My edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is titled: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, The Astronomer-Poet of Persia. The author(s) are Omar Khayyám and Edward FitzGerald. The Translator is Edward FitzGerald. On the OSU Catalogue, Michael Kerney is listed as an author as well for the beginning portion of the book he wrote about Edward FitzGerald. The publisher is listed as New York: Doxey's in 1900. The illustrator of the book is Florence Lundborg, who took very heavy inspiration from Aubrey Beardsley's Art Nouveau style of...
Black argues that the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is diminutive of Persian culture and Orientalist in nature because of FitzGerald's translation and the Gift Book Culture's appropriation of what Victorians’ defined as “exotic” elements of “the East.” Many editions of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám were bejeweled and adorned with locks to attain a “status” of “treasure book.” (Black 60) This aspect of the poem becoming more of a collectible for English and American fanatics alike devalues the poem’s cultural significance in Persia and the language contained within. Black also...
Figure A is an image of a book and the surrounding floating flower petals fits well with the overall theme of these three stanzas. Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise/The Flower that once has blown for ever dies// and The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd/Are all but Stories which, awoke from sleep/They told their comrades, and to sleep return'd.// The stanzas are talking about the importance of this life, staying present, and is criticizing the idea of living for a promise of an afterlife not proven. The illustration includes the flower petals, which represent the dead souls who have...
