Edward FitzGerald, 1873

Edward Marlborough FitzGerald (31 March 1809 – 14 June 1883) was an English writer, best known as the poet of the first and most famous English translation of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... 1809 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining. ... 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Persian: رباعیات عمر خیام) The Rubáiyát (Arabic: رباعیات) is a collection of poems (of which there are about a thousand) attributed to the Persian mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyám (1048 – 1123). ...

He was born Edward Marlborough Purcell, at Bredfield House in Suffolk. His father, John Purcell, assumed in 1818 the name and arms of his wife's family, the FitzGeralds. From 1816 the family lived at St Germain and at Paris, but in 1821 Edward was sent to school at Bury St Edmunds. In 1826 he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he joined the Cambridge Apostles. He became acquainted with William Makepeace Thackeray and William Hepworth Thompson. His friendship with Alfred Tennyson, also an Apostle, began in about 1835. In 1830 FitzGerald left for Paris, but in 1831 was living in a farm-house on the battlefield of Naseby. Bredfield House (Or White House as it was also known) was situated in the village of Bredfield, around 2 miles north of Woodbridge in Suffolk, England. ... Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in the East Anglia region of eastern England. ... Saint-Germain may refer to various French phenomena: the 6th century bishop of Paris, canonized as Saint Germain of Paris, who founded an abbey in the fields near Paris, now the church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres which gave its name to the neighborhood on the Left Bank that is... Map sources for Bury St Edmunds at grid reference TL8564 Bury St Edmunds is a town in the county of Suffolk, England, with a population of 35,015 (2001 census). ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names King’s Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street... Trinity College Great Court. ... William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was an English novelist of the 19th century. ... William Hepworth Thompson (27 March 1810 - 1 October 1886) was an English classical scholar and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. ... Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (August 6, 1809 - October 6, 1892) is generally regarded as one of the greatest English poets. ... Combatants Parliamentarians Royalists Commanders Sir Thomas Fairfax King Charles I Strength 6000 horse 7000 foot 4100 horse 3300 foot Casualties unknown 3500 The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. ...

With no employment, FitzGerald lived quietly, moving to his native county of Suffolk, and never again leaving it for more than a week or two. Until 1835 the FitzGeralds lived at Wherstead; from that year until 1853 the poet resided at Boulge, near Woodbridge; until 1860 at Farlingay Hall; until 1873 in the town of Woodbridge; and then until his death at his own house close by, called Little Grange. During most of this time FitzGerald was preoccupied with flowers, music and literature. He allowed friends like Tennyson and Thackeray to surpass him, and for a long time showed no intention of emulating their literary success. In 1851 he published his first book, Euphranor, a Platonic dialogue, born of memories of the old happy life at Cambridge. In 1852 he published Polonius, a collection of "saws and modern instances", some of them his own, the rest borrowed from the less familiar English classics. FitzGerald began the study of Spanish poetry in 1850 at Elmsett and that of Persian at the University of Oxford with Professor Edward Byles Cowell in 1853. In middle life, he married Lucy, the daughter of Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet. Map sources for Woodbridge at grid reference TM2649 Woodbridge is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. ... Plato (ancient Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn, wide, broad-shouldered) (c. ... Persian, (local name: Fārsī or Pārsī), is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Prof. ... Bernard Barton (January 31, 1784 _ February 19, 1849) was a poet, born in the vicinity of London, of Quaker parentage. ... The Religious Society of Friends (commonly known as Quakers) began in England in the 17th century by people who were dissatisfied with the existing denominations and sects of Christianity. ...

In 1853, he issued Six Dramas of Calderon, freely translated. He now turned to Oriental studies, and in 1856 he anonymously published a version of the Sálamán and Absál of Jámi in Miltonic verse. In March 1857 Cowell discovered a set of Persian quatrains by Omar Khayyám in the Asiatic Society library, Calcutta, and sent them to FitzGerald. At this time the name with which he has been so closely identified first occurs in FitzGerald's correspondence--"Hafiz and Omar Khayyám ring like true metal." On January 15, 1859 a little anonymous pamphlet was published as The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. In the world at large, and in the circle of FitzGerald's particular friends, the poem seems at first to have attracted no attention. The publisher allowed it to gravitate to the fourpenny or even (as he afterwards boasted) to the penny box on the bookstalls. John Milton, English poet John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, best-known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. ... Omar Khayyám, Persian عمر خیام (born: May 31, 1048 in Nishapur, Iran (Persia) – died: December 4, 1131), was a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer. ... The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones (1746-1794) on 15 January 1784 in Calcutta, the capital of British India, to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. ... This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... Hafez, detail of an illumination in a Persian manuscript of the Divan of Hafez, 18th century. ... Omar Khayyám, Persian عمر خیام (born: May 31, 1048 in Nishapur, Iran (Persia) – died: December 4, 1131), was a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer. ... January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ...

