'Pilgrim's Progress' that Richard always called him the 'ALLEGORY,' with
a long white beard--a rare Appendage in those days--and a Face the
colour of which seemed to have been baked in, like the Faces one used to
see on Earthenware Jugs. In our Country-dialect Earthenware is called
'_Clome_'; so the Boys of the Village used to shout out after him--'Go
back to the Potter, old Clome-face, and get baked over again.' For the
'Allegory,' though shrewd enough in most things, had the reputation of
being _saift-baked_, _i.e._, of weak intellect.»
(XC.) At the Close of the Fasting Month, Ramazan (which makes the
Musulman unhealthy and unamiable), the first Glimpse of the New Moon
(who rules their division of the Year) is looked for with the utmost
Anxiety, and hailed with Acclamation. Then it is that the Porter's Knot
may be heard--toward the _Cellar_. Omar has elsewhere a pretty Quatrain
about the same Moon--
«Be of Good Cheer--the sullen Month will die,
And a young Moon requite us by and by:
Look how the Old one, meagre, bent, and wan
With Age and Fast, is fainting from the Sky!»
AN ANALYSIS OF
EDWARD FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION
OF THE
QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM
(_Fifth Edition_)
By EDWARD HERON-ALLEN
PREFACE
The object with which this volume has been compiled has been to set at
rest, once and for ever, the vexed question of how far Edward
FitzGerald's incomparable poem may be regarded as a translation of the
Persian originals, how far as an adaptation, and how far as an original
work. In the Introduction to my recently published translation of the
Ouseley MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and more particularly in
the Essay which terminates the second edition of that work, I have dwelt
at considerable length upon the history of Edward FitzGerald's poem and
the influences of various Oriental works which are traceable in it. As
it is doubtful whether the present volume will reach the hands of, or at
any rate be critically considered by, any students of the poem who have
not already had access to my former work, I do not think that it would
be either expedient or useful to repeat in this place the information
which is collected there, but a short history of the major portion of
Edward FitzGerald's material is necessary, for the purpose of showing
why this question of translation, adaptation, or original composition
should have been a question open to lengthy argument, and why it has
been impossible to set it at rest until the present time, when forty
years have elapsed since first Edward FitzGerald's poem attracted the
attention of those great scholars and poets who rescued it, as recounted
in the threadbare anecdote, from the oblivion of the penny box.
The influence of the Ouseley MS. upon the poem forms the subject of the
volume to which I have referred, and, save in so far as it recurs in the
parallels which give excuse for the present work, may be dismissed, but
the doubts which have sprung up as to the extent to which Edward
FitzGerald took, as his editor, Mr. Aldis Wright, says, «great liberties
with the original,» have arisen in consequence of the vicissitudes which
have befallen the rest of the material from which the poet worked during
the construction of his first edition. We know that Prof. Cowell made a
copy of the Ouseley MS. for Edward FitzGerald just before he went to
India in August, 1856. In another letter he says «I got a copy made for
him from the one MS. in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Library at Calcutta
soon after I arrived in November, 1856. It reached FitzGerald June 14th,
1857, as I learn by a note in his writing. Some time after this I sent
him a copy of that rare Calcutta printed edition which I got from my
Munshi.» To possess oneself therefore of full information as to what
material Edward FitzGerald really worked from in making the original
edition of his poem, it was necessary to consult, line by line, and word
by word, the Calcutta MS. (noted as No. 1548 in the Bengal Asiatic
Society's Library) and the Calcutta _printed_ edition of 1836,--in
addition, of course, to the Ouseley MS. Prof. Cowell most generously
placed at my disposal his copy of the Calcutta MS., but, as he himself
has recorded, the copy was made by an inferior scribe in a hand which is
exceedingly difficult to read. I therefore communicated with Mr. A.T.
Pringle, Director of Indian Records in the Home Department at Calcutta,
himself a keen and critical student of Omar Khayyam, with a view to
getting either a photographic reproduction, or a clean copy of this MS.
made for me. Careful search and widely spread enquiry brought to light
the fact that the MS. was lost, stolen, or strayed, so that Prof.
Cowell's copy was the only record left of this portion of Edward
FitzGerald's material. This copy I sent out to India, and had copied by
a good writer, a copy being made at the same time to replace that which
had been stolen.
I next addressed myself to the discovery of «that rare Calcutta
_printed_ edition,» of whose existence, after searching in vain every
European State library and many others, and every library in India of
which I could learn, I began to have grave doubts, thinking that Prof.
