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Book Review: Rubaiyat of Omar Kayyam

Title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Author: Khayyam, Omar and Fitzgerald, Edward
Publisher: NY: Random House
Copyright: 1947
Stars: 1


       This is a collection of quatrains of Persian poetry translated into English poetry. In the first edition, there were 75. In the third, there were 101. They are basically celebrations of wine, women, song, and rebellion published in Victorian England that created a stir because of a coterie of fans. I am not one of them.
        There are two quatrains from the first edition that I found noteworthy:
#51
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ
Moves on: nor for all they Piety nor Wit
    Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.


and #69
Indeed the Idols I have loved so long
Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong:
     Have drown'd my Honor in a shallow Cup
And sold my Reputation for a Song


      Having read the first edition, I glanced at the second and the third, which are more of the same. My conclusion is that I'm glad I don't have to read it again because it wasn't really worth reading the first tiem.





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