Difference between revisions of "The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam"
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Beside me singing in the Wilderness—<br> | Beside me singing in the Wilderness—<br> | ||
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!<br> | Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!<br> | ||
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| + | Another famous poem is featured in the musical [[Kismet]]: | ||
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| + | The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,<br> | ||
| + | Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit<br> | ||
| + | Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,<br> | ||
| + | Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.<br> | ||
FitzGerald's translation is not literal. FitzGerald believed he was being true to the spirit of the original. | FitzGerald's translation is not literal. FitzGerald believed he was being true to the spirit of the original. | ||
[[Category:Poetry|Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, The]] | [[Category:Poetry|Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, The]] | ||
Revision as of 21:40, April 13, 2007
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam is the collection of quatrains—four-line stanzas—written by the Persian astronomer Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1123). They are largely known to the English-speaking world in the translations written by Edward FitzGerald, first published, anonymously, in 1859.
They are perhaps some of the most quoted poetry in the English language: of approximately a hundred stanzas, about forty of them are included in full in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
Undoubtedly the best-known stanza is:
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!
Another famous poem is featured in the musical Kismet:
The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.
FitzGerald's translation is not literal. FitzGerald believed he was being true to the spirit of the original.