Not many creative people can boast of making their mark in literature as well as science
THE first great schism in Christianity took place in 1054 when eastern orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism parted their ways. The tumultuous event led to bloody happenings that would ravage the Arab world for years to come. Just six years earlier in May, a child was born that redefined many concepts in mathematics and science and wrote one of the most famous Arabian poems. This child, born Ghiyath al Din Abu’l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al Nisaburi al-Khayyam, would correct the calendar, map the stars, invent a way to solve a cubic regression, and write a poem that opened the door to western orientalism.
Omar Khayyam, as he is known to everyone, was born in Naishapur, Persia (present-day Iran) on May 18, 1048. Even as a child Khayyam appeared to be “endowed with sharpness of wit and highest natural powers” (Fitzgerald 7). It is ironic that he is now known primarily for his literary achievements rather than his scientific or mathematical accomplishments. In 1079, when Sultan Jalal al-Din Malekshah Saljuqi decided to reform the calendar, Khayyam was one of the eight men assigned to complete the task. With incredible confidence and accuracy, Khayyam reported that ‘the length of a year is 365.24219858156 days’. This is a much more accurate number than was being used under the Julian calendar and approaches the accuracy of the Gregorian calendar.
In addition to his work on fixing the calendar, Khayyam also authored astronomical tables, entitled Ziji-Malikshahi, which have since been lost but were well-known in Persia and Arabia in his time. In algebra, Khayyam devised a way to solve a cubic regression that would be proven 750 years later. Before he died, Khayyam had published two books concerning physics, four about maths, five dealing with philosophy, one about geography, one about astronomy, one about history, and one concerning music.
Omar Khayyam’s only literary contribution is the Rubaiyat, a collection of quatrains in the traditional Persian style rubai. The main point of debate regarding these poems is how many of them did Khayyam actually write?
In search of the atheistic [sic] Khayyam, Sadeq Hedayat could identify only 13 quatrains attested to be Khayyam’s. He finally concluded that Khayyam could have written as many as 143. Others who have undertaken a similar inquiry have arrived at different numbers: Hussein Shajareh gives 121; M. A. Forughi has 178; while Ali Dashti gives only 81. The largest attested number is Arberry’s 250. But there are others who include as many as 800 quatrains in their version of the Rubaiyat.
It is also commonly accepted that Fitzgerald, when translating the Rubaiyat, “verified those quatrains that he felt his western audiences would read and appreciate” (Bashiri 3). Many scholars feel certain that some of the quatrains are Fitzgerald’s creation based on quatrains written by Khayyam himself.
Another controversial issue regarding this collection of poems is the translation or interpretation from Persian to English (or any other language). In Modern Critical Interpretation series, Bloom states that although he could not read Persian, people that could told him that Fitzgerald “greatly [improved]” upon the original quatrains attributed to Khayyam. Since Fitzgerald could not translate the poems word for word and keep them aesthetically pleasing, he more or less rewrote the poems in English using the same basic ideas and concepts. It is often thought that Fitzgerald tried quite hard to “adhere to the spirit of the original poetry” (Shahriari 1). Fitzgerald’s work, as well as the work of other translators, is considered a “translation only in default of a better word”. Depending on the translation, the reader can come away with greatly varying concepts.
It can also be easily assumed that different translations or interpretations can be made based on the person’s personal beliefs. Bloom notes in his introduction that in Fitzgerald’s translation, Khayyam “evades or rejects both Christianity or Islam”. A French translation by J. B. Nicolas in 1867 suggests that Khayyam’s quatrains are “deeply rooted in religious mysticism, providing a sharp contrast to Fitzgerald’s epicurean interpretation”. Different translations of Khayyam’s poems have given many different conflicting views such as Khayyam being Sufi, mystic, atheistic, fatalistic, or even orthodox Islamic. It is also believed that Fitzgerald “softened the impact of Khayyam’s nihilism and his preoccupation with the mortality and transience of all things”.
As far as literature goes, Omar Khayyam is known as the Persian poet for his elegant verse dealing with topics central to life. Khayyam speaks of existence in terms of agony as well as endearment. Much of what he says is symbolic of life. He speaks of time as well as the tide of the ocean which have obvious parallells to life. He also talks of seizing the day, a concept that is relevant to every person in the world at all times. These qualities of the poem that give it universal appeal are the same factors that make it a lasting work. If these statements that can be universally applied were taken away from the Rubaiyat, it would be lost forever. Another reason that Khayyam’s work remains popular to date is evident by his nature. Khayyam, meaning tent-maker, pokes fun at himself when he wrote the following: Khayyam, who stitched the tents of science, Has fallen in grief’s furnace and been suddenly burned,
The shears of fate have cut the tent ropes of his life, And the broker of hope has sold him for nothing.
While this is only one instance of something he wrote, this, taken in conjunction with the story of Khayyam’s childhood retold by Fitzgerald, shows that Khayyam, besides being brilliant, is good-natured. Omar Khayyam, as a poet, remains a mystery to this day. He is known to have been philosophical and exceedingly intelligent. He lived at the expense of the royal court for most of his years, producing at least 13 books on various subjects, yet was relatively unknown to westerners until the middle of the 19th century. Although Khayyam was not known as a poet until Fitzgerald translated his poems, he had a flair for the romantic and poetic:
“I often used to hold conversations with my teacher, Omar Khayyam, in a garden; and one day he said to me, ‘My tomb shall be in a spot where the north wind may scatter roses over it.’ I wondered at the words he spake, but I knew that his were no idle words. Years after, when I chanced to revisit Naishapur, I went to his resting-place, and lo, it was just outside a garden, and trees laden with fruit stretched their boughs over the garden wall, and dropped their flowers upon his tomb, so that the stone was hidden under them.”
Once Fitzgerald translated Khayyam’s poems, Fitzgerald reinforced the romantic ideas of the oriental period started by Napoleon. Fitzgerald’s book, which sold for a penny when originally produced, almost died before it had a chance to live. The popularity of Khayyam’s poetry, which lay obscure for roughly seven and half centuries, was first enjoyed by the upper classes and is now enjoyed by people of all ages and nationalities. The Rubaiyat served as impetus for many well-known poets such as Lord Tennyson and Wallace Stevens.
Not many creative people can boast of making their mark in literature as well as science
