A verse a day: 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam'.

[Guest]

[Will]

What did high piping mean back in the 11th century (or wherever in time we're at)?  I also wonder if the Rose in the 5th and 6th verses are the same thing.  It seems as though the speaker is ready to do some drinking and is urging everybody to hurry the hell up.   

[carter]

What did high piping mean back in the 11th century (or wherever in time we're at)?  I also wonder if the Rose in the 5th and 6th verses are the same thing.  It seems as though the speaker is ready to do some drinking and is urging everybody to hurry the hell up.   

Yeah, I think it's from the 11th Century, or the early 12th. I took 'high piping' to be read as 'high, piping', in other words the language has a sing-song quality when spoken. Though a rose then was probably the same as it is now, I'm willing to bet that the symbolism is different: what a rose signifies to us, the myths and qualities connected with it, may be quite different to what a rose signified for a person from the 11th Century. And you're right, there does seem to be an air of potentiality about all this: somebody's gearing up for something!

Oh, and apologies for nothing on this thread yesterday, but I only remembered when I was at the UD music night in Sheffield. Too drunk when I came home. Rather than double up today, I'll just post one verse. I think this thing of posting and then commenting is working.

Carter.

[carter]

8

And look - a thousand Blossoms with the Day
Woke - and a thousand scatter'd into Clay:
  And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.

[carter]

Kaikobad: another mythical king.

I wonder if Clay has a special meaning here, referring to the clay from which humans were supposedly formed? Given this and the existential themes already apparent, could the rose be here (and in this verse especially) as a symbol of death and rebirth?

Carter.

[Will]

Could be, although it seems spring would be more appropriate than summer for a symbol of death and rebirth (although I've no clue of the climate the author lived in).  But the last line does seem to indicate some sort of ending. 

[Mr. Goldberg]

In other words...we're not here for long...

[carter]

9

But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot
Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot:
  Let Rustum lay about him as he will,
Or Hatim Tai cry Supper - heed them not.

[carter]

In other words...we're not here for long...

Ain't that the truth.

Kaikhosru: another mythical king. Rustum: legendary Persian hero. Hatim Tai: notably generous and hospitable Arab from the pre-Islamic era.

Must admit, I think we're really missing something by not knowing more about these figures that are being mentioned. Their names probably had real distinction and significance for contemporaries of the author. For instance, if we refer to a pair of lovers being like Robin Hood and Marion that lends one set of associations; if Romeo and Juliet entirely another. Wonder what the stories of these figures are?

Carter.

[Ploe]

I feel that he may be mentioning his own immortality, thanks to writing this piece.

[carter]

I feel that he may be mentioning his own immortality, thanks to writing this piece.

You might be right. Perhaps contrasting the few strands of immortality we can grasp with the dread reality of mortality?

Carter.

[Will]

Must admit, I think we're really missing something by not knowing more about these figures that are being mentioned.

Me too.  All I gather is that it would be best to go with the title character. 

Cry Supper?  Does supper mean dinner here, or is it another ancient term?

[Mr. Goldberg]

You might be right. Perhaps contrasting the few strands of immortality we can grasp with the dread reality of mortality?

Carter.
[/quote]

Indeed... almost a rotoscoping of life and death.

[carter]

Must admit, I think we're really missing something by not knowing more about these figures that are being mentioned.

Me too.  All I gather is that it would be best to go with the title character. 

Cry Supper?  Does supper mean dinner here, or is it another ancient term?

Unless I'm mistaken, your first thought is correct. Cry Supper probably equates to come and feast, or, nowadays, chow down, boys!

Carter.

[carter]

10

With me along some Strip of Herbage strown
That just divides the desert from the sown,
  Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known,
And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne.

[carter]

Couldn't find anything to show that Mahmud was a Sultan of particular significance - probably just the Sultan at the time.

Rather than the image of fellowship given by earlier references to a tavern, this verse seems to be shifting things towards a withdrawal from society, to the margins. He suggests a place neither desert nor cultivated, where neither the exalted nor the oppressed are known, one where power (as represented by Sultan Mahmud) means nothing. A place apart from everything and everyone.

This really is a complete withdrawal, isn't it? But to what end? And how does it fit the earlier images of living life before it goes, which will be all too quickly?

Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice...

Carter.

[Will]

Strip of Herbage-makes me think of the reefer.  When some friends and I used to get toasty, we'd say "You wanna smoke some herbage?"

Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known,-perhaps referring to some sort of equality among men???

And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne.-perhaps power and responsibility are not desired???

I'm picking up on the withdrawal from society too. 

[carter]

Strip of Herbage-makes me think of the reefer.  When some friends and I used to get toasty, we'd say "You wanna smoke some herbage?"

 

Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known,-perhaps referring to some sort of equality among men???

And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne.-perhaps power and responsibility are not desired???

Concur with both of these: power seems empty to Khayyam. But what isn't empty for him?

Carter.

[carter]

11

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
  Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

[carter]

Ah! This crystallises matters, doesn't it? With one verse we gain clarity.

'The paradise of shared solitude', as Marquez called it.

Carter.

[Will]

In Verse 10 they withdrawal from society, then in Verse 11 is they are in paradise.  I guess this shared solitude is supposed to be romantic? 

[carter]

In Verse 10 they withdrawal from society, then in Verse 11 is they are in paradise.  I guess this shared solitude is supposed to be romantic? 

I'm guessing so too. Apologies for the gap in updating, by the way, but I've had the lurgie. Bad curry led to a few days in bed. 

Carter.

[carter]

12

'How sweet is mortal Sovranty!' - think some:
Others - 'How blest the Paradise to come!'
  Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest;
Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!

[Ploe]

I bought a copy of this today.

[carter]

13

Look to the Rose that blows about us - 'Lo,
Laughing,' she says, 'into the World I blow:
  At once the silken Tassel of my Purse
Tear, and its Treasure on the garden throw.'

[carter]

I bought a copy of this today.

Excellent! Hope you get as much out of it as I've been doing.

The last two verses are reinforcing the sense of the correctness of withdrawing from daily distractions and focusing on real existence, whatever that is. Hopefully we'll find out. 'The brave music of a distant drum' is very interesting.

Carter.