Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Persian Edition)

Review Written May20, 2019Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Translated by Edward FitzgeraldOmar Khayyam (May 18, 1048 – December 4, 1131) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet. He was born in Nishapur, Iran, and spent most of his life near the court of the Seljuq rulers in the period which witnessed the First Crusade. Omar's "Rubaiyat" is a form of Persian language poetry written in four lines, referred to as quatrains. His poetry was introduced to the English-reading world in a translation by the esteemed Eastern-Indian Areas Studies scholar Edward FitzGerald. FitzGerald's work entitled the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, in1859 enjoyed great success. Fitzgerald's introduction and translation footnotes provide valuable insights which assist in understanding of Omar's poetry. Personally, I appreciated this glimpse into the thoughts of a person who lived 1000 years ago. It is interesting that many of Omar's thoughts, his likes, concerns, fears, and regrets are not that differnt than my own. I recommend this work to everyone.

With death dominating the news, due to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, and the inevitable linkage to the Middle East, I decided that a useful counterpoint would be a review of a very famous celebration of life that also originated from the same region. When Europe was in its “Dark Ages,” the late 11th and early 12th centuries, a polymath shined in Persia (modern-day Iran). Omar Khayyam was a mathematician and astronomer, and wrote numerous treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, and an extremely influential one on algebra. His “Rubaiyat” demonstrates that he was much more than what might be dubbed “a Middle Ages nerd.”The Rubaiyat is a series of quatrains (four lines of verse). Fittingly enough, Khayyam opens with the beginning of the day, or, as he phrases it much more poetically: “And Lo! The Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan’s Turret in a Noose of Light.” Woven throughout this work is the very transient nature of life… that we must make the very best of every day that we have been given. He states that sentiment, well, much more memorably: “Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring; The Winter Garment of Repentance fling; The Bird of Time has but a little way; To fly-and Lo! The Bird is on the Wing.”I had long admired the Gertrude Bell, and her willingness to explore the Middle East around the commencement of the 20th century. She too had a poetic “eye” for the desert regions, and described them lovingly in  The Desert and the Sown: Travels in Palestine and Syria . I had no idea that she had borrowed her title from one of Khayyam’s quatrains, specifically: “With me along some Strip of Herbage strown; That just divides the desert from the sown; Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known; And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne.” Certainly a way of celebrating the frontier, far from political concerns.Khayyam successfully identified the four essential ingredients of life, in verse that has been repeated in many fashions, and varying formats: “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 Now.” Amazon is currently proclaiming “solidarité” (with the people of France) and so shall I, and change the aforementioned “Thou” to “Toi.” And note that the natural world beckons. Never forgetting the necessity, nay, the imperative to hurry, for: “The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon; Turns Ashes- or it prospers; and anon; Like Snow upon the Desert’s dusty Face; Lighting a little Hour or two – is gone.”The translation is by the Orientalist, Edward Fitzgerald. This edition is accompanied by one of those soporific introductions that debate the validity and attributions of the various quatrains. Skip! Yes, in the imperative. Concentrate once, twice and three times on the fresh baked bread under the tree, the all-important Toi, and don’t let the ants, as in introduction, spoil the picnic. 5-stars.

I sometimes think that never blows so redThe rose as were some buried Cæsar bled;That every Hyacinth the garden wearsDropt in its lap from some once lovely headI originally ordered this because I learned about the mysterious case of the Somerton man. "tamám shud" was printed on a scrap of paper found months later in the fob pocket of the man's trousers. The scrap had been torn from the final page of a copy of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. I thought I would get some minimalistic paper back book but instead got an amazing, beautiful copy with fantastic illustrations.

Little money, great poetry.--Both the first (original, initial) and last (fifth) Fitzgerald-Khayyam Rubiyat are here. In my opinion, the first version is the most breath-taking and the fifth less so, like the King James' Bible compared to the New American Standard. One is poetry that reaches the stars and the other is prose.--The size and heft both are small. This paperback fits into a jeans pocket or small bag, the better to bring underneath some bough with (preferrably) a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and Thou.--The cover is from, I believe, the gorgeous Dulac fully illustrated version. It is intended (again, I think) for the quatrain urging us to live fully NOW and when the dark glass comes to us, to reach for it complete and undismayed. I once mortgaged the cat to buy the superb 1901 edition printed on heaviest paper, every page magnificently illustrated by Edmund Sullivan, leather bound, with an enlightening long introduction by Fitzgerald. The same poems, O reader, however (first and fifth version) for about 2% of the price.ANY READER ALERTS? None. Just expect paperback quality, not legacy quality in size, binding, and illustration. After the second jar of wine and enough Thou, it may not matter. And expect also the similarity between Horac3e writing in about 20 AD and Khayyam/Fitzgerlad in about 1,000 AD and 1870 AD. HIGHLY recommended.NOTE PLEASE: The Dover THRIFT EDITION is reviewed. Other editions & versions can have different features such as introductory essays and paper quality. The Dover Thrift Edition is high end for the poetry but low end for paper, size, and extras, which make it a fine value if it's the poetry in a smaller format the reader wishes.

