translation in 1878.
Quatrain 151 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Gönnt mir, mit dem Liebchen im Gartenrund
Zu weilen bei süßem Rebengetränke,
Und nennt mich schlimmer als einen Hund,
Wenn ferner an’s Paradies ich denke!
Omar Kayyim'
Friedrich von Bodenstedt
Friedrich Martinus von BodenstedtFriedrich Martin von Bodenstedt was a German author.Bodenstedt was born at Peine, in the Kingdom of Hanover. He studied in Göttingen, Munich and Berlin....
(1819–1892) 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 Frühling mag ich gern im Grüne 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 Whinfield (1836-?) 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 j’aime à m’asseoir au bord d’une prairie, avec une idole semblable à une houri et une cruche de vin, s’il y en a, et bien que tout cela soit généralement blâmé, je veux être pire qu’un chien si jamais je songe au paradis.
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 o’erflowing,
I pass the day upon this Waving Meadow,
And dream the while, no thought on Heaven bestowing.
Justin Huntly McCarthy
Justin Huntly McCarthy (1859–1936) (Member of Parliament for
NewryNewry was a United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland, returning one MP. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801.-Members of Parliament:...
) published prose translations of 466 quatrains in 1889.
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 GallienneRichard Le Gallienne was an English author and poet. The American actress Eva Le Gallienne was his daughter, by his second marriage.-Life and career:...
(1866–1947) 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.
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.
"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!"
Edward Heron-Allen
Edward Heron-Allen (1861–1943) published a prose translation in 1898. He also wrote an introduction to an edition of
Frederick RolfeFrederick William Rolfe, better known as Baron Corvo, and also calling himself 'Frederick William Serafino Austin Lewis Mary Rolfe', , was an English writer, artist, photographer and eccentric...
(Baron Corvo) ’s translation into English of Nicolas’s 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 (1879–1955) 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
Éditions 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.
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 Arberry’s work had been misguided, it was published in good faith. The 1967 translation of the Rubáiyat by
Robert GravesRobert von Ranke Graves 24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985 was an English poet, translator and novelist. During his long life he produced more than 140 works...
and
Omar Ali-ShahOmar Ali-Shah was a prominent exponent of modern Naqshbandi Sufism who lived from 1922 to 2005. He wrote a number of books on the subject, and was head of a large number of sufi groups, particularly in Latin America, Europe and Canada.- Life and work :...
, 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 FitzGerald’s work.
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?
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. 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, for the very first time, the Rubaiyat were translated by a Persian translator.
Karim EmamiKarim Emami was a highly regarded Iranian translator, editor, lexicographer, and literary critic.-Life:Emami was born in 1930 in Calcutta, a frequent destination of his father, a tea merchant...
'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. 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 RamiAhmed Mohammed Rami was an Egyptian poet. He is best known for writing lyrics for the famous Egyptian singers Umm Kalthoum and Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Rami was also a translator. His famous works include translations of several of Shakespeare's plays and the famous quatrains of the Persian poet...
, a famous late Egyptian poet, translated the work into Arabic. His translation was sung by
Umm Kulthum.
Other languages
- Many Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
translations have been undertaken, reflecting the popularity of the Rubaiyat in RussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
since the late 19th century and the increasingly popular tradition of using it for the purposes of bibliomancyBibliomancy is the use of books in divination. The method of employing sacred books for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world:-Terminology:...
. 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
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, several collections of Rubaiyat have appeared, including one by Professor Andrzej GawrońskiAndrzej Gawroński was a Polish Indologist, linguist and polyglot...
, which is regarded as the best.
- Poet Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven
Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven , wrote under the pen name C.J. Langenhoven and was better known as Sagmoedige Neelsie or Kerneels. He had a formidable role in South Africa's Afrikaans literature and cultural history, and was one of the young language's foremost promoters...
(1873–1932, author of Die Stem van Suid-AfrikaDie Stem van Suid-Afrika was the national anthem of South Africa from 1957 to 1994, and shared national anthem status with Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika until 1997, when a new hybrid anthem was adopted. It was also the anthem for South-West Africa under South African mandate until 1990.- Background :In...
) produced the first translation in Afrikaans. Herman Charles BosmanHerman Charles Bosman is the South African writer widely regarded as South Africa's greatest short story writer. He studied the works of Edgar Alan Poe and Mark Twain, and developed a style emphasizing the use of irony...
wrote a translation in Afrikaans published in 1948.
