Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyám (1048–1131) · translated by Edward FitzGerald, 1859 / 1889

Four-line Persian poems (rubaʻiyat) attributed to the 11th-century astronomer, mathematician, and poet Omar Khayyám. Five parallel editions with a unified switcher: FitzGerald's iconic First (1859, 75) and Fifth (1889, 101) verse translations, Whinfield's 1883 literal 500, the prose translation of Nicolas's 1867 French (Arnot, 1903, 464), and the Persian original (Foroughi-Ghani 1960, 178) with transliteration and modern literal / poetic renderings, themes, and notes. The Fifth Edition additionally shows Edward Heron-Allen's 1898 scholarly Persian-source analysis inline.

“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness —
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!”

Quatrain XII — Fifth Edition

Reading Formats

▸ Reader

What's in the reader

FG1FitzGerald First · 1859 · 75 verse

FitzGerald's anonymous debut — terser, stranger, more Persian in cadence. Rediscovered on a remainder table by the Pre-Raphaelites; became a cult classic.

FG5FitzGerald Fifth · 1889 · 101 verse · w/ Heron-Allen 1898

The canonical text, published months after FitzGerald's death. Each quatrain shows Edward Heron-Allen's 1898 scholarly Persian-source analysis inline (literal prose + manuscript refs).

WhE. H. Whinfield · 1883 · 500 verse (literal)

The broadest English verse rendering of the era — closer to a quatrain-by-quatrain literal than FitzGerald. Each quatrain annotated with manuscript-source codes.

NiNicolas → English Prose · 1903 · 464 prose

English prose translation of J. B. Nicolas's 1867 French rendering, from the Arnot 1903 compilation. A Sufistic reading: where FitzGerald paraphrases toward Epicurean skepticism, Nicolas reads most quatrains as mystical allegory.

فاPersian Originals · Foroughi & Ghani, 1960 annotated

178 رباعیات in Persian script with transliteration, modern-English literal and poetic renderings, theme tag, and a brief contextual note. Historical matches to FitzGerald 1st/5th and Whinfield are inlined where documented.

Modern literal and poetic translations are machine-generated (Claude, Anthropic). Historical translations (FitzGerald, Whinfield) are public-domain. Persian text from fa.wikisource (CC BY-SA 4.0).

About this Text

Author

Omar Khayyám (1048–1131)

Translator

Edward FitzGerald (1809–1883)

English Editions

FG 1st / 5th · Whinfield · Nicolas-Eng · Heron-Allen

Persian Edition

Foroughi & Ghani (1960, 178)

Total quatrains

1,318 across 5 editions

Sources

Project Gutenberg #246, #38511 · fa.wikisource

Public domain (English); CC BY-SA 4.0 (Persian)

Format

4-line quatrains (rubaʻi), AABA rhyme