Analysis of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
Edward Fitzgerald 1809 (Bredfield House) – 1883 (Merton, Norfolk)
I
AWAKE! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.
II
Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky
I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,
"Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup
Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry."
III
And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted--"Open then the Door!
You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more."
Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.
Irám indeed is gone with all its Rose,
And Jamsh{'y}d's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;
But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,
And still a Garden by the Water blows.
And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine
High piping Pehleví, with "Wine! Wine! Wine!
Red Wine!"--the Nightingale cries to the Rose
That yellow Cheek of hers to' incarnadine.
Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly--and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
And look--a thousand Blossoms with the Day
Woke--and a thousand scatter'd into Clay:
And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose
Shall take Jamsh{'y}d and Kaikobád away.
But come with old Khayyám, and leave the Lot
Of Kaikobád and Kaikhosrú forgot:
Let Rustum lay about him as he will,
Or Hátim Tai cry Supper--heed them not.
With me along some Strip of Herbage strown
That just divides the desert from the sown,
Where name of Slave and Sultán scarce is known,
And pity Sultán Mahmúd on his Throne.
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse--and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
"How sweet is mortal Sovranty!"--think some:
Others--"How blest the Paradise to come!"
Ah, take the Cash in hand and wave the Rest;
Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!
Look to the Rose that blows about us--"Lo,
Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow:
At once the silken Tassel of my Purse
Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw."
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.
And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,
And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,
Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd
As, buried once, Men want dug up again.
Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai
Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,
How Sultán after Sultán with his Pomp
Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.
They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Jamsh{'y}d gloried and drank deep:
And Bahrám, that great Hunter--the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep.
XVIII
I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Cæsar bled;
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.
And this delightful Herb whose tender Green
Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean--
Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!
Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears--
To-morrow?--Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
Lo! some we lov'd, the loveliest and best
That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to Rest.
And we, that now make merry in the Room
They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom,
Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth
Descend, ourselves to make a Couch--for whom?
Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,<
Scheme | ABBCB AAAXA ADDED FXGF HHXH IIHI JJEJ EEHE CCXC IKKK GGXI LLML NNXN XIXX OOXX DEXE PPXPX QQXQ RRHR SSXS MMDM TTXT X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 0111000111 1101110111 0101010111 0101000111 1 1011111001 1101010101 0111010101 0111001111 1 0101111101 0101010101 1111011111 0101010111 10110101010 010111001 1011110101 110101011 1101111111 01111111111 1101010101 0101010101 01011111001 11011111 1101001101 11011011 11010001011 0101010101 0111110101 1101011101 0101010101 1001010011 0111011101 1111101101 1111110101 1110101 111011111 1111110111 110111111 1101010101 1111011111 0101111111 1101110101 0111011101 0111000100 01001101 11110111 101101011 1101010101 1011010101 1101110111 1011010111 1101010111 1011010101 0101111101 110111001 110101101 10010101111 01110101 0111110111 011111111 1101111101 101101 111100101 1111011111 01110110111 1101000101 0111111011 0111110011 11011011101 1 1011110111 0111110111 1100100101 1011111101 0101011101 101011111 1101110111 1111011101 110110111 1111010101 1101110111 11101101 11110101 1101111101 1111011101 0111110011 0111110001 1101010011 00111010111 01001110111 1101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,032 |
Words | 721 |
Sentences | 36 |
Stanzas | 23 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 93 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 126 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 10, 2023
- 3:41 min read
- 121 Views
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"Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9535/rub%C3%A1iy%C3%A1t-of-omar-khayy%C3%A1m>.
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