Cowell had inadvertently confused it with an edition _lithographed_
simultaneously at Calcutta and Teheran in 1836. In the summer, however,
when I had given up all hope, one of Mr. Pringle's clerks picked up a
copy of the long sought book in the Bazar at Calcutta, printed from type
at Calcutta in 1836. A circumstance that greatly adds to the interest of
this discovery, whilst at the same time it very greatly lessened my
labours, lies in the fact that this edition is evidently printed from
the lost Calcutta MS. itself, both introduction and quatrains being
identical in readings and sequence. A few quatrains, including the
repetitions, forming part of the MS. and nearly all those written in the
margins of the MS. are omitted, but nearly all of these are added as an
appendix to the book, the printer explaining in a short note that they
were found in a _bayaz_ (or book of extracts), and were added in that
place instead of in their _diwan_ (or alphabetical) order on account of
their more than ordinarily antinomian tendency. A very interesting
question arises hereon, whether these latter were printed into the book
from the margins of the MS. after being purposely or accidentally
omitted, _or_ whether they were written on to the margin of the MS. from
this book at some date between 1836 and 1856. I think that the former is
the more likely explanation, but in the absence of the MS. this question
cannot be solved.
I find myself therefore in the interesting position of having the whole
of FitzGerald's material before me; and though (so perfectly did Edward
FitzGerald identify himself with his author's habit of mind) many other
MSS. contain quatrains that closely resemble his marvellous paraphrase,
there is nothing written by or attributed to Omar Khayyam which served
FitzGerald for inspiration in making his first edition, other than what
is to be found in the three, or rather two, texts above referred to. I
have spoken already (and at length, in the Terminal Essay to my former
volume) of the influences exerted by other Oriental poets upon his work,
and especially that of the Mantik ut-tair, or Parliament of Birds of
Ferid ud din Attar; where it was direct or exclusive I have set it down
in the parallels which follow. The result of my observations may be
summarised as follows:
Of Edward FitzGerald's quatrains, forty-nine are faithful and beautiful
paraphrases of single quatrains to be found in the Ouseley or Calcutta
MSS., or both.[14]
Forty-four are traceable to more than one quatrain, and therefore may be
termed «composite» quatrains.
Two are inspired by quatrains found by FitzGerald only in Nicolas' text.
Two are quatrains reflecting the whole spirit of the original poem.
Two are traceable exclusively to the influence of the Mantik ut-tair of
Ferid ud din Attar.
Two quatrains primarily inspired by Omar were influenced by the Odes of
Hafiz.
And three, which appeared only in the first and second editions and were
afterwards suppressed by Edward FitzGerald himself, are not--so far as a
careful search enables me to judge--attributable to any lines of the
original texts. Other authors may have inspired them, but their
identification is not useful in this case.
The «fillip,» so to speak, given to FitzGerald's interest in the
ruba'iyat, by the publication of Monsieur J.B. Nicolas' text and
translation of 464 «_Les Quatrains de Khèyam_» (Paris, 1867), must not
be lost sight of, and may be held responsible for many, if not most of
the variations and additions that differentiate the second, third, and
fourth editions from the first. This volume, as FitzGerald himself
records in his Introduction to the second and subsequent editions,
«reminded him of several things and instructed him in others.» Two of
FitzGerald's later quatrains at least (Nos. 46 and 98) come from that
text, and these I have never seen in any MS. text; and, in seeking the
parallels to the present volume, I have collated exactly 5,235 ruba'iyat
in the original Persian. I have appended to every Persian ruba'i in the
following pages, references to the texts in which I have found the same
ruba'i, in the identical form, or more or less varied, and it will be
observed that, for the most part, the ruba'iyat which inspired
FitzGerald are those which have so appealed to the Oriental mind as to
be represented in nearly all the MSS. and texts under examination. The
Ouseley MS. being the first text that occupied FitzGerald's attention,
where his inspirational lines occur both in that MS. and the Calcutta
MS., I have given the Ouseley MS. version, noting any important
variations to be found in the Calcutta MS. It will be observed that
FitzGerald's tendency, after the second edition, was to eliminate
quatrains which were merely suggested by the general tone and sentiment
of the original poem, and not the reflection or translation of
particular and identifiable ruba'iyat. The reader is especially
recommended, when studying these parallels, to turn to the corresponding
quatrain in the first edition, for FitzGerald often diverged further
from the originals in making his subsequent variations--notably, for
instance, in the first and forty-eighth quatrains.
With regard to my own translations of the originals in the following
pages, I may remark that the excessive baldness of the translation is
intentional, for I deemed it better to put before the lovers of
FitzGerald's poem the closest and most unpolished English rendering,
rather than to attempt to clothe the literal meaning of the originals in
graceful phraseology.
