Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Carpe Diem, Eschatology and Sensuality in Rubaiyat
Carpe Diem, Eschatology and Sensuality in Rubaiyat
Carpe Diem
Carpe diem is a phrase that comes from the Roman poet Horace, means literally
‘Pluck the day’, though it's usually translated as ‘Seize the day’. A free translation might be
‘Enjoy yourself while you have the chance’. This Latin phrase was used by the Roman
poet Horace to express the idea that we should enjoy life while we can. His full injunction,
"carpe diem quam minimum credula postero,” can be translated as “pluck the day, trusting as
little as possible in the next one,” but carpe diem alone has come to be used as shorthand for
this entire idea, which is more widely known as "seize the day." Carpe diem basically says
that enjoy all of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future.
This term has been expressed in many literatures before and after Horace. It appears
in ancient Greek literature, especially lyric poetry, and it intersects with the teachings of the
literature it was a particular preoccupation of poets during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Among the Cavalier poets, Robert Herrick expressed a sharp sense of carpe diem in the first
stanza, one of the best-known examples is in the first stanza of Robert Herrick's "To the
Khayyam considers present time as the very precious moment for a man. If the person
utilizes each and every moment of the present, he may enjoy life with the intensity. In this
way, life becomes for a man a matter of hours not of years. The poet says that man cannot
grasp the purpose of existence or he cannot efface the past and mould the future to his own
way. So, what remains for a man is the present only. It is the only moment of time that really
Here, Omar seems to suggest that one should not think about the past and future but
only about Present. Make the most out of present before we die, before we mix with the dust:
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, – and sans End! (23)
Also Omar suggests while you are alive drink wine for once if you are dead you will
never return:
Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourne
He also says that to go with him leaving the wise because one thing is certain that
today you are alive and tomorrow you have to die giving the example of a flower which once
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. (26)
This use of the flower as a symbol of the transience of human life recalls. Robert
Herrick uses similar imagery in his poem “To the Virgins, to make much of Time”:
Robert Frost took on the subject carpe diem with his poem “Carpe Diem,” first
Also not being modern writer in old time also carpe diem used by many writers along
with Omar Khayyam in his Rubaiyat by using these lines in his verses.
Eschatology
Eschatology is a belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny
of humankind, the doctrine of the last things. It was originally a Western term, referring to
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim beliefs about the end of history, the resurrection of the dead,
the Last Judgment, the messianic era, and the problem of theodicy. In the history of religion,
the term eschatology refers to conceptions of the last things: immortality of the soul, rebirth,
resurrection, migration of the soul, and the end of time. These concepts also have secular
parallels—for example, in the turning points of one’s life and in one’s understanding of
death. Often these notions are contrasted with the experience of suffering in the world.
Eschatological themes thrive during crises, serving as consolation for those who hope for a
Khayyam has been accused of believing in the transmigration of the soul and even
corporeal resurrection in this world. This is partially due to some of the inauthentic Rubaiyat
that have been attributed to him. Khayyam’s philosophical treatises indicate that he did
believe in life after death, and in this regard his views were in line with traditional Islamic
eschatological doctrine.
Khayyam the poet, however, plays with the notion of life after death in a variety of
ways. First, he casts doubt on the very existence of a life beyond our earthly existence;
second, he says that based on our very experience in this world, all things seem to perish and
not return. Some of his poems play with the idea of the transmigration of the soul. This is
more symbolic than actual; in numerous poems he tells us that we turn to dust and it is from
our dust that other living beings rise. Khayyam’s comments regarding the possibility of life
after death may well have been an indirect criticism of the orthodox jurists who spoke of the
again the tension between Khayyam’s poetic and philosophical modes of thought surfaces;
Which has no sense-but never ends the lay (Whinfield 2001, 229)
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and sans End!” (23)
We came from dust and we will return to dust and we will lie under dust before our
death. Make the most of Life before you die, for when you do die, that is IT! Compare the
famous lines from Jacques’ speech on the Seven Ages of Man in Shakespeare’s play As You
Like It:
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." (Act II, Scene VII, lines 163 –166)
Omar also says that this world is nothing but like a magic show where we are played
in the box and in which phantom figures come and go, that means people comes and goes
We today are likened to “Summer dresses in new Bloom” (flowers in bloom), who
will all too soon wither and die to make way for the next generation of flowers. “The Couch
of Earth” is like “the River’s Lip on which we lean” (19) – we live (lean) upon the Earth
before we are buried (descend) beneath it, to become part of the Earth on which future
While Khayyam does not explicitly deny the existence of life after death, perhaps for
political reasons and fear of being labeled a heretic, there are subtle references throughout
his Rubaiyat that the hereafter should be taken with a grain of salt. In contrast, in his
philosophical writings we see him argue for the in corporeality of the soul, which paves the
path for the existence of life after death. The irreconcilable conflict between Khayyam’s
observation that death is the inevitable end for all beings, and his philosophical reflections in
favor of the possibility of the existence of life after death, remains an insoluble riddle.
