If I were God, I would not wait the years
To solve the mystery of human tears;
And, unambiguous, I would speak my will,
Nor hint it darkly to the dreaming seers.
Omar Khayyám (1048-1123) Persian poet, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer [عمر خیام]
Rubáiyát [رباعیات ][tr. Le Gallienne (1897), # 116]
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/omar-khayyam/77325/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #rubaiyat #omarkhayyam #divinewill #God #problemofevil #problemofsuffering #revelation #suffering #theodicy
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M. Grégoire
in reply to WIST Quotations • • •Omar Khayyam is responsible for the thought, but Edward FitzGerald is responsible for its expression in English.
#Rubaiyat
WIST Quotations
in reply to M. Grégoire • • •Edward FitzGerald (1809–1883) was the first prominent, and still best-known, translator of Omar Khayyam, often paraphrasing heavily. In this case though, as credited, it's Richard LeGallienne (1866-1947), who actually tended to steer clear of the quatrains that FitzGerald had worked on.
LeGallienne's "translations" are even further-ranging than FitzGerald's, and often very difficult to relate to specific quatrains as brought over by the (numerous) other translators of Omar Khayyam.
Working on passages from the Rubaiyat can be fun but also frustrating. There are no definitive texts (though some manuscripts, which disagree, are considered more accurate than others), nor definitive numbering system, and many of the quatrains are dubious or spurious. The translators, starting with FitzGerald, tend to reorganize and interpret the poetry, leading to a lot of scholarly debate over what the original poet actually meant. Correlating the translations can be, with all the paraphrasing and mixing and matching (something both FitzGerald and LeGallienne are notorious for), a c
... show moreEdward FitzGerald (1809–1883) was the first prominent, and still best-known, translator of Omar Khayyam, often paraphrasing heavily. In this case though, as credited, it's Richard LeGallienne (1866-1947), who actually tended to steer clear of the quatrains that FitzGerald had worked on.
LeGallienne's "translations" are even further-ranging than FitzGerald's, and often very difficult to relate to specific quatrains as brought over by the (numerous) other translators of Omar Khayyam.
Working on passages from the Rubaiyat can be fun but also frustrating. There are no definitive texts (though some manuscripts, which disagree, are considered more accurate than others), nor definitive numbering system, and many of the quatrains are dubious or spurious. The translators, starting with FitzGerald, tend to reorganize and interpret the poetry, leading to a lot of scholarly debate over what the original poet actually meant. Correlating the translations can be, with all the paraphrasing and mixing and matching (something both FitzGerald and LeGallienne are notorious for), a challenge, especially as the Rubaiyat touches on the same topics in many of the quatrains.
At the same time, the poetic language selected can be delightful, and you are correct in paying attention to the translator of anything from Omar Khayyam that I present here, as their contribution to the quotation is sometimes as great as that of the original author of the Rubaiyat.
WIST Quotations
in reply to WIST Quotations • • •After FitzGerald's success (in his second edition, as I recall, "found" by someone who talked it up), translating the Rubaiyat became something of an Orientalist Victorian game, helped by there being no copyright on the material, and a wide list of quatrains, many of dubious authenticity. (There are also multiple translations in French and German I have seen.)
As an example, I have a dozen-plus English translations of this one: wist.info/omar-khayyam/67684/
FitzGerald's (usually 2nd or 3rd edition's versions, since he was always tinkering with them) is definitely the most famous, though there's general agreement (if not criticism) that he paraphrased heavily, which can sometimes make it difficult to connect one of his quatrains to those of other translators.