- Eric Hermelin
Eric Axel Hermelin, Baron Hermelin was a Swedish author and prolific translator of Persian works of literature.-Biography:...
translated the Rubaiyat into SwedishSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
in 1928.
- G Sankara Kurup produced a translation into Malayalam
Malayalam , is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. It is spoken by 35.9 million people...
(1932)
- Thirunalloor Karunakaran
Thirunalloor Karunakaran was a renowned poet, scholar, teacher and leftist intellectual of Kerala, India.-Early life:...
translated the Rubaiyat into MalayalamMalayalam , is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. It is spoken by 35.9 million people...
in 1989.
- Duvvoori Ramireddy
Duvvoori Ramireddy was an eminent Telugu poet. He was born in a farmers family in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. He won many laurels including the title Kavikokila in 1929 by the Andhra Maha Parishad, Vijayawada. RamiReddy wrote prabandhas, Kandakavyas and also translated romantic poetry from...
translated the Rubaiyat into TeluguTelugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
in 1935.
- Maithili Sharan Gupt
Maithilisharan Gupt was one of the most important modern Hindi poets. He is considered among the pioneers of Khari Boli poetry and wrote in Khari Boli at a time when most Hindi poets favoured the use of Brajbhasha.- Early life :Born Chirgaon, Jhansi in a Gahoi family...
and Harivanshrai Bachchan translated the book into HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
in 1959.
- Kantichandra Ghosh, Muhammad Shahidullah
Muhammad Shahidullah , popularly known as Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah was a famous Bengali educationist, writer philologist and linguist.A dormitory in University of Dhaka is named after him .-Early life:...
(in 1942), Kazi Nazrul IslamKazi Nazrul Islam , sobriquet Bidrohi Kobi, was a Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of Bidrohi Kobi...
(in 1958) and Shakti ChattopadhyayShakti Chattopadhay was a Bengali poet and writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest poet of 20th century Bengali literature. -External links:...
(in 1978) produced translations into BanglaBengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
- D. V. Gundappa
Devanahalli Venkataramanaiah Gundappa , popularly known as DVG, was a prominent Kannada writer and a philosopher. He is renowned for Manku Thimmana Kagga, a collection of verses.-Early life:...
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
Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...
in 1954
- Thomas Ifor Rees
Thomas Ifor Rees was a Welsh diplomat, author and translator, born at 'Bronceiro' near the hamlet of Rhydypennau in Ceredigion in Wales.Rees served as British Ambassador to Bolivia up to his retirement in 1949....
produced a WelshWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
translation, published in Mexico City in 1939.
- Francesco Gabrieli produced an Italian
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
translation (Le Rubaiyyàt di Omar Khayyàm) in 1944. Alessandro Bausani produced another translation in 1965.
- Fraînque Le Maistre produced a Jèrriais
Jèrriais is the form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, off the coast of France. It has been in decline over the past century as English has increasingly become the language of education, commerce and administration...
version (based on FitzGerald's 1st edition) during the German occupation of the Channel IslandsThe Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi Germany for much of World War II, from 30 June 1940 until the liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands are two British Crown dependencies and include the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey as well as the smaller islands of Alderney and Sark...
1940–1945.
- Robert Bin Shaaban
Shaaban bin Robert, also known as Shaaban Robert , was a Tanzanian poet, author, and essayist who supported the preservation of African verse traditions. He was born in Vibamba in the country's Tanga Region...
produced a version in SwahiliSwahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
(dated 1948, published 1952)
- Kerson Huang
Kerson Huang is a Chinese-American theoretical physicist, who is currently Professor of Physics Emeritus at MIT....
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
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
translation.
- Scottish
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
poet Rab Wilson published a version in ScotsScots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
in 2004.
- Fan Noli produced an Albanian
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
translation, the melody and poetics of which are highly regarded.
- At least four versions exist in the Thai language
Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
. 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
Haljand Udam was an Estonian orientalist and translator. He graduated from Tartu University as a geologist, but soon became interested in Eastern culture, including Ancient Iranian literature...
produced an EstonianEstonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
translation.
- The poet J. H. Leopold
Jan Hendrik Leopold was a Dutch poet and classicist.Leopold was born at 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. After living in Arnhem he moved to Rotterdam early in 1892, where he became a teacher of classical languages at the Gymnasium Erasmianum.He translated portions of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam...