Sensuality in Rubaiyat
being pleasing to the senses. It is the state or quality of being sensual; fondness for or
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam reveals the use of Sensuality. Basically these sensual
version of Edward Fitzgerald. The Rubaiyat subtly evokes the alliance of scientific reasoning
with religious skepticism. At the same time, however, confounds the speaker's desire to
comprehend it in rational ways. Chaos generates an inexhaustible sense of wonder, and the
failure to glimpse Goďs design or benevolence fuels the longing for sensual pleasure.
Omar does not discard the pleasures and joys of life as just illusions. To him, the
irony is that the joys are short-lived. Thus, Omar opines just like the joys, human life also is a
after Death. So, everything on the earth is in a state of eternal Flux. The poet Says-
The flower that once has blown for ever dies.” (26)
Shelley used similar imagery in his poem “Mutability” – his second poem of that title,
written in 1824:
The flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow dies;
Throughout the quatrains, the speaker establishes intimate contact with diverse forms
of life - vines, nightingales, the woods, and, of course, the second-person addressee of the
poem.
Through a figurative use of fledging, the river turns into a young bird whose wing
feathers take the form of grass. The contact between humans, plants, and the animated river
suggests the intermingling of diverse life forms. The speaker, connecting intimately with
Similar theme echoed in the following lines from Shelley’s “Queen Mab” in Part II:
The diction in the verse in which the speaker emphatically denies an afterlife, for
And if everything you do in this life, like the pleasures of Wine and Women, ends in
nothing, well, don’t worry, just think about it, you can’t be less than Nothing, so whatever
you do in this life, it can’t be worse than indulging in Wine and Women!
Thomas Jordan wrote a poem on enjoying life is “Coronemus nos Rosis antequam
marcescant”:
another, the call to dignify the human body and its desires:
Less predictable than the barrenness of reason here is its characterization as old.
Promising bodily pleasures, the daughter of the vine replaces the very entity of human
progress.
This quatrain reveals with striking clarity how the speaker manages to reconcile a
worldly outlook with the possible existence of the supernatural. If there is a transcendent
power, it is emotionally and intellectually so disconnected from those who exist within the
Beloved fill up a glass of wine which will clear past regrets and future fears, drinking
will remove all worries of past and future and thus he will enjoy with his beloved. The end of
the verse seems to mean something like ‘who knows what tomorrow may bring’:
Ah! my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
Any reference to tomorrows and yesterdays almost inevitably recalls that famous
In the following verse we can see the worldly lust and sensual state where they are
cup of wine. The “Impertinence” is the way we are buffeted along by Fate without
being asked and, all too often, without any choice in the matter. Following verse also talks
The Spring and the Rose, here used to signify fading youth. Like the love of rose and
nightingale we should cherish youth and be close. It seems to be the Bird of Youth, which,
Andrew Marvell, of course, wanted more than just a kiss, in the poem “To his Coy
In 74th verse “Moon of my Delight” is the Poet’s Beloved, she being constant, unlike
the Moon of Heaven, which waxes and wanes as the month goes by. He is comparing his
beloved with moon and calling her moon. Incidentally, it is an easily missed fact that the
rising Moon in this verse, at the end of the poem, pairs with the rising Sun in verse 1 at the
beginning, the whole poem thus effectively following the course of Omar’s musings through
In one of his famous rubais, Omar craves for a jug of wine, a book of verse and the
beloved’s presence with a song on her lips. This provides a clue as to how bliss may be
The wine that exalts man and frees him from the anxieties is meant here to raise him
from the mundane level of life. The book of verse represents the attainments of human
imagination. The beloved who is both the source and the object of love is one who
appreciated through the senses, elates and sublimates the feelings of the lover. According to
Omar, woman, wine and book- all these combined together can turn the moment of bliss into
eternity. According to Omar, Love is not merely a sensual enjoyment to satisfy lust. He
believes in the Platonic Love. In this state, there is no carving for the exclusive possession of
the beloved. The beauty of the beloved is considered as the light that illuminates the lover’s
life. Her very presence inspires and elevates the lover. Even her memory also sublimates and