COVE

On page sixteen of Random House’s 1947 edition of the Rubáiyát, readers encounter stanzas twenty-one and twenty-two positioned next to an illustration of two Persian people relaxing and playing an instrument. The illustration on page seventeen is in direct conversation with stanza twenty-two as the imagery depicted mimics the sentiment of that specific stanza. Both the illustration and the stanza are working together in an effort to perpetuate Khayyám’s questioning of religious devotion and the alleged treasures waiting for believers on “the other side”, or what comes after death. Khayyám makes clear that the pursuit of a higher power and the efforts to “be good” so that higher power will bestow one with a more desirable afterlife based on your earthly actions is pointless. This sentiment is extremely present in stanza twenty-two, and page seventeen’s illustration brings color and life to that notion. 

Stanza twenty-two begins with the line “And we, that now make merry in the Room They left” in reference to what I would argue is the cycle of life. Khayyám is making merry in the room where generations before him have, fully knowing that he too will return to dirt and generations following him will come and make merry as he once did. In the illustration, a woman with an instrument that appears to be a guitar plays while a man lounges with a cup of wine. The characters depicted in this image are being “merry”, they are enjoying the pleasures of music and wine. Yet, these characters are doing so due to the fragility of life, they know they will die and never be merry again, so they play and they drink while they still can. 

Following that section in the stanza is the line “and Summer dresses in new Bloom”. I take the season of summer to represent the fleeting pleasures of life. This, coupled with the word “Bloom” illustrate this image of humans as flowers. We are planted, we bloom, and we die only to return to the earth we were planted in. Khayyám knows the bloom of life is short and should be enjoyed and not muddled by questions of Divinity. The illustration displays the two people in bright clothing with vibrant yellow, plum and blue. Each piece of their clothing is printed with flowers, this being a direct correlation to the poem's imagery of life as a blooming flower. The people in the illustration appear young, relaxed and joyful, in addition to their clothes, they themselves are in bloom too. 

The final line of this stanza reads “Descend, ourselves to make a Couch– for whom?”. The “Couch” can be an assumed metaphor for the final rest of those dead and buried, now reunited with the earth. This line articulates Khayyám’s questioning of the validity of an afterlife. We are all going to return to the dirt, and in doing so, make room for the next generation of the living. With this in mind, Khayyám brings to light the previously mentioned religious ideal of living a moral life to earn a better afterlife and debunks it. He questions who they’re doing all this for. “For whom?”, to Khayyám, everyone is given the same run through the cycle of life, and the only way to truly enjoy that run is to be merry, not to be in pursuit of an unknown power. In the illustration, the male character is leaning against a tree that curves into the shape of a seat or a couch. This connects to the “Couch” in the stanza being the couch of earth as the seat this character leans on is literally made of plants, of earth. Therefore, the illustration is in precise conversation with the stanza by displaying an image of the sentiment articulated in the lines of this specific stanza.