Wednesday, February 28, 2018

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Omar Khayyám

The Rubáiyát of Omar KhayyámThe Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Omar Khayyám
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have a beautiful copy of this book with Edward FitzGerald's first and fifth edition and beautiful illustrations. I liked the irreverent poems especially the ones about wine. I liked some of the poems skeptical of religion - one even seemed to reference a sort of Buddhist conception of a lack of self - but they got a little tired after a while. FitzGerald's translation rhymes but I would have gladly sacrificed that for more ease in reading. My eyes kept glazing over and I had to read some of the poems repeatedly.

Favorite, #37 in the first edition:
Ah, fill the Cup:-- what boots it to repeat
How Time is underneath our Feet:
Unborn To-Morrow, and dead Yesterday.
Why fret about them if To-day be sweet!

View all my reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...