The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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Product Description
Product Description
In the renowned translation by Edward FitzGerald, this Wordsworth Edition includes an exclusive introduction by Professor Cedric Watts
Here is Edward FitzGerald’s original translation of the Rubáiyát, the collection of poems attributed to the Persian astronomer and mathematician, Omar Khayyám. FitzGerald’s distinctive version (1859), with its oriental imagery and sensual warmth, made an exotic appeal to the Victorian imagination. Its scepticism fitted a time of increasing religious doubt; its romantic melancholy resonated with the writings of Matthew Arnold and Thomas Hardy; and its epicureanism heralded the Aesthetic Movement. It has inspired composers, rock groups, artists and film-makers. As rendered by FitzGerald, the Rubáiyát remains a seductively subversive poem.
About the Author
John Heath-Stubbs was born in London and educated at Queen's College, Oxford. He was known for writing verse influenced by the classics and was awarded an OBE in 1988.
Peter Avery OBE is an eminent British scholar of Persian studies and a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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My grandfather, born in the second half of the nineteenth century in a fishing village in the northeast of Scotland, naturally enough followed a career at sea. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
My grandfather, born in the second half of the nineteenth century in a fishing village in the northeast of Scotland, naturally enough followed a career at sea. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
58 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Intending purchasers of the Rubaiyat with this particular ISBN need to be wary. What I got here was exactly what I wanted, namely FitzGerald's first version, the version familiar to many of us from our schooldays as it is given in the additional poems at the end of Palgrave's Golden Treasury. FitzGerald revised the work no fewer than four times, and so far as I can see there is also a version in circulation with this same ISBN but giving one of the later texts and having a different editor as well as a different picture on the cover.
Presumably FitzGerald thought he was making improvements as he went along. For me, although some of the revised stanzas are probably better than his first attempts, and those that are completely new are very welcome, each successive version is a little weaker than the one before. He abandons, for instance, the magnificent and unique metaphor in the first quatrain, and the very effective quatrains where all four lines are made to rhyme disappear as well. The general feel of it all stays the same of course, but I sense a loss of vividness in the afterthoughts by and large.
The edition as I have it is edited by Alexander Hutchison who contributes a helpful short introduction. There is in addition a set of notes at the back, and these are thoughtful and informative also. I would imagine that for Eng Lit students this little book will be a godsend at such modest cost. Enthusiasts for the poem in general will find the printing beautifully clear, and I did not spot any misprints or inaccuracies. What I wanted is what I have been given here, but that was more by luck than by judgment on my part.
Presumably FitzGerald thought he was making improvements as he went along. For me, although some of the revised stanzas are probably better than his first attempts, and those that are completely new are very welcome, each successive version is a little weaker than the one before. He abandons, for instance, the magnificent and unique metaphor in the first quatrain, and the very effective quatrains where all four lines are made to rhyme disappear as well. The general feel of it all stays the same of course, but I sense a loss of vividness in the afterthoughts by and large.
The edition as I have it is edited by Alexander Hutchison who contributes a helpful short introduction. There is in addition a set of notes at the back, and these are thoughtful and informative also. I would imagine that for Eng Lit students this little book will be a godsend at such modest cost. Enthusiasts for the poem in general will find the printing beautifully clear, and I did not spot any misprints or inaccuracies. What I wanted is what I have been given here, but that was more by luck than by judgment on my part.
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Awake! For morning in the bowl of night, has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight". Fitzgerald's (1851) masterful translation of Khayyam's 11th century poem evokes a romantic Persian landscape of minarets and rose-gardens by babbling streams. A Sufi, or religious mystic, Khayyam nonetheless extolled the virtues of wine, women and song in his humanistic view of the world. If our life on earth is so short, why not live every day as if it were our last?, he seems to say. His emphasis on the pleasures of drinking has curried much opposition from proponents of modern-day Islam, who would like to claim Khayyam as their own, but perhaps he is just using drunkenness as a metaphor for the ecstasy of love and spiritual fulfilment. For many readers, myself included, for whom the book has become a kind of textbook for life, it comes as a great relief to know that the path to happiness and spiritual enlightenment may involve no more than drinking wine in the company of friends. At this price the book is an excellent chance to fill in the gaps between the few quotations we all know and love. Give a copy to a friend as well and it will never be far from their bedside.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
'The moving finger writes; and, having writ,/Moves on.'
'Tomorrow! Why tomorrow I may be/ Myself with Yesterday's seven thousand years.' There are countless phrases that have entered into the English language from Edward FitzGerald's translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Its wonderfully expressed poetic fatalism and its message of 'Enjoy the day' are a delight to read. This text contains both the first edition of the poem running to 75 stanzas and the fifth edition which had 101 stanzas; so a good opportunity to see how Fitzgerald tinkered with the translation over a period of years. There is also a short life of Omar Khayyam written by Fitzgerald by way of introduction.
A staple text to have on your Kindle.
A second free copy of the Rubaiyat has also been recently added to the Kindle store. That also contains another Persian poem, Salaman and Absal, translated by Fitzgerald, a short life of Fitzgerald and an essay on Persian poetry by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The two copies are complementary and as they are free it's well worth collecting them both.
'Tomorrow! Why tomorrow I may be/ Myself with Yesterday's seven thousand years.' There are countless phrases that have entered into the English language from Edward FitzGerald's translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Its wonderfully expressed poetic fatalism and its message of 'Enjoy the day' are a delight to read. This text contains both the first edition of the poem running to 75 stanzas and the fifth edition which had 101 stanzas; so a good opportunity to see how Fitzgerald tinkered with the translation over a period of years. There is also a short life of Omar Khayyam written by Fitzgerald by way of introduction.
A staple text to have on your Kindle.
A second free copy of the Rubaiyat has also been recently added to the Kindle store. That also contains another Persian poem, Salaman and Absal, translated by Fitzgerald, a short life of Fitzgerald and an essay on Persian poetry by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The two copies are complementary and as they are free it's well worth collecting them both.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. For new readers.
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. Read more
Published 10 months ago by M. Taplin
I don't like poetry
I particularly don't like rhyming poetry. I hadn't realised that when I bought this, perhaps it's a strange thing to not know about yourself. Read more
Published on 27 May 2010 by R. Court
Delivered as expected
The item was as described, however I am slightly disappointed at the quality of the print.
Published on 6 May 2010 by M. M. Wright
Waste of Paper
The front cover is the only decent part of this book.
Inside are a few pages of historical information.
The rest of the book consists of 1 quatrain per right page. Read more
Inside are a few pages of historical information.
The rest of the book consists of 1 quatrain per right page. Read more
Published on 14 April 2010 by E. M. Paterson
great
It is a good book. You might need to buy the Oxford companion to Urdu poetry.
Published on 27 Dec 2009 by M. Thanki
Excellent
This book is by far the best translation & coverage of the Rubaiyat.We are very impressed with the book because it goes beyond simply translating the Rubaiyat to actually... Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2009 by Scholastico
it loses something in translation
When a publisher prints on the cover " .. it is a worthy venture" one does wonder what less favourable comments might have been rejected. Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2008 by Ms. Fiona Allen
magical and philosophical
Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat is one of the deepest works of poetry that can hope to be found, especially in the more mystical first edition. Deeply recommended to everybody.
Published on 12 Mar 2001 by christopher_hare@hotmail.com
A Very different (and probably more accurate) Rubaiyat
Fitzgerald's version of the Rubaiyat has long been one of my favorites, from a very early age. My son recently gave me Avery's version and it is ideed very different. Read more
Published on 13 Jan 1999
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