The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: The Last Quatrain

I've stalled around a bit in posting on this quatrain: it's the last one for all editions.  I started this project on September 26, 2008 and never realized that it would last for over five years.  In fact, I'm also surprised that I did finish it for I tend to lose interest when nearing the end and find reasons for not completing a project.

The second and third editions are longer, at least twenty-five quatrains longer, than the first edition.  I did not post on quatrains that first appeared in the second edition, but only those that appeared in the first edition.  I haven't decided yet what I will do with those ignored quatrains.  Perhaps some time in the future, I may post on those also.

But, here we are--the last quatrain.


First Edition: Quatrain LXXV 

And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,
     And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot
Where I made one--turn down an empty Glass!

                        TAMAM SHUD



Second Edition:  Quatrain CX

And when Yourself with silver Foot shall pass
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,
     And in your joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made One--turn down an empty Glass!

                        TAMAM




Fifth Edition:  Quatrain CI

And when like her, oh, Saki, you shall pass
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,
     And in your joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made One--turn down an empty Glass!

                        TAMAM




Fitzgerald made only minor changes over the five editions, and most of them occurred in the first line.  In the first edition we see  "Thyself" which becomes the less poetic  "Yourself" in the second edition.  Also, "shining foot" is changed to "silver Foot" in the second edition.  "Silver" is much more specific in that it denotes a white foot more clearly than does "shining."


In the fifth edition, we find the most drastic change to the first line.  The references to her personal appearance disappear and she is named Saki.  In addition, we find a reference--"like her"-- to the previous quatrain where the Moon is depicted as shining down on those in the garden.  The tie to the previous quatrain is much stronger in this edition than in the earlier versions in which the quatrain began with "And," which also ties this quatrain to previous one.  In other words, he substitutes a direct reference for a conjunction.

The second, third, and fourth lines of the various editions are identical except for a change that occurs in the second edition, when "thy" becomes "your" to match a similar change in the first line.

The sense of the quatrain seems quite clear--remember me with an empty glass, which refers back to earlier quatrains concerning the scene in the pottery shop in which a pot suggests that filling it with wine might restore it.  However, there seems to be no possibility of that happening here, for death is the final emptying of the glass.