I desire to record in this place my most cordial thanks, for the
invaluable assistance they have given me in the preparation of this
volume, to Mr. A.T. Pringle, Professor E.B. Cowell, and Dr. E. Denison
Ross, and to Mr. Aldis Wright, Edward FitzGerald's literary executor,
and his publishers Messrs. Macmillan, for their very kind permission to
reproduce in this volume the poem which has brought it into existence.
EDWARD HERON-ALLEN.
EXPLANATION OF THE REFERENCES IN THE FOLLOWING PARALLELS
The following are the alternative texts and translations referred to in
the following parallels:--
O.--The Ouseley MS. No. 140 in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, dated
A.H. 865 (A.D. 1460), containing 158 ruba'iyat. A facsimile and
translation with notes, etc., were published by H.S. Nichols, Ltd.
(London, 1898).
C.--The Calcutta MS. No. 1548 in the Bengal Asiatic Society's
Library at Calcutta, containing 510 ruba'iyat. The original has been
lost or stolen, but a copy has been made from the copy made for
Edward FitzGerald at the instance of Prof. Cowell.
L.--The Lucknow lithograph. The edition referred to is that of A.H.
1312 (A.D. 1894), containing 770 ruba'iyat.
W.--The text and metrical translation published by E.H. Whinfield
(London, Trübner, 1883), containing 500 ruba'iyat.
N.--The text and prose translation published by J.B. Nicolas (Paris,
Imprimerie Impériale, 1867), containing 464 ruba'iyat.
S.P.--The text lithographed at St. Petersburg, A.H. 1308 (A.D.
1888), containing 453 ruba'iyat. Almost identical with N.
B.--A collection of poems lithographed at Bombay, A.H. 1297 (A.D.
1880), containing 756 ruba'iyat of Omar. Almost identical with L.
B. ii.--The MS. in the Public Library at Bankipur, dated A.H. 961-2
(A.D. 1553-4), containing 604 ruba'iyat.
P.--The MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Supplément Persan,
No. 823, ff. 92-113. Dated A.H. 934 (A.D. 1527), containing 349
ruba'iyat.
P. ii.--Seven ruba'iyat written upon blank pages of MS. of the Diwan
of Emad. Dated A.H. 786 (A.D. 1384). Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
Supplément Persan, No. 745. The handwriting is of the end of the 9th
or beginning of the 10th century of the Hijrah.
P. iii.--Six ruba'iyat written in a handwriting of the 11th century
of the Hijrah, on fol. 104 of a MS. collection of poems.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Supplément Persan, No. 793.
P. iv.--The MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Supplément
Persan, No. 826, ff. 391-394. Dated A.H. 937 (A.D. 1530), containing
76 ruba'iyat.
P. v.--The MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Ancien Fonds.,
No. 349, ff. 181-210. Dated A.H. 920 (A.D. 1514), containing 213
ruba'iyat.
T.--The MS. in the Library of the Nawab of Tonk. Apparently copied
about A.D. 1840 principally from C., containing 369 ruba'iyat.
E.C.--The quatrains translated by Prof. E.B. Cowell in his article
in the «Calcutta Review,» No. 59, March, 1858, p. 149.
De T.--The ten quatrains translated from the Ouseley MS. by Garcin
de Tassy in his «_Note sur les Ruba'iyat d'Omar Khaïyam._» (Paris,
Imprimerie Impériale, 1857.)
V.--The metrical translation by John Payne, published by the Villon
Society (London, 1898), containing 845 quatrains.
ANALYSIS OF EDWARD FITZGERALD'S QUATRAINS
I.
Wake! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight
The Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.
This version of the opening quatrain is gradually evolved through the
four editions. The quatrain, which, in the first edition runs:
Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.
is inspired by C. 134.
The Sun casts the noose of morning upon the roofs,
Kai Khosru of the day, he throws a stone into the bowl:
Drink wine! for the Herald of the Dawn, rising up,
Hurls into the days the cry of «Drink ye!»
_Ref._:[15]L. 235, B. 232, C. 134, P. 320, T. 138.--W. 233, V. 242.
It is not surprising that Mr. Aldis Wright, in his editorial note at the
end of Messrs. Macmillan's definitive edition (London, 1890), states
that «the first stanza is entirely his own,» for, in this precise form
the ruba'i is only to be found in the Calcutta MS. and in a recently
discovered MS. copied largely from it and belonging to the Nawab of
Tonk. The matter rests upon the word «stone» in the second line. The
word means «to fling a stone into a cup or pot,» which is the signal for
«striking camp» among tribes of nomad Arabs. All the other texts I have
seen read wine for stone which has made the translators (Whinfield and
Payne) properly render the passage «pours _wine_ into the cup.»