(1865–1925) rendered a number of Rubaiyat in DutchDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
.
- The Kurdish
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
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
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
journalist and poet Naum FaiqNaum Elias Yaqub Palakh , better known as Naum Faiq was one of the founding fathers of modern Assyrian nationalism during the early 20th century. He was a teacher and writer throughout his life...
translated the Rubaiyat into the AssyrianSyriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
language.
- In Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
first translations were made by Toivo Lyy in 1929. More recently Jaakko Hämeen-AnttilaJaakko Hämeen-Anttila is a Finnish academic researcher, serving as a professor of the Arabic language and Islamic studies at the University of Helsinki. He is one of the leading researchers of Islam in Finland. He has written many popular books on Islamic culture, history and poetry...
(1999 and 2008) and Kiamars Baghban with Leevi LehtoLeevi Lehto , is a Finnish poet, translator, and programmer.Since he made his poetic debut in 1967, he has published six volumes of poetry, a novel, Janajevin unet , and an experimental prose work,...
(2009) have translated Khayyam in Finnish.
- The earliest translation in Hungarian
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
consisted of a few stanzas taken from the French version of Nicolas, by Béla Erődi in 1919-20. Lőrinc Szabó finalized his translation of the Fitzgerald version in 1943.
- First Czech translator is Josef Štýbr. 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
Alojz Gradnik was a Slovenian poet and translator.-Life:Gradnik was born in the village of Medana in the Goriška Brda region, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is today in the Goriška province of Slovenia. His father was a Slovene from Trieste who came from a poor working family...
, his translation being published in 1955.
- The first translation of nine short poems into Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
was published in 1920, and was the work of Safvet beg Bašagić. In 1932, Jelena Skerlić-Ćorović re-published these nine, alongside 75 more poems. In 1964, a noted orientalistOriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
Fehim Bajraktarević published his translation of Rubaiyat.
- Hồ Thượng Tuy translated from English into Vietnamese
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
(from FitzGerald’s 1st edition) in 1990.
- Nguyễn Viết Thắng produced a Vietnamese translation of 487 rubaiyat, translated from English and Russian in 1995, published in Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
in 2003.
- Xabier Correa Corredoira published a Galician
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
translation in 2010.
- Hemendra Kumar Roy translated the Rubaiyat into Bengali.
- Christos Marketis translated 120 rubaiyat into Greek in 1975.
- Srimadajjada Adibhatla Narayana Das (1864–1945) translated the original Persian quatrains and Edward Fitzgerald's English translations into Samskrit and pure-Telugu. Pandit Narayana Das claimed his translation was more literal than that of Fitzgerald. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajjada_Adibhatla_Narayana_Dasu
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-Etymology:The English usage of the phrase Diwan Poetry comes from the Arabic word diwan , which is loaned from Persian means designated a list or register. The Persian word derived from the Persian dibir meaning writer or scribe...
in later years for various reasons. A few literary researchers, for example, Mohammad-Ali Foroughi and
Farzaneh AghaeipourFarzaneh Aghaeipour is an Iranian playwright, author, and activist. She is a board member at the politically active Iranian Writers Association, which fights censorship and advocates freedom of expression...
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 YoganandaParamahansa Yogananda , born Mukunda Lal Ghosh , was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced many westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of a...
, 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? , 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 Sana’i, for us he is a marvelous man because we can feel for him and understand his approach. The work is much more accessible than Sana’i’s 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 Fitzgerald’s is divine inspiration, something far superior, a miracle. In Dougan’s opinion, while many read the Rubaiyat literally and hence see Omar as a
materialistIn philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
, 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."
It must be noted that 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
FerdowsiFerdowsi was a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.The Shahnameh was originally composed by Ferdowsi for the princes of the Samanid dynasty, who were responsible for a revival of Persian cultural traditions after the...
(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 dynastyThe Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning...
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 refuted Khayyam and the like altogether (and to a lesser extent still do today).
Putting aside all this Khayyam never identified himself as a Sufi nor did anyone in his time. In fact on several occasions he mocks the devoutly religious who criticize the non religious.
Influence
Like
Shakespeare'sWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
works, Omar Khayyám's verses have provided later authors with quotations to use as titles:
- The title of Rex Stout
Rex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. Stout is best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the...
