Watch The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Translated by Edward Fitzgerald

Educational Use - A reading of the work of the Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet, Omar Khayyam (1048 - 1131). Translated and popularized by the English scholar Edward Fitzgerald in 1859, this poem is one of the most influential to come out of the 19th Century. Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, is a mystical, highly symbolic poem that deals with man's relation to God, the nature of the divine, the fleeting nature of life, and a host of other issues important to the contemplative mind. The poem, by the Persian poet, astronomer and mathematician Omar Khayyam, is a distillation and translation of the over 1000 quatrains originally rendered in Farsi. In this program, the haunting, melancholy musings of the Persian philosopher-poet are brought to life in vivid detail by voice artist Bob McGraw.Accompanied by color illustrations by Edmund Dulac and the Artist-photographer team of Blanche Cumming and Adelaide Hanscom, together with haunting melodies inspired by the cultures of the Arabian peninsula, this program brings the classic poem into vivid focus. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - The term rubaiyat is the plural of the Farsi word for quatrain (a four line stanza). Fitzgerald's translation consists of 101 quatrains and was first published in the West in 1859. It is actually a distillation of over 1000 quatrains in the original rendering rendered in such a manner as to be more thematically consistent (it was a common practice with this type of poetry to rearrange the quatrains to suit a particular rendering). In this poem, the author deals with a variety of philosophical issues and perspectives about the nature of life, the importance of religion, fate and predestination along with a host of other interrelated issues. Known for its lyrical beauty and well-crafted rhyme and meter, the Rubaiyat has been one of the most popular poems to come out of the 19th century.