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The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: a critical assessment of Robert Graves’ and Omar Ali-Shah’s ‘translation’

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: a critical assessment of Robert Graves’ and Omar Ali-Shah’s ‘translation’. J.C.E. Bowen
Iran: Journal of Persian studies 11 (1973), pp. 63–73

When Cassells in November 1967 published Robert Graves’s versification of 111 of Omar Khayyam’s quatrains, they announced it to be “for the first time a true translation of Omar Khayaam which reverses his philosophy as presented, in ignorance of the Persian language and of Sufi symbolism, by Edward FitzGerald”. They also called it “one of the most important literary revelations of our time”. In this article, the validity of these claims is examined.

Graves and Omar

Graves and Omar. Anthony Burgess.
Encounter (1968) (Jan.), pp. 77–80

Comments on the Graves-Ali Shah translation of the Rubáiyát.

The Omar Khayyam Puzzle

The Omar Khayyam Puzzle. L.P. Elwell-Sutton.
Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society 55 (1968) 2, pp. 167–179

A recent publication has stimulated interest once again in the Persian poet Omar Khayyam-though admittedly to the English speaking world he is already by far the best-known, and for many the only, figure in Persian literature. Yet in fact he is a rather shadowy, insubstantial person, largely ignored in his own land of Iran, and about whom surprisingly little is recorded in history. Much of what is related about him is purely legendary: for instance, the well-known story of his schooldays friendship with the vizier Nizam al-Mulk and Hasan Sabbah, founder of the sect of the Assassins-impossible on chronological grounds alone. Other legends have been ad added through the centuries, particularly by some of the Sufi sects in Iran and Afghanistan.

One hundred years of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

One hundred years of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. John D. Yohannan.
Epiterea (1959) p. 259-274.

Brief account of the FitzGerald translation, later translations, the public attitude towards Omar Khayyam, interspersed with some interesting observations and facts.

The Unknown Omar Khayyam

The Unknown Omar Khayyam. J.A. Chapman.
English: The Journal of the English Association 7 (1948) 39 (Autumn), pp. 132 …

The title comes from a curious ‘pamphlet’ of twelve pages, issued by the Kenion Press, and priced four shillings, or fourpence per page. It contains 79 quatrains translated by Yusuf Khan.

 

A bibliography of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám …

A bibliography of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám together with kindred matter in prose and verse pertaining thereto. Collected and arranged by Ambrose George Potter. London, Ingpen and Grant, 1929. xiii. 313 p.
Reprinted 1994 by Olms, Hildesheim.

Die Überlieferung der ‘Umar-i Hayyám zugeschriebenen Vierzeiler im 13. bis 16. Jahrhundert

Die Überlieferung der ‘Umar-i Hayyám zugeschriebenen Vierzeiler im 13. bis 16. Jahrhundert. Christian Rempis. In: Beiträge zur Hayyám-Forschung. Leipzig, Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, 1937.

Included in “Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes”, Band XXII. Published by die Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, 1937.
Reprint by Klaus Reprint, Nendeln, 1966.

Contents:

1. Die ältesten Handschriften der Vierzeiler ‘Umar-i Hayyáms.
2. Die frühstbezeugten Sinnsprüche Hayyáms.
3. Der Reim als Scheidemerkmal zwischen alten und jungen Sprüchen in der Hayyám-Überlieferung.
4. Die “wandernden” Vierzeiler der Hayyám-Überlieferung.
5. Vergleichsliste der C-Handschriften.
6. Hauptvergleichsliste.