's Nero WolfeNero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created in 1934 by the American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe's confidential assistant Archie Goodwin narrates the cases of the detective genius. Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1974, with most of them set in New York City. Wolfe's...
novel Some Buried CaesarSome Buried Caesar is the sixth Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. The story first appeared in abridged form in The American Magazine , under the title "The Red Bull." It was first published in book form by Farrar & Rinehart in 1939...
comes from one of the Tentmaker's quatrains (FitzGerald's XVIII), for example.
- Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's drama Ah, Wilderness!Ah, Wilderness! is a comedy by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 2 October 1933.-Plot summary:...
derives its title from the first quoted quatrain above.
- Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
used The Moving FingerThe Moving Finger is detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in July 1942 and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1943. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence...
as a story title, as did Stephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
. See also And Having Writ…And Having Writ... is a 1978 science fiction/alternate history novel written by Donald R. Bensen.It was nominated for the 1979 John W. Campbell Award.-Plot introduction:...
.
- Lan Wright
Lionel Percy Wright, known professionally as Lan Wright was a British science fiction writer. All of his fiction has been published under the pen name "Lan Wright". His first story was "Operation Exodus", which appeared in New Worlds in 1952....
used Dawn's Left Hand as the title of a science fiction story serialized in New Worlds Science Fiction (January–March 1963).
Equally noteworthy are these works likewise influenced:
- The British composer Granville Bantock
Sir Granville Bantock was a British composer of classical music.-Biography:Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was a Scottish doctor. He was intended by his parents for the Indian Civil Service but was drawn into the musical world. His first teacher was Dr Gordon Saunders at...
produced a choral setting of FitzGerald's translation 1906-1909.
- The American author O. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter . O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.-Early life:...
humorously referred to a book by "Homer KM" with the character "Ruby Ott" in his short story "The Handbook of Hymen.http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/o_henry/66/" O. Henry also quoted a quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in "The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Highball."
- Using FitzGerald's translation, the Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
set a dozen of the quatrains to music. This work, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Op. 308, calls for narrator, orchestra, and solo accordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
.
- The American horror author H P Lovecraft created an Arab poet Abdul Alhazred
Abdul Alhazred is a fictional character created by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. He is the so-called "Mad Arab" credited with authoring the imaginary book Kitab al-Azif , and as such an integral part of Cthulhu Mythos lore....
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
metreIn poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
and rhyme pattern for the first half of a Khayyam quatrain.
- The artist/illustrator Edmund Dulac
Edmund Dulac was a French book illustrator.-Early life and career:Born in Toulouse, France, he began his career by studying law at the University of Toulouse. He also studied art, switching to it full time after he became bored with law, and having won prizes at the Ecole des Beaux Arts...
produced some much-beloved illustrations http://www.oldfineart.com/albums/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam-illustrated-by-edmund-dulac/pages/1/ for the Rubaiyat, 1909.
- Filmmaker D.W. Griffith planned a film based on the poems as a follow-up to Intolerance
Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a...
in 1916. It was to star Miriam CooperMiriam Cooper was a silent film actress who is best known for her work in early film including Birth of a Nation and Intolerance for D.W. Griffith and The Honor System and Evangeline for her husband Raoul Walsh...
, but when she left the Griffith company the plans were dropped; he would ultimately film Broken BlossomsBroken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl is a 1919 silent film directed by D.W. Griffith. It was distributed by United Artists and premiered on May 13, 1919...
instead.
- The Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
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 translation to Spanish of the FitzGerald version of The Rubaiyat.
- The Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf
Amin Maalouf , born 25 February 1949 in Beirut, is a Lebanese-born French author. Although his native language is Arabic, he writes in French, and his works have been translated into many languages. He received the Prix Goncourt in 1993 for his novel The Rock of Tanios...
based his novel SamarkandSamarkand is a 1988 historical novel by the French-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf. The story is set in Central Asia in the 11th century, and revolves around the mystic and poet Omar Khayyám, and a love affair he has with a female poet at he court of Samarkand...
on the life of Omar KhayyamOmar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....
, and the creation of the Rubaiyat. It details the AssassinThe Assassins were an order of Nizari Ismailis, particularly those of Persia that existed from around 1092 to 1265...
sect as well, and includes a fictional telling of how the (non-existent) original manuscript came to be on the RMS Titanic.
