The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam
Rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald.
Book Excerpt
do it; the result was the Jalali
era (so called from Jalal-ud-din, one of the king's names)--'a
computation of time,' says Gibbon, 'which surpasses the Julian, and
approaches the accuracy of the Gregorian style.' He is also the
author of some astronomical tables, entitled 'Ziji-Malikshahi,' and
the French have lately republished and translated an Arabic Treatise
of his on Algebra.
"His Takhallus or poetical name (Khayyam) signifies a Tent-maker, and he is said to have at one time exercised that trade, perhaps before Nizam-ul-Mulk's generosity raised him to independence. Many Persian poets similarly derive their names from their occupations; thus we have Attar, 'a druggist,' Assar, 'an oil presser,' etc.<2> Omar himself alludes to his name in the following whimsical lines:--
"'Khayyam, who stitched the tents of science,
Has fallen in grief's furnace and been suddenly burned;
The shears of Fate have cut the tent ropes of his life,
And the broker of Hope has sold him for
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Nice and mystical.
Its a new experience altogether for people unfamiliar with oriental culture and suphism.For those of you who din't know, Omar Khayyam was one of the greatest philosophers, scientists and mathmatician that ever lived back in12th century.
He died in1122.He was a scholar in law and medicine as well; a thinktank of Pesia.
This book is highly philosophical and rendered in great lyrics.
Sample this,
Wake for the sun ,who scattered into flight
The stars before him from the field of night,
Drives night along with them from heaven & strikes
The Sultan's turret with a shaft of light.
I liked this one,
"Fill the cup that clears,
the day of past regrets and future fears."
Its a new experience altogether for people unfamiliar with oriental culture and suphism.For those of you who din't know, Omar Khayyam was one of the greatest philosophers, scientists and mathmatician that ever lived back in12th century.
He died in1122.He was a scholar in law and medicine as well; a thinktank of Pesia.
This book is highly philosophical and rendered in great lyrics.
Sample this,
Wake for the sun ,who scattered into flight
The stars before him from the field of night,
Drives night along with them from heaven & strikes
The Sultan's turret with a shaft of light.
I liked this one,
"Fill the cup that clears,
the day of past regrets and future fears."
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