II.
Before the phantom of False morning died,
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried,
«When all the Temple is prepared within,
«Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside?»
The inspiration for this quatrain is to be found in C. 5:
There came one morning a cry from our tavern:
«Ho! our crazy, tavern-haunting profligate[16]
«Arise! that we may fill the measure with wine,
«Ere they fill up our measure (of life).»
_Ref._: L. 1, B. 1, C. 5, B. ii. 1, T. 3.--W. 1, N. 1, V. 1.
In FitzGerald's quatrain there is traceable the influence of one of the
odes of Hafiz, translated by Prof. Cowell (in «Fraser's Magazine,»
September, 1854), which he greatly admired. The lines in question run:
The morning dawns and the cloud has woven a canopy,
The morning draught, my friends, the morning draught!
It is strange that at such a season
They shut up the wine tavern! Oh, hasten!
Have they still shut up the door of the tavern?
Open, oh thou Keeper of the Gates![17]
The influence of these lines is carried on into the next quatrain.
III.
And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted--«Open then the Door!
You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more.»
The inspiration for this quatrain is found in four ruba'iyat of the
Calcutta MS., viz.: 641, 207 (ll. 3 and 4), 273, 247.
It is the hour for the morning draught, and the cock-crow, O Saki,
Here are we, and the wine, and the street of the vintners, O Saki,
What time is this for devotions? Be silent, O Saki,
Let be the traditions,[18] and drink to the dregs, O Saki.
_Ref._: L. 685, B. 676, C. 461, S.P. 448, B. ii. 599.--W. 483, N. 454,
V. 737.
Thou must drink wine, and gratify the pleasures of thy heart,
It is clear that so long (and no longer) thou wilt remain
in this world.
_Ref._: L. 281, B. 277, C. 207.--V. 285.
O Essence of Delight! Arise, it is the dawn!
Softly, softly drink wine, and play the harp
For those who are asleep do not find much,
And none of those who are gone will ever come back.
_Ref._: L. 431, B. 427, P. 289, C. 273, B. ii. 307, T. 173, P. v.
163.--N. 235, V. 469.
It is the dawn! Arise, O strange boy!
Fill up the crystal cup with ruby wine.
For this moment (of existence) that is lent thee in this
corner of mortality
Thou may'st seek long, but thou shalt not find it again.
_Ref._: L. 402, B. 398, P. 224, S.P. 213, C. 247, B. ii. 282, P. iv.
21.--N. 214, V. 425.
IV.
Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.
This quatrain is translated from two ruba'iyat in the Ouseley MS., 13
and 80.
Now that there is a possibility of happiness for the world,
Every living heart[19] has yearnings towards the desert,
Upon every bough is the appearance of Moses' hand,
In every breeze is the exhalation of Jesus' breath.[20]
_Ref._: P. 194, O. 13.--W. 116.
Now is the time when by the spring breezes[21] the world is adorned,
And in hope of rain it opens its eyes,[22]
The hands of Moses appear like froth upon the bough,
And the breath of Jesus comes forth from the earth.
_Ref._: O. 80, L. 272, B. 268, C. 204, S.P. 186, P. 157.--W. 201, N.
186, V. 276.
V.
Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose,
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;
But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine,
And many a Garden by the Water blows.
This is a very composite quatrain, which cannot be claimed as a
translation of all, or the main part of any, of the C. or O. quatrains.
All the texts, as indeed all Persian poetry, are filled with references
of which we find an echo here. In the authorities at our disposal,
Jamshyd is referred to in C. 254. The Ruby in the Wine occurs in O. 39,
87, 149, and in C. 296, 304, 413, and 460. The Garden by the Water
occurs in O. 151 (C. 415), and in C. 44 and 417. I have never found any
reference to the Garden of Iram in quatrains attributed to Omar
Khayyam.[23]
VI.
And David's lips are lockt; but in divine
High-piping Pehlevi, with «Wine! Wine! Wine!
Red Wine!»--the Nightingale cries to the Rose
That sallow cheek of hers to 'incarnadine.
This quatrain (eliminating the reference to David[24]) is translated
from O. 67.
It is a pleasant day, and the weather is neither hot nor cold;
The rain has washed the dust from the faces of the roses;
The nightingale in the Pehlevi tongue[25] to the yellow[26] rose
Cries ever: «Thou must drink wine!»
_Ref._: O. 67, L. 291, B. 287, S.P. 153, P. 230.--W. 174, N. 153, V.
294.
VII.
Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing.
This is another composite quatrain, and the similarity of its sentiment
to that of No. 94 (_post_) makes it somewhat difficult to allocate the
parallels to it. The first two lines come from two quatrains in C. 431
and 460 (ll. 1 and 2).
