The Illustrated Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Special Edition
Introduction: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Translated by Edward Fitzgerald
Most readers have at least one book that profoundly impacts them; Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat was the “book” that profoundly impacted Dee Hock, father of the credit card and founder of Visa. It’s a book he consults daily.
Hock, like many accomplished professionals is a voracious reader and he found all he needed in Rubaiyat .
Rubaiyat is a poem written in the 11th Century by the Persian poet Omar Khayyam who was also a notable astronomer and mathematician. There are many translations of the Rubaiyat, but this one was published in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald an English writer, poet and translator.
For this kind of poem, the rubai, there are four lines in each stanza where the first, second and fourth line rhymes.
“XVI
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”
In the New York Times Article, “C.E.O. Libraries Reveal Keys to Success,” Mr. Hock is quoted as saying that the Rubaiyat “Warns of the dangers of greatness and the instability of fortune.”
When I first read The Illustrated Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Special Edition
, I didn’t see what Mr. Hock was saying, and I concluded that his summary of what the poem is about is based on a translation very different from the one I read.
There are many translations and some stay closer to the original Persian text than others, and some are twice as long. Research suggests that Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam translated by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs is closer to the original Persian text.
But understanding poetic language has never been a strong point for me, and I often feel frustrated that I do get the message that the poet is trying to convey. I found Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
translated by Fitzgerald to be very complex the very first time I read it.
After reading it three times the light went on and I started to see what Dee Hock was saying.
“XXIV
Ah, make the most of what we may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and sans End!
XCIII
Indeed the Idols I have loved so long
Have done my credit in this World much wrong:
Have drown’d my Glory in a shallow Cup
And sold my Reputation for a Song.”
Like most poetry, the imagery is strong, and what I saw in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, were the pitfalls of excess and worshiping “things”. The difficulty with the English version of the poem, is that it’s translated into Old English, so if you’re not familiar with it, you have to read it through a few times to understand it.
If the goal of reading is to further your knowledge, the best books are those that make you think, and The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam delivers on that. I recommend Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam because it takes you out of your head space and places you in a different realm. I will be reading it a few more times to see what other pieces of wisdom I may glean from it.
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