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Larger hopes and the new hedonism: Tennyson and FitzGerald

Larger hopes and the new hedonism: Tennyson and FitzGerald. Norman Page.
In: Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Ed. by H. Bloom. Philadelphia, Chelsea House, 2004. p. 151-168.
(From Tennyson: Seven Essays, edited by Philip Collins. 1992 by The Macmillan Press Ltd.)

Page compares Tennyson’s In Memoriam with the almost contemporary Rubaiyat. The author’s analysis is that, even as he confronts the threats to faith posed by the new science (Darwin), Tennyson remains conservative and reassuring with the strength of his convictions, while the Rubaiyat, a fin-de-siecle poem “born before its time”, is uncompromisingly unorthodox and challenging with the power of its scepticism.

‘Some for the glories of the sole’: the Rubáiyát and FitzGerald’s sceptical American parodists

‘Some for the glories of the sole’: the Rubáiyát and FitzGerald’s sceptical American parodists. A.S. Drury.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 193-212.

Drury sees in American parodies of the Rubáiyát a critique of the uncomplicated celebration of cultural fusion that many of FitzGerald’s champions promulgated. Her examples include the different uses of the Rubáiyát made by Mark Twain, Oliver Herford, and the ‘Hoosier poet’ James Whitcomb Riley.

A Victorian poem: Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

A Victorian poem: Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. C. Wilmer.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 45-54.

By looking at the Rubáiyát’s context Wilmer tries to answer the question how FitzGerald was able – through Persian lyrics of the Middle Ages – to speak to his contemporaries. First thing to be said is that Khayyám’s sceptical and more or less hedonistic view of the world belongs, as filtered through FitzGerald, to the era in which Darwin – in most respects as modest and retiring a man as FitzGerald – was dismantling old certainties.

Omar Khayyam: savant et philosophe

Omar Khayyam: savant et philosophe. Pierre Salet. Paris, Maisonneuve Frères, 1927

Summary

Salet admet toutes les contradictions de la totalité des quatrains attribués à Khayyam; ils lui content l’histoire “une âme inuiète cherchant partout le calme dès certitudes consolantes”; cette histoire, M. Salet la commente en une dizaine de chapitres où il insère la traduction des quatrains (ou des fragments de quatrains) qu’il considère comme typiques. Ces citations nombreuses suppléeront en quelque mesure à la traduction de Nicolas qui devient une rareté.

Contents

L’oeuvre scientifique d’Omar Khayyam
Les Quatrains
Le poète et Dieu
L’amour et son symbolisme
Religion et religions
Le Kalam et la table du destin
Le pessimisme du poète
La coupe de la création
La roue des cieux
Le vin de l’échanson étemel
Le pantheïsme des Soufis
APPENDICE
La réforme du calendrier
Le traite d’Algèbre