Every day I resolve to repent in the evening,
Repenting of the brimful goblet, and the cup;
(But) now that the season of roses has come, I cannot grieve,
Give penitence for repentance[27] in the season of roses, O Lord!
_Ref._: C. 431, L. 655, B. 647, B. ii. 510.--W. 425, V. 704.
The flowers are blooming, bring wine, O Saki,
Abandon the practices of the zealot, O Saki.
_Ref._: C. 460, L. 684, B. 675, B. ii. 540.--V. 736.
The image of the flight of time permeates the whole of the quatrains.
The precise image that FitzGerald uses in ll. 3 and 4 I find in the 24th
distich of the Mantik ut-tair of Ferid ud din Attar.
The bird of the sky flutters along its appointed path.
VIII.*[28]
Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,
The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop,
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.
This quatrain is taken mainly from O. 47 (C. 123). It does not occur in
the first edition, and FitzGerald was evidently «reminded of it» by
Nicolas, in whose reading of the text, alone, the town of Naishapur is
mentioned instead of Balkh. Balkh and Babylon are constantly
interchanged in Persian _belles lettres_.
Since life passes; what is Baghdad and what is Balkh?
When the cup is full, what matter if it be sweet or bitter?[29]
Drink wine, for often, after thee and me, this moon
Will pass on from the last day of the month to the first, and from the
first to the last.
_Ref._: O. 47, L. 299, B. 226, C. 123, S.P. 105, P. 51, T. 99.--W. 134,
N. 105, E.C. 2, V. 236.
If closer reference for line 3 be required, it may be found in N. 18,
ll. 3 and 4.
Whether our Saki holds the neck of the bottle in his hand,
Or the soul of wine oozes over the rim of the cup.
_Ref._: L. 35, B. 32, S.P. 18.--W. 21, N. 18, V. 33.
«The leaves of life» recur constantly either as leaves of a tree, or of
a book. FitzGerald's inspiration comes from C. 377, ll. 1 and 2. (_Vide_
also _sub._ No. 9.)
At the moment when I flee from destiny,
And fall like the leaf of the vine, from the branch.
_Ref._: C. 377, L. 574, B. 567, S.P. 265, B. ii. 353, T. 249.--W. 309,
N. 266, V. 614.
IX.
Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say;
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?
And this first Summer month that brings the Rose
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.
This quatrain owes its origin to three separate ruba'iyat, viz.: O. 135
(ll. 3 and 4) C. 500 (ll. 1 and 2), C. 481 (ll. 3 and 4).
Sit in the shade of the rose, for, by the wind, many roses
Have been scattered to earth and have become dust.
_Ref._: O. 135, L. 671, B. 663, S.P. 366, B. ii. 483, T. 277.--W. 414,
N. 370, V. 720.
By the coming of Spring and the return of December[30]
The leaves of our life are continually folded.
_Ref._: C. 500, L. 745, B. 731, P. 242, S.P. 397, B. ii. 531.--W. 444,
N. 402, V. 797.
For it has flung to earth a hundred thousand Jams and Kais,[31]
This coming of the first-summer-month and departing of the
month December.
_Ref._: C. 481, L. 712, B. 701, S.P. 449, P. 216, B. ii. 603.--W. 484,
N. 455, V. 764.
X.
Well, let it take them! What have we to do
With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru?
Let Zal[32] and Rustum bluster as they will,
Or Hatim call to supper--heed not you.
The first two lines of this quatrain echo two fragments from the MSS. O.
139 (ll. 3 and 4), and C. 57 (ll. 1 and 2).
The cup is a hundred times better than the kingdom of Feridun,[33]
The tile that covers the jar is better than the crown of Kai Khosru.
_Ref._: O. 136, L. 650, B. 642, S.P. 378, P. 246, B. ii. 511, P. v.
178.--N. 382, V. 609.
One draught of wine is better than the Empire of Kawus,
And is better than the Throne of Kobad and the Empire of Tus.
_Ref._: C. 57, L. 122, B. 119, S.P. 61, P. 297.--W. 64, N. 61, V. 121.
The last two lines are translated from C. 503 (ll. 3 and 4).
Bow not thy neck though Rustum son of Zal be thy foe,
Be not grateful though Hatim Tai befriend thee.[34]
_Ref._: C. 503, L. 746, B. 732. S.P. 411, P. 150, B. ii. 552, P. iv.
23.--W. 455, N. 416, V. 798.
XI.
With me along the strip of Herbage strown
That just divides the desert from the sown,
Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot--
And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne!
XII.