From the

Rubaiyat
By: Omar Khayyam
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THE VOCABULARY AND

01 AUTHOR 02 NOTES

03 POEM 04 SUMMARY
 01
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WHO IS OMAR KHAYYAM?

OMAR KHAYYAM
• Omar Khayyam is a
Persian scholar who
known as a poet and
mathematician. Born in
1048 and live in Nishapur.

• He wrote a scholarly work

on algebra which put him
a spot in a group whose
forming a calendar.
• His works were later known in the 1800’s
thru the translation of Edward Fritzgerald
entitling Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

• He wrote in the form of ruba’i which is a

four line stanza that expresses a complete
thought, where thereon is considered as a
epigram or philosophical theory.
 VOCABULAR
02 Y AND
NOTES
From the Rubaiyat
• BOWL OF THE NIGHT refers to the night sky
• THE STONE refers to the rising sun
• A TURRET is a small, often ornamental,
tower projecting from a larger structure.
• SOVRANTY (spelled sovereignty in standard
English) means “freedom from external
control”
• In Persian mythology, JAMSHYD was a king
of celestial beings condemned to live as a
mortal being.
• BAHRAM, a legendary king, was killed while
hunting an ass.
• VINTNERS sell wine and liquor.
 03
POEM
From the Rubaiyat
 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 Sultán's Turret in a Noose of Light.
 VII

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.
 XII.

"How sweet is mortal Sovranty!" – think some:

Others – "How blest the Paradise to come!"
Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest;
Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!
 XIII

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."
 XVII

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep

The Courts where Jamshýd gloried and drank deep:
And Bahrám, that great Hunter – the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep.
 XXVII

Myself when young did eagerly frequent

Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.
 XXVIII

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,

And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd –
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."
 LXVIII

We are no other than a moving row

Of visionary Shapes that come and go
Round with this Sun-illumin'd Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show.
 LXIX

But helpless pieces of the game He plays

Upon this Checker-board of Nights and Days;
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,
And one by one in the closet lays.
04 SUMMARY

From the Rubaiyat

The Rubaiyat of Omar khayyam is a poem of high divine and
spiritual meaning. The beauty and simplicity of the poem is
so immaculate that people of all faiths and those who have
no faith at all can seek divine solace in it. Omar has presented
the nectar of divine ecstasy as a delightful alternative that
leads to human enlightenment and eradicates human woe
permanently. He has a pictured the ordinary joys of life for
the worldly men are able to compare the mundae pleasures
with the superior joys of spiritual life. The literal meaning of
the translated verses is completely absurd but the vast inner
meanings are like a golden treasure house.
THANKS!