- Science fiction author Paul Marlowe
Paul Marlowe is a Canadian author of historical fiction and science fiction. Much of his historical fiction is connected in some way with the Etheric Explorers Club, a Victorian society devoted to investigating unusual or supernatural phenomena.-Radio Plays:...
's story "Resurrection and Life" featured a character who could only communicate using lines from the Rubaiyat.
- The Supreme Court of the Philippines
The Supreme Court of the Philippines is the Philippines' highest judicial court, as well as the court of last resort. The court consists of 14 Associate Justices and 1 Chief Justice...
, through a unanimous opinion penned in 2005 by Associate JusticeAn Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines is one of 15 members of the Philippine Supreme Court, the highest court in the Philippines. The Chief Justice presides over the High Court, but carries only 1 of the 15 votes in the court...
Leonardo QuisumbingLeonardo A. Quisumbing was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. He was appointed by President Fidel Ramos in 1998 and retired as the most senior Associate Justice of the Court on his 70th birthday in 2009....
, 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.
- In Cyberflix
Cyberflix Incorporated was a computer game company founded in 1993 by Bill Appleton. Cyberflix was based in Knoxville, Tennessee. They made many interactive story-telling games in the 1990s, but went out of business in 1998....
's PC game, Titanic: Adventure Out of TimeTitanic: Adventure Out of Time is a computer game developed by Cyberflix. It was published in the United States and Europe by GTE Entertainment and Europress respectively, and released on November 12, 1996...
, the object is to save three important items, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, one of Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's paintings, and a notebook that proves German officials were attempting to gain geo-political advantage by instigating communist revolutionThe Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
. Two passages from the book are also included in the game as clues to progress the narrative.
- The Rubaiyat was quoted in the 1946 King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
Western film Duel in the SunDuel in the Sun is a Technicolor 1946 Western film directed by King Vidor, produced and written by David O. Selznick, which tells the story of a Mestiza girl who goes to live with her Anglo relatives, becoming involved in prejudice and forbidden love...
, which starred Gregory PeckEldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
and Jennifer JonesPhylis Lee Isley , better known by her stage name Jennifer Jones, was an American actress. A five-time Academy Award nominee, Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Song of Bernadette .-Early life:Jones was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Flora Mae and...
: "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."
- A canto was quoted and used as an underlying theme of the 1945 screen adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, printed as the July 1890 issue of this magazine...
: "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.'"
- Coldcut
Coldcut are an English dance music duo, comprising Matt Black and Jonathan More. Their signature style is electronic dance music, featuring cut up samples of hip hop, breaks, jazz, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia.-1980s:In 1986, computer programmer Matt...
produced an album with a song called "Rubyaiyat" on their album Let us Play! This song contains what appears to be some words from the English translation. See album This was probably influenced by the ambitious 1970 album by jazz-soul harpist Dorothy AshbyDorothy Ashby was an American jazz harpist and composer.Along with Alice Coltrane, Ashby extended the popularization of jazz harp past a novelty, showing how the instrument can be utilized seamlessly as much a bebop instrument as the saxophone...
, "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.
- In one 6-episode story arc of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...
, Bullwinkle finds the "RubyA ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum . The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires...
YachtA yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
of Omar Khayyam" in the town of Frostbite Falls (on the shores of Veronica LakeVeronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...
, no less).
- Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
recorded an excerpt of the Rubaiyat set to music that was released on Hard Travelin' (The Asch Recordings Vol. 3).
- In the film The Music Man
The Music Man is a 1962 musical film starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo. The film is based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name by Meredith Willson...
(based on the 1957 musicalThe Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
), 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 satirist and short story writer Hector Hugh Monro took his pen name of 'Saki
Hector Hugh Munro , better known by the pen name Saki, and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirised Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy...
' from Edward FitzGerald's translation of the Rubaiyat.
- The Rubaiyat have also influenced Arabic music. Indeed, Oum Koulthoum, a legend of Arabic music, has sung one of those poems and made her song "robaaiyet el khayam" become one of her most beautiful songs.
- A copy of the Rubaiyat plays a role in an episode of the TV series New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam is an American television drama, which premiered March 4, 2008 on Fox, and ended after its eighth episode.-Premise and plot:...
and is shown to be the inspiration for the name of one of the lead character's children, Omar York.
- The famed "skull and roses" poster for a Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
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.
