Rubá'iyát of Omar Khayyám

The Rubá'iyát of Omar Khayyám presents a series of four-line stanzas, or quatrains, attributed to the eleventh-century Persian polymath Omar Khayyám and translated into English by Edward FitzGerald. This 2023 edition reproduces the aesthetic framework of the 1909 printing by Paul Elder and Company, featuring the distinct typography of Tomoyé Press. The text examines the fleeting nature of human existence, the inevitability of death, and the pursuit of sensory pleasure. Khayyám’s philosophical verses advocate for living in the immediate present, often using the imagery of wine, gardens, and the potter’s wheel to illustrate the passage of time and the cyclical decay of the physical body into dust.

This volume serves historians of literature and readers interested in the intersection of Victorian translation and medieval Persian philosophy. Someone studying the Arts and Crafts movement will find value in the specific layout and design choices preserved from the early twentieth-century California press. The reader acquires a foundational understanding of Epicurean thought as filtered through an Islamic Golden Age perspective. They gain a collection of aphorisms regarding the futility of worrying about the future and a historical artifact that demonstrates how Eastern poetry was adapted for Western audiences.

Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and open-ended; a moderate read.

Best for readers like The Mindful Reader. Which reader are you?