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Poetry Chaikhana
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[46] For in and out, above, about, below
![Omar Khayyam, Omar Khayyam poetry, Muslim / Sufi, Muslim / Sufi poetry, poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, poetry](images/KhayyamOm_sm.jpg) |
by Omar Khayyam
(11th Century) Timeline
English version by Edward FitzGerald
Original Language Persian/Farsi
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For in and out, above, about, below, 'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show, Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.
 / Photo by nandadevieast /
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger
Goosebumps! I get an electrical thrill reading many of the verses from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. It's something about the rhyme in FitzGerald's translation.
In this quatrain, we have "below," "show," and "go" in the first, second, and fourth lines. But the real magic for me comes from that secondary rhyme in the first line that matches "out" and "about" without disrupting the meter and end of line rhyme. And then the double rhyme of "SHadOW-SHOW", and the "F" alliteration of "Phantom Figures"...
Read the lines out loud. Listen to the sound of it, the play of rhythm and rhyme.
When rhyme is done poorly, especially in modern poetry, it feel awkward or stilted, distracting from the poem. But when done well, rhyme carries a whole new level of enchantment, firing up a part of the awareness too often dormant in the modern mind. Reading FitzGerald's rendition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is a good restorative elixir.
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2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
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