Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Abu'l-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Khayyam

Omar
Khayyam

حکیم عمر خیّامِ نیشابوری

18 May 1048 — 4 December 1131 CE — Nishapur, Khorasan

Omar Khayyam was simultaneously one of the greatest mathematicians of the medieval world and one of its most haunting poets. Born in Nishapur in 1048, he reformed the Persian calendar, solved cubic equations that baffled his contemporaries, and — in his spare hours — composed four-line quatrains of devastating philosophical beauty.

His rubaiyat were largely unknown outside Iran until Edward FitzGerald published a loose English paraphrase in 1859. FitzGerald's version became one of the most popular poetry books in the Victorian era — but it is a paraphrase, not a translation. Our edition restores Khayyam's own voice: a literal, line-by-line bilingual rendering alongside FitzGerald's famous text for direct comparison.

158

Quatrains (rubaiyat)

Parts — Khayyam + FitzGerald

1048

Year of birth

1859

FitzGerald's translation

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Word Map of Khayyam's Rubaiyat — نقشهٔ واژگانی

Featured Translation

Selected Rubaiyat

Three famous quatrains — the original Farsi with our literal English translation, side by side.

Rubai I — The T-Shirt Verse Seventy-two years I pondered day and night — I realised that nothing became clear.

Rubai II — The Moving Finger The Moving Finger writes, and having writ moves on — Nor all your Piety nor Wit shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

Rubai III — Wine & Wisdom A loaf of bread, a flask of wine, a book of verse — And thou beside me singing in the wilderness. And Wilderness is Paradise enough.

Rubai IV — Come, Fill the Cup Come, fill the cup, and in the fire of Spring the Winter-garment of Repentance fling — the Bird of Time has but a little way to fly, and the Bird is on the Wing.

رباعیِ یک هفتاد و دو سال فکر کردم شب و روز معلومم شد که هیچ معلوم نشد

رباعیِ دو — انگشتِ قضا انگشتِ قضا می‌نویسد و می‌گذرد نه تقوا نه خردت آن را باز می‌گرداند نه اشکِ تو یک واژه از آن می‌شوید نه دعا نه ندامت خطی از آن می‌زداید

رباعیِ سه — می و نان و کتاب یک قُرصِ نان و یک سبو می، درویشانه با یار خوشی در بنِ گلزاری یا دشتی این عیشِ مرا به گنجِ سلطان ندهم

رباعیِ چهار — بیا جام را پر کن بیا که قلعهٔ عمر است این بهارِ خوش جامه‌ی توبه بیفکن به آتشِ خرمش مرغِ عمر می‌پرد — کوتاه است راهش و آن مرغ هم‌اکنون در پروازِ خود است

About the Poet

Khayyam — Philosopher, Mathematician, Poet

Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Abu'l-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Khayyam Nishapuri was born in Nishapur on 18 May 1048. His surname "Khayyam" means tent-maker in Arabic — likely his family's trade. He lived during a golden age of Islamic science and literature, under the patronage of the Seljuq sultan Malik-Shah I.

As a mathematician, Khayyam produced the first systematic classification of cubic equations and methods for their geometric solution — work that would not be equalled in Europe for centuries. As an astronomer, he led the reform of the Persian calendar, producing the Jalali calendar whose solar year measurement (365.24219858 days) was more accurate than the Gregorian calendar adopted in Europe 500 years later.

His rubaiyat — short, four-line philosophical quatrains — were composed alongside this scientific work, seemingly as personal meditations on mortality, free will, the pleasures of the present moment, and the futility of religious certainty. They were not intended for publication. Their survival is largely accidental.

"Seventy-two years I pondered day and night —
I realised that nothing became clear."

هفتاد و دو سال فکر کردم شب و روز
معلومم شد که هیچ معلوم نشد

Khayyam — Rubaiyat

Key Facts — Khayyam

Full NameGhiyāth ad-Dīn Abu'l-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Khayyam

Born18 May 1048, Nishapur, Khorasan

Died4 December 1131, Nishapur, Khorasan

ProfessionsMathematician, astronomer, philosopher, poet

FormRubai (رباعی) — four-line quatrain, AABA rhyme

Quatrains158 rubaiyat in our edition (178 original corpus)

Our EditionPart 1: Khayyam literal + Part 2: FitzGerald paraphrase

CalendarJalali calendar reform (1079 CE) — more accurate than Gregorian

MathematicsFirst systematic solution of cubic equations

ThemesWine, impermanence, fate, carpe diem, agnosticism

Beyond Poetry

Khayyam the Scientist

What makes Khayyam uniquely remarkable is that his poetic fame is almost incidental to his scientific stature. In his own time, he was known first and foremost as a mathematician and astronomer of the first order — a court scientist whose work reshaped Persian civilization.

