The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Quatrain XLI

This is the third quatrain in a set of six that are linked together by the mention of wine or the grape in various ways.


First Edition: Quatrain XLI

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line
And "Up-and-down" without, I could define,
I yet in all I only cared to know,
Was never deep in anything but--wine.



Second Edition: Quatrain LVIII

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line
And "Up-and-down" by Logic I define,
Of all that one should care to fathom, I
Was never deep in anything but--wine.


Fifth Edition: Quatrain LVI

For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line
And "Up-and-down" by Logic I define,
Of all that one should care to fathom, I
Was never deep in anything but--wine.


FitzGerald has made some interesting changes, but none that really affects the basic theme of the quatrain--that he was very familiar with Logic and Reason, but all that he really cared for was wine.

In the first line, the only change in the second and fifth editions, I can detect is that "with" is no longer in italics, as it is in the first edition, and the same is true for "without" in the second line. The addition of "by Logic" in the second and fifth editions might be made to clarify the meaning. I suspect there were many who didn't understand what he was referring to by "Is" and "Is-not" and "Rule and Line," so he provided the phrase to make his point more accessible to readers.

In the third line, he plays a little game with a word that has disparate, but related meanings. "Fathom" has several definitions: one, when a noun, is that of a measurement of marine depths, while another, when a verb, is "to get to the bottom of" or to "penetrate to the meaning of." In the second and fifth editions, "cared to know" is replaced by "care to fathom. So, what he was most interested in (care to fathom) was getting to the bottom or or meaning of is wine, for he "Was never deep in anything but--wine," a reference to nautical depth.

Again the theme of the uselessness of logic or reason makes its appearance--another attack on the long-winded, sometimes acrimonious, and fruitless discussions about issues we can know nothing about: where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going.