- The play The Shadow of a Gunman
The Shadow of a Gunman is a 1923 play by Seán O'Casey. It centers on the mistaken identity of a building tenant who is thought to be an IRA assassin....
by Sean O'CaseySeán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
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."
- Wendy Cope
Wendy Cope, OBE is an award-winning contemporary English poet. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She now lives in Ely with the poet Lachlan Mackinnon.-Biography:...
's poem "Strugnell's Rubiyat" is a close parody of the FitzGerald translation, relocated to modern day Tulse HillTulse Hill is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London, England. It lies to the south of Brixton, east of Brixton Hill, north of West Norwood and west of West Dulwich.-History:...
.
- Oliver Herford
Oliver Herford was a British-born American writer, artist and illustrator who has been called "The American Oscar Wilde". As a frequent contributor to The Mentor, Life, and Ladies' Home Journal, he sometimes signed his artwork as "O Herford". In 1906 he wrote and illustrated the "Little Book of...
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.
- One of the title pages of Principia Discordia
Principia Discordia is a Discordian religious text written by Greg Hill and Kerry Thornley . It was originally published under the title "Principia Discordia or How The West Was Lost" in a limited edition of 5 copies in 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
- the darkness.
- In the opening chapter of his book God is Not Great
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a book by author and journalist Christopher Hitchens criticising religion. It was published in the United Kingdom as God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion....
, Christopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
quotes from Richard Le GallienneRichard Le Gallienne was an English author and poet. The American actress Eva Le Gallienne was his daughter, by his second marriage.-Life and career:...
'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!
- The work influenced the 2004 concept album The Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam by the Italian group Milargo Acustico.
- The final words of the work, Tamam Shud (which translates to 'Ended'), were at the center of the rather bizarre Taman Shud Case
The Taman Shud Case,While the words that end The Rubaiyat are "Tamam Shud", it has always been referred to as "Taman Shud" in the media, presumably due to a spelling error that persisted. In Persian "tamam" is a noun that means "the end". "shud" is an auxiliary verb indicating past tense, so "tamam...
along with other connections to the Rubaiyat.
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
The Phoenix Art Museum is the Southwest United States' largest art museum for visual art. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western...
, November 15, 2008–February 8, 2009
- The exhibition Edward Fitzgerald & The Rubaiyat from the collection of Nicholas B. Scheetz at the Grolier Club
The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, Treasurer General of France, whose library was famous; his...
, January 22–March 13, 2009.
- The exhibition Omar Khayyám. Een boek in de woestijn. 150 jaar in Engelse vertaling at the Museum Meermanno, The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, January 31–April 5, 2009
- The exhibition The Persian Sensation: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in the West at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The Harry Ransom Center is a library and archive at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the United States and Europe. The Ransom Center houses 36 million literary manuscripts, 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs, and more...
at The University of Texas at Austin, February 3–August 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 6–10, 2009
- The Folio Society
The Folio Society is a book club based in London that produces new editions of classic books. Their books are notable for their high quality bindings and original illustrations...
published a limited edition (1,000 copies) of the Rubáiyát to mark the 150th anniversary.
External links
- Read The Rubayyat of Omar Khayyám at HolyeBooks.org
- Listen to The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám audiobook at LibriVox
LibriVox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers and is probably, since 2007, the world's most prolific audiobook publisher...
- The illustrated Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám at Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
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- The Persian Poet, contains the translations by Edward FitzGerald and a biography.
- Graves and Ali-Shah.
- Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
: etext#246 (translation by Edward FitzGerald) and etext#5408 (a parody by Wallace Irvin)
- Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam a collection of rubaiyat in Persian
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, accompanied by several translations into English and German.
- The entire book in DNL E-Book format.
- Fitzgerald's translation as an app for Android mobile phones.
- The complete four edition translations by Edward FitzGerald, with illustrations by Blanche McManus at Kellscraft.com.
- A comparison between the translations by Heron-Allen and Talbot.
- Parodies of the Rubaiyat, included are 'The Rubaiyat of Ohow Dryyam', 'The Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten', 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Cayenne', and 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Jr.'
- Syracuse University's Special Collections Research Center has in its Rare Books holdings more than 300 different editions of the Rubaiyat
- The Harry Ransom Center 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? - a commentary on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Abdullah Dougan - a modern Sufi's understanding.
- at Baidu Baike can find a list of 48 Chinese translations.