The rubaiyat were, for Khayyam, private meditations — philosophical asides composed between mathematical treatises. They were not gathered or published during his lifetime. It is this private quality — the sense of a brilliant, unsentimental mind thinking aloud about mortality and wine — that gives them their enduring power.

The Jalali Calendar Reform (1079 CE)

Khayyam led the astronomical commission that reformed the Persian solar calendar. His measurement of the solar year (365.24219858 days) was more accurate than the Gregorian calendar by a factor of 7 seconds per year.

Cubic Equations & Algebra

His Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra (1070) was the first systematic classification of cubic equations and general geometric methods for solving them — not equalled in Europe until the 16th century.

Binomial Theorem & Pascal's Triangle

Khayyam discovered the binomial theorem and the triangular array of binomial coefficients now known as Pascal's Triangle — six centuries before Pascal was born.

Philosophical Treatises

Alongside his scientific and poetic work, Khayyam wrote philosophical treatises on the nature of existence, free will, and metaphysics — revealing a mind engaged equally with science, poetry, and philosophy.

The Two Translations

Khayyam's Voice vs. FitzGerald's Paraphrase

Our unique two-part edition lets readers compare both: Khayyam's own words in a faithful literal translation, and FitzGerald's celebrated 1859 Victorian paraphrase. The same rubai — three completely different experiences of the same poem.

Original Farsi

Omar Khayyam — c. 1100 CE

Rubai on the Moving Finger

انگشتِ قضا می‌نویسد و می‌گذرد
نه تقوا نه خرد آن را باز می‌گرداند
نه اشکِ تو یک واژه از آن می‌شوید
نه دعا نه ندامت خطی از آن می‌زداید

Our Literal Translation

Yahya & Faraz — 2023

Line-by-line English rendering

The finger of fate writes and moves on —
Neither piety nor wisdom turns it back.
Nor do your tears wash a single word away —
Nor does prayer or regret erase a line of it.

FitzGerald's Paraphrase

Edward FitzGerald — 1859

Victorian English interpretation

The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Note on our approach: FitzGerald's version is undeniably beautiful — it is one of the finest poems of the Victorian era. But it is a free paraphrase that rearranges, combines, and elaborates on Khayyam's quatrains. Our Part 1 gives readers Khayyam's own compressed, four-line voice. Part 2 presents FitzGerald's version. Readers can compare both and decide which Khayyam they prefer.

The Rubai Form

Anatomy of a Khayyam Rubai

The rubai (رباعی — plural: rubaiyat) is one of the oldest and most compact forms in Persian poetry — four hemistiches (half-lines) with a distinctive AABA rhyme scheme. Khayyam made it the vehicle for an entire philosophical worldview.

Each rubai is complete and self-contained — a single philosophical observation, image, or argument compressed into four lines. Khayyam's genius was packing the weight of an entire treatise into this tiny form: impermanence, the pleasures of wine, the futility of religion, the mystery of fate — all in four lines.

The third line — the "B" rhyme — is the most distinctive feature of the form. It creates a momentary pause, a breath, before the final line completes the thought. Khayyam uses this structure to great effect: building a premise in lines 1–2, introducing a complication in line 3, and landing the devastating conclusion in line 4.

Rubai Structure — AABA Rhyme Scheme

هفتاد و دو سال فکر کردم شب و روز
معلومم شد که هیچ معلوم نشد
ـ ـ ـ ـ (سطرِ سوم) ـ ـ ـ ـ
ـ ـ ـ ـ (سطرِ چهارم) ـ ـ ـ ـ

Line 1 — A First hemistich — introduces the theme. Ends with the primary rhyme (A). Sets up the premise.

Line 2 — A Second hemistich — develops or confirms the premise. Also ends with the A rhyme. Strengthens the setup.

Line 3 — B The wild card — breaks the rhyme. Creates a pause, a turn, or a complication. Often the most surprising line. Does NOT rhyme with lines 1, 2, or 4.

Line 4 — A The landing — returns to the A rhyme. Delivers the philosophical punch-line, the conclusion, or the twist. The whole rubai builds to this line.

