The Rubaiyat

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28896, 16 May 1959, Page 3

The Rubaiyat

The Romance of the Rubaiyat. ' By A. J. Arberry. Allen and < Unwin. 242 pp. Index. To begin with, “The Romance ' of the Rubaiyat” is a curious title for what is really a work of ' rarefied scholarship. “Professor : Arberry enables us,” the publishers claim, “to look over Fitz- ; Gerald’s shoulder as he wrestled . with his great task and to follow . step by step the evolution of the Rubaiyat.” This idea may be taken with a grain of salt; for a just appreciation of Arberry’s long and close-textured introduction would necessitate some knowledge of the Persian language, quotations in which occur on nearly every page. For those without this equipment the book as a whole is not very rewarding. There are some newly discovered letters to Edward Cowell, included here; they are concerned for the most part with linguistic difficulties. In the nature of things they could scarcely be expected to have the charm and originality of the letters already familiar to admirers of Fitz Gerald. However it is pleasant to have Fitz Gerald’s preliminary version of Omar in what he calls “monk Latin.” Saki and Sultan Mahmud are bizarre figures in what must be described as a semi-classical setting. The facsimile of the Quaritch first edition is much more interesting. The Victorian type is Clear, if undistinguished, and by contrast the elegance of Fitz Gerald’s versification is obvious. It is a puzzle that the poem was overlooked for so long. Then too, it is tempting to wonder about that , original unknown person, who. passing by Quaritch’s shop in 1861, bought a number of copies i at a penny each from the remain- . der box and presented them to his . friends. At that very moment the , poem began to move out of s obscurity towards a popularity P that was soon to be world-wide. In a series of notes which follow

the facsimile Professor Arberry goes through the Rubaiyat stanza by stanza, quoting the Persian text and giving a literal translation. As has long been recognised, most of the attraction of the poem for English readers comes from the perfection of Fitzgerald’s own melancholy, eloquence. It is only fair to say that Professor Arberry’s book is an imposing tribute to Fitz Gerald on the hundredth anniversary of the appearance of his Rubaiyat. No doubt the erudition of the work would have pleased and impressed the poet, dilettante though he was, and much given to lying in the sun, admiring the anemones and occasionally dipping into Madame de Sevigne’s letters or “the pleasant atrocity” of Tacitus.