Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: First and Fifth Editions

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One of the best-known, most often-quoted English classics. Edward FitzGerald's free translation of skeptical, hedonistic verse attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048-1122), Persian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. Explanation of Persian names and unfamiliar terms.

Omar Khayyam (1048–1122) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and a philosopher who was not known as a poet in his lifetime. Later, a body of quatrains became attached to his name, although not all were his works. These verses lay in obscurity until 1859, when Edward FitzGerald (1809–1883), an English country gentleman, published a free adaptation of this Persian poetry. After its discovery by D. G. Rossetti and others, the verse became extremely popular. Essentially a hedonist and a skeptic, Omar Khayyam, through FitzGerald, spoke with both an earthy and spiritual freedom that stirred a universal response. As a result, the Rubaiyat became one of the best-known and most often quoted English classics. The fifth edition, published posthumously in 1889, was based on FitzGerald's handwritten changes in a copy of the fourth edition, and is traditionally printed with the first edition.

ISBN: 9780486264677
Author: FITZGERALD, EDWARD
Format: Paperback
Publication date: 02/11/2011
RRP: $7.99
Pages: 64
Dimension: 209mm X 131mm
Imprint: Dover Publications