| Revision as of 12:25, 2 August 2004 editRoozbeh (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users6,350 editsmNo edit summary← Previous edit | Revision as of 16:09, 2 August 2004 edit undo213.133.219.104 (talk) moving rubaiyat info to dedicated pageNext edit → | ||
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
| He is also well known for inventing the method of solving ]s by intercepting a ] with a ]. | He is also well known for inventing the method of solving ]s by intercepting a ] with a ]. | ||
| ⚫ | <TABLE ALIGN="right"> <TR> <TD> | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ⚫ | </TD> </TR> </TABLE> | ||
| ==Omar Khayyam the Writer and Poet== | ==Omar Khayyam the Writer and Poet== | ||
| Omar Khayyám is famous today not for his scientific accomplishments, but for his literary works, about a thousand four-line verses he is believed to have written. |
Omar Khayyám is famous today not for his scientific accomplishments, but for his literary works, about a thousand four-line verses he is believed to have written. He is best known for the '']'' in the English translations by ] (]-]). | ||
| Other people have also published translations of some of the rubáiyát (''rubáiyát'' means "quatrains"), but Fitzgerald's are the best known. Translations also exist in languages other than English. | |||
| Other people have also published translations of some of the verses, but Fitzgerald's is the best known. As a work of literature Fitzgerald's poetry is a high point of the 19th century. As a work of accurate line-by-line translation of Omar Khayyam's quatrains, it is too free to be accurate. In particular, Fitzgerald gave the Rubayyat a distinct ] spin. In fact, Fitzgerald himself referred to his work as "transmogrification". Some people find this quite unfortunate. Others see Fitzgerald's translation of the work as being close to the true spirit of the poems. Khayyam himself clearly was not an atheist, but a ], and a devout Muslim, though perhaps in somewhat unorthdox way for his time. (For a good alternative to Fitzgerald's translation, consider one by ] and Ali-Shah. ) | |||
| ''See major article: ]'' | |||
| Perhaps the most famous of the verses (Fitzgerald's XII in his 5th edition , a reworking of XI in his 1st edition) is: | |||
| ⚫ | See also: ] | ||
| ::"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!" | |||
| ==Miscellaneous== | |||
| Another well-known verse (Fitzgerald's LI in his 1st edition) is: | |||
| ⚫ | <TABLE ALIGN="right"> <TR> <TD> | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ⚫ | </TD> </TR> </TABLE> | ||
| ::"The Moving Finger writes: and, having writ,<br> | |||
| ::Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit<br> | |||
| ::Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,<br> | |||
| ::Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."<br> | |||
| ==Influences== | |||
| Like ]'s works, Omar Khayyám's verses have provided later authors with quotations to use as titles: | |||
| *The title of ]'s ] novel ''Some Buried Caesar'' comes from one of the Tentmaker's quatrains (Fitzgerald's XVIII), for example. | |||
| *]'s drama ''Ah, Wilderness!'' derives its title from the first quoted verse above. | |||
| *] used ''The Moving Finger'' | |||
| Omar's life is dramatized in the 1957 film ''Omar Khayyam'' starring ], ], ], ], and ]. | Omar's life is dramatized in the 1957 film ''Omar Khayyam'' starring ], ], ], ], and ]. | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
Revision as of 16:09, 2 August 2004
 | This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The man known in English as the poet Omar Khayyám (May 18 1048 - December 4 1131, assumed dates) was born in Nishapur (or Naishapur) in Khorasan, Persia (Iran), and named Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi al-Khayyami (al-Khayyami means "the tentmaker"). His name in Persian is "عمر خیام".
Omar Khayyam the Mathematician
He was famous during his lifetime as a mathematician and astronomer who calculated how to correct the Persian calendar. On March 15, 1079, Sultan Jalal al-Din Malekshah Saljuqi (1072-1092) put Omar's corrected calendar into effect, as in Europe Julius Caesar had done in 46 B.C. with the corrections of Sosigenes, and as Pope Gregory XIII would do in February 1552 with Aloysius Lilius' corrected calendar (although Britain would not switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1751, and Russia would not switch until 1918).
He is also well known for inventing the method of solving cubic equations by intercepting a parabola with a circle.
|
|
Omar Khayyam the Writer and Poet
Omar Khayyám is famous today not for his scientific accomplishments, but for his literary works, about a thousand four-line verses he is believed to have written. He is best known for the The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the English translations by Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883).
Other people have also published translations of some of the rubáiyát (rubáiyát means "quatrains"), but Fitzgerald's are the best known. Translations also exist in languages other than English.
See major article: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
See also: Persian literature
Miscellaneous
Omar's life is dramatized in the 1957 film Omar Khayyam starring Cornel Wilde, Debra Page, Raymond Massey, Michael Rennie, and John Derek.