The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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In 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.BooknewsFitzgerald compulsively revised his translation of the "Rubt," resulting in four published editions, all of which are presented here with their original prefaces and notes, along with all extant versions of FitzGerald's translation. Decker supplies biographical and textual introductions that make use of FitzGerald's correspondence to seek motives for his revisions, the aim being to to unearth a full record of the poem's textual evolution, to provide an interpretive context, and to illuminate the complex process of revision. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
ForewordPrefaceThe Ruba'iyat and Its Author1Selections from the Ruba'iyat391Of Spring and Flowers472Of Love and Wine553Fiery Sparks794Cynical and Satirical Utterances995Mystery of Creation1116Transitoriness of Life1337Aphorisms and Apothegms1678Discontent1859Mystic Passages20510Contemplation and Supplication225Annotations235Bibliography259Index of English Quatrains265General Index273
