The Rubaiyat: Quatrain V

First Edition: Quatrain V

Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose,
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;
But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,
And still a Garden by the Water blows.



Second Edition: Quatrain V

Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose,
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;
But still a Ruby gushes from the Vine,
And many a Garden by the Water blows.



Fifth Edition: Quatrain V

Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;
But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine,
And many a Garden by the Water blows.


This quatrain focuses on the brevity of human endeavors--the glories of the past have gone and are almost forgotten. Iram and Jamshyd are no more. Iram, a fabulously wealthy city, has disappeared, and Jamshyd, once the most powerful king in the world, is no more. His cup, the source of immortality and power, is lost. In comparison, the natural world goes on as it always has.

The three versions do differ to some extent, but the main focus is still the same--the transience of human power and glory.



FIRST LINE: The first edition refers to "with all its Rose." This is changed in all subsequent editions to "with all his Rose."

Why the change from the neuter pronoun to the masculine escapes me.



SECOND LINE:

"And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;"

No change through all five editions.



THIRD LINE:
1st Edition: But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,
2nd Edition: But still a Ruby gushes from the Vine,
3rd Edition: But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine.

The focus has shifted from the Vine in the first edition to the Ruby in later versions. The meaning of Ruby undergoes some subtle shifts over the various editions. In the first version, the Vine yields the Ruby, which suggests the Vine must give it up. This could suggest that the Ruby could be the grape itself, or perhaps wine.

The second version refers to the Ruby as it gushes from the Vine. The Ruby is now the active element, and it "gushes," suggesting the Vine is a pipeline only. That it "gushes" implies, to me anyway, that FitzGerald is referring to a liquid, which would be the wine, as liquids would be more likely to be seen as gushing than solid objects would be.

The final version is intriguing. The Ruby no longer is yielded by the Vine or gushes from the Vine, but it "kindles in the Vine." "Kindles" can be either active or passive. It can either cause something to break into flame or glow or it can arouse or inspire something, or, on the other hand, it can itself break into flame or glow or become aroused or inspired.

The grape can be seen as something that glows because of its reddish color or even something aflame set against the green of the vine. On the other hand, wine can be seen as glowing or aflame and also that which can inflame or arouse or inspire others.

Rather than decide between them, I shall take the cowardly way out and say that FitzGerald meant to suggest both.



FOURTH LINE:

1st Edition: And still a Garden by the Water blows.
2nd Edition: And many a Garden by the Water blows.
3rd Edition: And many a Garden by the Water blows.


There's clear comparison made in the first version. The past human glories are gone, but "still a garden" blooms. The second version becomes the final version also. It weakens the comparison by removing the word "still" and sort of trails off with "And many a Garden..." To say that there are many of them seems to reduce them to the level of the common and ordinary. Perhaps that was what FitzGerald had in mind, that the singular glories of human endeavors are survived by nature's ordinary and commonplace activities--a grapevine or a garden in bloom.




Notes:

The following is abstracted and paraphrased from Wikipedia entries on Iram and Jamshyd.

Iram was a trading center in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. It seems to have existed from 3000 B.C. to the first century A. D. It was a very wealthy city, gaining its riches from trade between the coastal regions and population centers of the Middle-East and Europe. It was later abandoned and eventually felt to be only a myth. However, recent archeological excavations have now shown it to be a real place.

Jamshyd, according to various ancient accounts, was the fourth king of the world. He had command over all the angels and demons of the world and had become the greatest monarch the world had ever known. He was also said to have had a magical seven-ring cup, Jam-e Jam which was filled with the elixir of immortality and allowed his to observe the universe. But Jamshid's pride grew with his power, and he began to forget that all the blessings of his reign were due to God. He boasted to his people that all of the good things they had came from him alone, and demanded that he should be accorded divine honors, as if he were the Creator. That, of course, was his downfall. He lost the favor of the Creator and his power diminished and his kingdom vanished into obscurity over time.