Rubaiyat

Omar Khayyam (1048—1131) — a legendary Persian poet, whose image is surrounded by legends, and whose biography is full of mysteries. During his lifetime, Khayyam was primarily known as an outstanding scholar. However, for posterity, he remains a brilliant master of the rubaiyat — wise, ironic, and piercing quatrains about life, love, death, and the fleeting nature of fate. Khayyam is considered an unmatched master of this genre: his poems are marked by keen observations, profound understanding of the world, a subtle knowledge of human nature, and the musicality of rhythm. It is believed that Omar Khayyam wrote about five hundred rubaiyat. This book includes a selection of them translated by various poets and writers.