The following is another quatrain FitzGerald added to the Second Edition.
Second Edition: Quatrain LXIX
Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,
Is't not a Shame--is't not a Shame for him
So long in this Clay suburb to abide!
Fifth Edition: Quatrain XLIV
Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,
Were't not a Shame--were't not a Shame for him
In this Clay carcase crippled to abide?
The first two lines are identical. The changes appear in the third and fourth lines. The third line poses the most problems: the change from "Is't" to "Were't." Since I have never encountered these contractions before, I went searching and found that "Is't" most likely means "is it." I found several different possibilities for "Were't" and finally concluded that the contraction stands for "were it" which fits best when considering that it replaced "is't." The most significant change in the fourth line is the replacement of "suburb" by "carcase," which brings out a much clearer reference to the body, especially when one considers Biblical references to clay and dust.
I think the overall theme is that the soul is trapped in the body, that it could be much freer without the body. It comes across much stronger in the Fifth edition when the poet/narrator tells us that the soul is within a "carcase crippled to abide." This, of course, is in line with Christian and Islamic beliefs about the existence of the soul after death, and it's glorious future, if it is destined for heaven.
There, of course, is a gentle irony here when one sees how hard those who believe in a glorious afterlife struggle so hard to remain here in our "crippled" existence, as hard, as far as I can tell, as any atheist or agnostic, in fact.
yes, the irony is what i get: why do Christians(or Muslims) talk so much about the glories of heaven, and then not kill themselves to get there? sort of a lead-in to enjoying the present with a jug of wine and thou(not you) in the wilderness. also some iffy translation there, maybe, trying to decide between "suburb"(not a word in the arabic lexicon i'll bet) and "carcase"... times like this i wish i spoke some foreign languages, namely arabic...
ReplyDeleteMudpuddle,
DeleteOf course, many religions have strong restrictions against suicide. Enjoying the present while you can is a very predominant theme throughout the Rubaiyat. Most articles I've read about Khayyam indicate that he was in disfavor by religious authorities while he was alive and after also.
The difference between "suburb" and "carcase" is so great that this probably is FitzGerald's interpolation and not just a decision as to which word would be a better fit, since suburb refers to place and carcase to a body or corpse.
I had a work that attempted to "save" Khayyam by arguing that he really didn't mean alcohol or wine by all those references, but God's grace or something like that. What was funny was that the author was using FitzGerald's Rubaiyat, which most scholars today don't consider a translation, but refer to the work as FitaGerald's version or FitzGerald's "realization," as there is much in there that is more FitzGerald and not Khayyam.
well, yes... some call it thinking outside the box. outside the burbs, in the hinterland of thought, exists a species of scepticism that prefers to acknowledge theories based on evidence, or measurement instead of surmise or guesstimate... which would include physics, chemistry, geology, and other experientially based enquiries into the nature of reality...
ReplyDeleteWe choose, and we live by that choice.
ReplyDeletePaxcal's wager has always struck as the epitome of cynicism.
The Christian hope is the resurrection of the body to eternal glory, not escape from the body.
ReplyDeleteWurmbrand,
DeleteThat is true, but that doesn't seem to be the point in this quatrain, which depicts the plight of the soul here in this material universe, without any mention of a possible future.
It seems more of a plea to set the soul free of the body.