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The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Persia’s Poet-Scientist

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Persia’s Poet-Scientist. Rasoul Sorkhabi.
The World and I (2012) 1 (January)

December 4, 2011 marked the 880th anniversary of the death of one of the best known Oriental poets in the world: Omar Khayyam. Immortalized by its translation into English verse by Edward FitzGerald, “The Rubâiyât of Omar Khayyam,” has created a huge following in the West. Initially overlooked, the subsequent successes of FitzGerald’s and other translations can be said to have introduced new aspects to our understanding of poetry.

Quatrains of ‘Umar Khayyám in Turkish, and Turkish quatrains

Quatrains of ‘Umar Khayyám in Turkish, and Turkish quatrains. S. Sötemann.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 97-104

Sötemann explains that while Ottoman poets were deeply influenced by Persian poetry, they avoided composing quatrains, preferring other literary forms. Yahya Kemal Beyatlı (1884-1958) was an exception, as he tried to master all the forms and genres of Ottoman poetry. In his efforts, Beyatlı translated Khayyám and introduced his poetry to Turkish people.

The Magic Lantern of Omar Khayyám

The Magic Lantern of Omar Khayyám. Stephen R. Wilk.
Optics & Photonics News (2012), 1, pp. 16-17

Optical projection techniques are mentioned in several translations of a quatrain from the poem “The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.” What is the true meaning of Khayyám’s metaphor of reality as a shadow show?

Singing the quatrains. Omar Khayyám and Umm Kulthúm

Singing the quatrains. Omar Khayyám and Umm Kulthúm. Jan Just Witkam.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 85-95.

Witkam examines in this chapter the translations of the Egyptian poet Ahmad Muhammad Rámí (1892-1981) and how his translations were sung by the famous singers Umm Kulthum (c. 1904-1975) and Muhammad ‘Abd al-Vahháb (1907-1991)

The reception of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of ‘Umar Khayyám by the Victorians

The reception of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of ‘Umar Khayyám by the Victorians. Esmail Zare-Behtash.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 203–214.

Behtash gives an overview of Khayyám’s reception during the Victorian period in England, offering the reasons why the Rubáiyát became an archetypal Victorian poem, having a dramatic form, mysticism, Epicureanism, melancholy, loss of faith, anxiety about the future, and unfamiliar exoticism.

Whitley Stokes and the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Whitley Stokes and the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. J. Drew.
In: The tripartite life of Whitley Stokes (1830-1909). Ed. by Elizabeth Boyle and Paul Russell. Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-84682-278-0. pp. 111-118.

Drew describes Whitley Stokes’ role in the intriguing story behind the Madras 1862 edition.