The Rubaiyat: Quatrains 1-4

I.

 WAKE! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight
The Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.

II.

 Before the phantom of False morning died,
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried,
"When all the Temple is prepared within,
"Why nods the drowsy Worshiper outside?"

III.

 And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted—"Open then the Door!
"You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more."

IV.

 Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.

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SUMMARY:

Quatrain 1 starts the Rubaiyat with the sun rising and replacing the darkness of the night before. The last line of the quatrain provides us with the arresting image of the sun towering above even the mighty "Sultan's turret" (the King's Palace in other words).

Quatrain 2 starts with the "phantom of False morning [dying]" which describes the faint, dim glow of light seen in the nightsky prior to sunrise (read more about it here). The speaker of the poem, probably Omar Khayyam himself, dreams that a voice calls from the tavern or bar urging the "drowsy Worshipers" outside to come in for a drink.

Quatrain 3 starts with the rooster crowing (signaling the arrival of dawn) and those gathered outside the Tavern door beg for entry proclaiming that they have little time and are uncertain whether they will return to the bar in the future.

Quatrain 4 proclaims that is the beginning of a New Year - which in the calendar used during those times marked the Vernal Equinox, the beginning of spring. The speaker sends his thoughtful soul to rest as he wanders in delight through a garden where he encounters flowers as white as Moses's hands after God spoke to him (a reference to Exodus 4:6, read about it here) and other plants whose aromas scent the air like the breath of Jesus.

DISCUSSION:

This is the majestic beginning of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a masterpiece of Persian literature. First, there is the stirring picture of the sun literally chasing away the darkness of the night and shining its rays down Earth The fact that it "strikes/ The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light" gives us no illusions where even the most powerful of humans - the Sultan in this case- stands in the presence of celestial powers such as the Sun and God. Essentially, the first quatrain of the Rubaiyat holds back no punches in stating that humanity is a mere speck in the scheme of the Universe. Great, now that our helplessness and puniness have been established...what does Omar Khayyam discuss next?

So, here we have a new day - a blank page, containing nothing but filled with countless possibilities. The day can take any direction you like so what do you do? Khayyam here offers a suggestion that we should hit the taverns or bars as early as possible. Now what does he mean here? Scholars and critics here have been debating for quite some time how much of Khayyam's message of drinking wine is allegorical and how much is literal. To me, I would like to think it is a combination of both as a few things in life are more relaxing and enjoyable than drinking a glass of beer with good friends and company.

I think that Khayyam wants us to enjoy the little moments and banalities of simply just being alive on this Earth. His message has an added sense of urgency (remember he wanted us to go bar hopping as soon as the rooster crowed) because "you know how little while we have to stay, / And, once departed, may return no more." Life is short, people! - Khayyam explains - Wallowing in the regrets of the past or drowning in the worries of the future is a supreme waste of the precious time that you have left in this mortal realm! So, drink up mates before the liquor of life runs dry.

Now, some of you may consider this a call to hedonism, or a constant search for thrill and excitement. I do not think that Khayyam espoused leading a life where we blindly pursue objects and activities that give us a temporary "high." Before you know it, withdrawal kicks in and you have to continue to feed this addiction with more thrills and pleasures. Doing so just leads to the proverbial mid-life crisis where you realize that all this time you have been accumulating objects and status symbols that did nothing to reduce the feeling that life is shallow and meaningless. So, what do you do? You roll out to the luxury car dealership and get yourself a shiny, new sports car. You think you are content but the excitement of this new purchase soon fades away and that same sense of unhappiness creeps in. Yikes!

Instead of submitting to this destructive cycle of excitement and withdrawal, I think Khayyam suggests we should accept and live life as it is - beauty, flaws, and all. The fact that you are alive in the first place is a miracle (compared to being dead or a mayfly whose lifespans extends to a whopping 24 hours) and take advantage of this miracle by immersing yourself in - for the lack of a better term- the simple things in life. Things like stopping by to smell the roses, calling up that friend you have not seen in a long time, return the smile of that infant giggling at you - essentially the things that we take for granted every day. Anyways, I do not want to discuss this topic further because Khayyam will continue to come back to it over and over again throughout the poem.

The fourth quatrain of the Rubaiyat signals the coming of the spring which is a time for renewal, birth, and beauty. In fact, spring is often an allegory for life itself. As life springs all around him, Khayyam sends the "thoughtful Soul to Solitude [retire]" which essentially means that he stops questioning and pondering. What was he pondering about? It could be that he was contemplating some mistake from the past, addressing some concern for the future, figuring out the meaning of existence, or how he should respond to some insult. Regardless, his thoughts literally fade away as he is transfixed by the beauty of the moment. As he wanders in amazement throughout the garden, he encounters plants and animals that all have a touch of divinity in them - from the flowers as white as "the Hand of Moses" to the fragrant aroma of the blossoms that seem to be reminiscent of the breath of Jesus. Khayyam finds traces of God or the divine in everything he sees - even things that seem as ordinary as plants. Note here that Khayyam sent his pondering soul to rest before he could truly enjoy the moment and herein lies a clue for attaining what we may call happiness. Relax the death grip of logic and stop overanalyzing everything, and maybe life will not be so dark and depressing. Khayyam essentially suggests here that the difference between sadness and happiness is literally a difference of thought. Or in this case, an absence of thoughts - stop thinking and analyzing so much about life and instead live your life.

So, Khayyam has packaged a lot of meaning and symbolism into the first four quatrains of this poem. From discussing the puny nature of humans to urging us to enjoy life (and what is left of it ) to seeing the beauty in all creations, we have touched a lot of topics. Keep in mind that these themes he wrote about 900 years ago still ring true today. Sometimes I guess we have to read the words of a dead man to find meaning and beauty in our present existence. And that, my friends, is part of what renaissance is all about.