Amazon KDP Edition

The Two-Part Bilingual Edition

Our unique Khayyam edition presents both translations in a single volume — Khayyam's original Persian with our faithful literal English, followed by FitzGerald's celebrated Victorian paraphrase. Available in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon.

Part One

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

رباعیاتِ خیّام — ترجمهٔ فارسی به انگلیسی

Part Two

Rubaiyat of Edward FitzGerald

رباعیاتِ فیتزجرالد — ترجمهٔ ویکتوریایی

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam & FitzGerald

A unique two-part bilingual edition — Part 1 presents all 158 rubaiyat of Khayyam in the original Persian with a faithful line-by-line English translation. Part 2 presents FitzGerald's 1859 paraphrase in its entirety. Readers can compare both interpretations side by side and experience the richness and differences between a literal rendering and a Victorian poetic paraphrase.

Kindle eBook Paperback 158 Quatrains Two Translators

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Linguistic Analysis

Word Clouds of Khayyam's Translation

Four NLP visualisations of the English translation of Khayyam's 158 rubaiyat. The compact corpus makes every repeated word highly significant — wine (52 occurrences) is the standout content word, confirming Khayyam's philosophy in a single term. See the full analysis on the Analysis page.

VerbsAction Words

Khayyam's verbs — drink, know, come, pass, make — the philosophy of the present moment expressed through action.

AdjectivesQualities & States

The adjectives of Khayyam's quatrains — the qualities of wine, the world, and the soul that colour his philosophical verse.

NounsSubjects & Objects

The nouns of Khayyam's universe — wine, cup, world, clay, dust, night, rose — the material vocabulary of impermanence.

RAKEKey Phrases

RAKE key phrase extraction — the recurring multi-word clusters that define Khayyam's philosophical themes across 158 quatrains.

Selected Rubaiyat

Famous Quatrains from the Collection

A selection of the most celebrated rubaiyat — our literal English translation alongside the original Farsi opening line.

#	Literal English Translation	Theme	مطلعِ رباعی
1	"Seventy-two years I pondered day and night — I realised that nothing became clear."	Philosophical resignation	هفتاد و دو سال فکر کردم شب و روز
2	"The Moving Finger writes and having writ moves on — nor piety nor wit shall lure it back."	Fate & inevitability	انگشتِ قضا می‌نویسد و می‌گذرد
3	"A loaf of bread, a flask of wine, a book of verse — and thou beside me in the wilderness."	Carpe diem	یک قُرصِ نان و یک سبو می درویشانه
4	"Come, fill the cup — in the fire of Spring the winter-garment of repentance fling."	Seizing the moment	بیا که قلعهٔ عمر است این بهارِ خوش
5	"Awake! For Morning in the Bowl of Night has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight."	Dawn & awakening	بیدار شو که صبح دمید از افق
6	"The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon turns Ashes — or it prospers, and anon like Snow upon the Desert's dusty face melts."	Impermanence of hope	امیدِ جهانی که آرزوی دل‌هاست
7	"We are no other than a moving row of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go."	Human transience	ما سایه‌های متحرکِ جهانیم
8	"I sometimes think that never blows so red the Rose as where some buried Caesar bled."	Death & renewal	گل از خاکِ شاهان رسته است
9	"Into this Universe, and why not knowing — nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing."	Existential mystery	در این جهان آمدم نه به اختیار
10	"O, Thou who Man of baser Earth didst make, and who with Eden didst devise the Snake — for all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man is blackened, Man's Forgiveness give — and take!"	God & free will	ای آنکه آدم را ز خاک ساختی
11	"Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument about it and about — but evermore came out by the same door as in I went."	Futility of learning	در جوانی پیِ دانشمند و پیر بودم
12	"The grape that can with Logic absolute the Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute."	Wine vs. theology	می آن است که هفتاد و دو ملت را
13	"Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, a Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou."	Simple joy	زیرِ بید و نان و می و دلدار
14	"Strange, is it not? That of the myriads who before us passed the door of Darkness through, not one returns to tell us of the Road."	Death & the unknown	شگفت نیست که از آن هزاران
15	"The Vine had struck a Fibre: which about if clings my Being — let the Dervish flout."	Love of wine	تاکی در من ریشه زد

Rubaiyat of Khayyam

Omar
Khayyam

Selected Rubaiyat

Khayyam — Philosopher, Mathematician, Poet