When I saw the several choices of the Rubbaiyat on Amazon, I had no idea which one would suiit me best,so I took a chance o this version, and I made the right chouice. The quality of this version is superb, and all that I wished for. I bouoght the hardback edition, and the actual book is of the finiest quality, silk-bound, and the paper quality of the pages and illustratioins is off the highest quality. The book is worth it for the illustrations alone. I have already spent sseveral houors reading and enjoying this book, and if you decide to buy it, I think that you will not be disappointed.

This edition is quite beautiful and has explanatory notes (not on the same page, which is slightly annoying, but they are enlightening to the first time reader and vital to full enjoyment). Lovely pictures. To be honest, I prefer my old edition from 1989 with no pictures which can be put inside a jacket pocket to be enjoyed in the pub or on a train, but this slightly larger volume is great value. I bought this as a gift to a first time Rubaiyat reader, and it was absolutely ideal - lovely, luxurious silky fabric cover and full colour illustrations on virtually every page. Bought one for myself too! Thoroughly recommend this edition.

As a child I used to peruse with considerable care a small book containing this text and more importantly, to a small boy, some beautiful coloured illustrations. i.e. 'A jug of wine and thou, beside the stream & etc' I so strongly recommend this to any person with the slightest appreciation of art, poetry or philosophy. You will not be disappointed. You will be seduced into a new appreciation of life through the eyes of a very deep thinker and a compassionate soul. Ever afterwards you will recognise resonances in life that were missing before you read the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.My father, when I had reached an age when I had wrestled with the these verses and understood some of them, gave me the task of making a new dust cover for his hard copy of this book. Using brown paper and a pot of glue folding and cutting etc. I carefully completed the job. In my best italics I put the book title on the cover and underneath the (so I thought at the time) the authors name. 'Tamam Shud' Which the erudite will instantly see as 'The End' The joke is still shared by my father and I some 60 years later. I have three copies and many translations. Fitzgerald's is the best. The latest on my Kindle. Enjoy.

The print quality of this book is extremely poor. It looks as if someone has printed it off without giving a single thought to page breaks or the placing of the print on the page. There are numerous quatrains which are broken up over two pages or where the number of the quatrain appears on a different page to the quatrain itself. The print is to the far left of each page, leaving a very wide margin down the right hand side of the page - this means that you have to press the book open to read the print on the r/h pages. I wish I had spent more and bought a properly printed version.

All five of FitzGerald's versions of his translation, (some say revision), of the quatrains of Omar Khayyam in a facsimile of an old edition.It's excellent, informative yet restrained work. First there is a presentation of FitzGerald's relationship with his work and Old Omar, to whom he attributed the quatrains. Good, readable stuff. Then follow FitzGerald's own prefaces for the first or second editions and for the third. FitzGerald's prose is not the easiest to read, but the texts are a charming insight to his quite particular intellect.The Rubaiyat themselves are presented in a form that is, again, not the easiest to read. This time it is not FitzGerald's fault, the poor fellow was dead and buried by then. The first and second editions are presented in full, which is fine, but, (in the author's sudden realisation that his work was going to stretch beyond the budget?), editions three, four and five are presented as one, with comments on some of the differences between those last three editions in the text and in foot-notes. "Clumsy" doesn't begin to describe it. Never mind, the first two editions, of which the second is my overall favourite anyway, are perfectably, serenely readable.If you attempt to read FitzGerald's notes to the texts, all eleven pages in one sitting, your eyes will start to roll around in their sockets, so it's best to only read them as you go through the text. Surely no other notes have ever been more condensed in form nor more all-embracing in their references.The chronological table which follows is quite touching. As soon as FitzGerald, who was not a recognised authority on Persian poetry, came up with his first edition other translators who were more admired rushed to produce their own money-spinning versions. I only read one other version, at school, so I've had fifty years to forget all the details, but I remember feeling that the magic had disappeared. Then FitzGerald's death came far too early, before he really had time to fully benefit from his work. The nice event is the posthumous publishing of "FitzGerald's" fifth edition, which was created from the previous editions and FitzGerald's own preparatory notes for another edition by one of the few academics who had accepted FitzGerald's arrival in their midst.The book closes with a chart indicating which quatrains from the "combined presentation" of editions three, four and five go where. A certain cure for insomnia...But the whole thing really works beautifully. A presentation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam that wasn't mildly eccentric would lose all the charm of FitzGerald's beautiful creation. A book to read as methodically or as haphazardly as you wish, to cuddle up with for a moment or two or for a day or two. It's well made for a paper-back, well printed on good paper. Excellent value for money.