But in 1860 Rossetti discovered it, and Swinburne and Lord Houghton quickly followed. The Rubaiyat became slowly famous, but it was not until 1868 that FitzGerald was encouraged to print a second and greatly revised edition. Meanwhile he had produced in 1865 a version of the Agamemnon, and two more plays from Calderón. In 1880–1881 he issued privately translations of the two Oedipus tragedies; his last publication was Readings in Crabbe, 1882. He left in manuscript a version of Attar's Mantic-Uttair under the title of The Bird Parliament. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 - April 10, 1882) was an English poet, painter and translator. ... Algernon Swinburne, Portrait by Rossetti Algernon Charles Swinburne (April 5, 1837 – April 10, 1909) was a Victorian era English poet. ... Pedro Calderon de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca (January 17, 1600 – May 25, 1681), was an important dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age. ... Oedipus with the Sphinx, from an Attic red-figure cylix from the Vatican Museum, ca. ...

From 1861 onwards FitzGerald's greatest interest had been in the sea. In June 1863 he bought a yacht, "The Scandal," and in 1867 he became part-owner of a herring-lugger, the "Meum and Tuum." For some years, till 1871, he spent the summer months "knocking about somewhere outside of Lowestoft." In this way, and among his books and flowers, FitzGerald gradually became an old man. He died painlessly in his sleep. He was "an idle fellow, but one whose friendships were more like loves." In 1885 his fame was increased by the fact that Tennyson dedicated his Tiresias to FitzGerald's memory, in some touching reminiscent verses to "Old Fitz." This was but the signal for that universal appreciation of Omar Khayyám in his English version. A modern yacht A yacht (From Dutch Jacht meaning hunt) was originally defined as a light, fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries. ... Statistics Population: 57,746 (2001 Census) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TM548933 Administration District: Waveney Shire county: Suffolk Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Suffolk Historic county: Suffolk Services Police force: Suffolk Constabulary Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: East of England Post...

Of FitzGerald as a man practically nothing was known until, in 1889, Mr W. Aldis Wright, his intimate friend and literary executor, published his Letters and Literary Remains in three volumes. This was followed in 1895 by the Letters to Fanny Kemble. These letters constitute a fresh bid for immortality, since they discovered that FitzGerald was a witty, picturesque and sympathetic letterwriter. One of the most unobtrusive authors who ever lived, FitzGerald has, nevertheless, by the force of his extraordinary individuality, gradually influenced the whole face of English belles-lettres, in particular as it was manifested between 1890 and 1900.

FitzGerald's homosexuality has been well-known since at least 1970, when H. Montgomery Hyde published The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name. An entire book documenting FitzGerald's passionate affair with a fisherman named Joseph Fletcher was published in 1908 (James Blyth, Edward Fitzgerald and Posh). He was previously enamored, at 23, of a teenage youth named Kenworthy Browne, whose tragic early death while riding left FitzGerald heartbroken. FitzGerald became a dedicated sailor, and his later years were passed among various fishermen and friends along the coast.

The Works of Edward FitzGerald appeared in 1887. See also a chronological list of FitzGerald's works (Caxton Club, Chicago, 1899); notes for a bibliography by Col. WF Prideaux, in Notes and Queries (9th series, vol. vL), published separately in 1901; Letters and Literary Remains (ed. W Aldis Wright, 1902-1903); and the Life of Edward FitzGerald, by Thomas Wright (1904), which contains a bibliography (vol. ii. pp. 241-243) and a list of sources (vol. i. pp. xvi.–xvii.). The volume on FitzGerald in the "English Men of Letters" series is by AC Benson. The FitzGerald centenary was celebrated in March 1909. See the Centenary Celebrations Souvenir (Ipswich, 1909) and The Times for March 25, 1909. Notes and Queries (originally subtitled a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc) is a correspondence magazine where scholars and interested amateurs exchange miscellaneous knowledge. ... William Aldis Wright (1831-1914) was an English writer and editor. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ... March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). ... Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám of Naishápur

FitzGerald's translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is notable for the frequency and ubiquity of quotations from it and allusions to it. Its popularity, still high, is in decline; but for about a century following its publication, it formed part of the mental furniture of most English-speaking readers. Nishapur (or Neyshâbûr; نیشابور in Persian) is a town in the province of Khorasan in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Binalud Mountains, near the regional capital of Mashhad. ... Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Persian: رباعیات عمر خیام) The Rubáiyát (Arabic: رباعیات) is a collection of poems (of which there are about a thousand) attributed to the Persian mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyám (1048 – 1123). ...

