Omar Khayyam's haunting, timeless verses were translated into English by Edward FitzGerald and first published in 1859. That first edition is presented here in facsimile, accompanied by computer-generated typesetting of the later editions, providing a 'complete edition'. Persian astronomer-poet Omar Khayyam, writing nearly a thousand years ago, picks a path through life's uncertainties, musing on fate, transience and mortality, urging his reader to live in the moment and find joy in simple, everyday pleasures.
Omar Khayyam's haunting, timeless verses were translated into English by Edward FitzGerald and first published in 1859. That first edition is presente...
In 1859, Edward FitzGerald translated into English the short, epigrammatic poems (or "rubaiyat") of medieval Persian poet Omar Khayyam. If not a true translation--his Omar seems to have read Shakespeare and the King James Bible--the poem nevertheless conveyed some of the most beautiful and haunting images in English poetry, and some of the sharpest-edged. By the end of the century, it was one of the best-known poems in the English language, admired by Swinburne and Ruskin. Daniel Karlin's richly annotated edition focuses on the poem as a work of Victorian literary art, doing justice to the...
In 1859, Edward FitzGerald translated into English the short, epigrammatic poems (or "rubaiyat") of medieval Persian poet Omar Khayyam. If not a true ...
