A Victorian Interpretation of Rubâiyât of Omar Khayyâm by Edward FitzGerald

Edward FitzGerald’s translation of Omar Khayyam’s ruba’i in his work, Rubâiyât of Omar Khayyâm (1859) demonstrates stark differences from the actual work of Omar Khayyam. FitzGerald’s translation or re-writing includes numerous themes and characteristics such as pessimism, skepticism, loss of faith, brevity, transience, ephemerality of life, hedonism, Epicureanism, materialism, and cynicism peculiar to the Victorian era. In this respect, FitzGerald’s literary work does not communicate the underlying features of Khayyam’s poetry, but illustrates the concerns, anxieties, doubts, and the mainstream mood of the Victorian era, an age of duality. This study will, therefore, discuss to what extent FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat is a Victorian invention. Prior to the discussion, brief information about the poet, Omar Khayyam will be given. Then, through specific references from the work and the explication of domestication and foreignization strategies in translation, it will be ultimately argued that FitzGerald’s translation does not communicate the Persian poet Omar Khayyam’s rich literary legacy, but is adapted or re-formulated in order to reflect upon the Victorian period.