Of the 107 stanzas in the poem (fifth edition), the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (2nd edition) quotes no less than 43 entire stanzas in full, in addition to many individual lines and couplets. In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. ... The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is an 1100-page book listing short quotations that are common in English language and culture. ...

The most familiar stanza is surely:

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness—

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

However, the work is now held to be more reflective of Fitzgerald than of Khayyam, whose collected works have been corrupted by forgeries added over the centuries. (It is necessary to seek out one of the scholarly editions of Khayyam; see Ali Dashti's In Search of Omar Khayyam for a good discussion of the problem. No women feature in Fitzgerald's Rubáiyat and "it is most probable that FitzGerald envisaged “the thou beside me” to accompany him in the wilderness as being a young male."^[1]

Lines and phrases from the poem have been used as the titles of many literary works (Nevil Shute's The Chequer Board; James Michener's The Fires of Spring; Agatha Christie's The Moving Finger; Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness—slightly misquoted). Allusions to it abound in the short stories of O. Henry. Saki's nom-de-plume is a reference to it. In 1925, when Billy Rose and Al Dubin wrote the popular song A Cup of Coffee, A Sandwich, and You, they surely expected listeners to catch the reference to the famous quatrain quoted above. Nevil Shute (London, January 17, 1899 – Melbourne, January 12, 1960) (full name Nevil Shute Norway) was one of the most popular novelists of the mid-20th century. ... James Albert Michener (February 3, 1907? - October 16, 1997) was the American author of such books as Tales of the South Pacific (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948), Hawaii, The Drifters, Centennial, The Source, The Fires of Spring, Chesapeake, Caribbean, Caravans, Alaska, Texas and Poland. ... Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), also known as Dame Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. ... The Moving Finger (published in 1942) is an Agatha Christie mystery novel featuring the elderly detective Miss Marple. ... Eugene Gladstone ONeill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright. ... William Sydney Porter in his thirties O. Henry was the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862–June 5, 1910), whose clever use of twist endings in his stories popularized the term O. Henry Ending. His middle name at birth was Sidney; he later changed the... Saki (December 18, 1870 – November 14, 1916) was the pen name of British author Hector Hugh Munro, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirised Edwardian society and culture. ... Billy Rose (September 6, 1899–February 10, 1966) was an Jewish-American theatrical showman. ... Al Dubin (June 10, 1891 - February 11, 1945) was a Swiss-born lyricist. ...

FitzGerald published five editions of his translation of the Rubáiyát, of which three (the first, second, and fifth) are significantly different. (The second and third are almost identical, as are the fourth and fifth). The first and fifth editions are almost equally popular and equally often anthologized. The stanza above, from the fifth edition, is more familiar than the corresponding stanza in the first edition ("Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the bough/A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse—and Thou"). On the other hand, the lines "'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days/Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays," from the first edition, are more familiar than their equivalent from the fifth: "But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays/Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days").

Spelling note: In this article, FitzGerald's name is spelled with an internal capital G, as it is in his own publications, in anthologies such as the Quiller-Couch Oxford Book of English Verse, and in most reference books up through about the 1960s. Both spellings—FitzGerald and Fitzgerald—are currently seen. Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (November 21, 1863 - May 12, 1944) was a British writer, who published under the pen name of Q. Born in Cornwall, he was educated at Newton Abbot College, at Clifton College, and Trinity College, Oxford and later became a lecturer there. ...

Quotes

"If you can prove to me that one miracle took place, I will believe he is a just God who damned us all because a woman ate an apple."

"Science unrolls a greater epic than the Iliad. The present day teems with new discoveries in Fact, which are greater, as regards the soul and prospect of men, than all the disquisitions and quiddities of the Schoolmen. A few fossil bones in clay and limestone have opened a greater vista back into time than the Indian imagination ventured upon for its gods. This vision of Time must not only wither the poet's hope of immortality, it is in itself more wonderful than all the conceptions of Dante and Milton."

"I am all for the short and merry life." Epitaph

"Leave well - even 'pretty well' - alone: that is what I learn as I get old."

Notes

References

• Great Minds "The Rubáiyát of Edward FitzOmar", Gary Sloan, Free Inquiry, Winter 2002/2003 - Volume 23, No. 1
• Ali Dashti, In Search of Omar Khayyam
• H. Montgomery Hyde, The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name, Little, Brown, 1970.
• James Blyth Edward Fitzgerald and Posh, London, 1908.
• Works by Edward FitzGerald at Project Gutenberg
• Edward FitzGerald's Grave

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Council for Secular Humanism (originally the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism, or CODESH) regards itself as the only exclusively secular humanist organization in the USA. In 1980 CODESH issued A Secular Humanist Declaration. ... Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...