Note 82 — AN ANALYSIS OF EDWARD FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION OF THE QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM (Fifth Edition) By EDWARD HERON-ALLEN

Here begins the section devoted especially to the talking pots in the workshop of the potter—it ends at quatrain No. 90. In the first edition this section was entitled Kuza-nama = the «Pot-book» or «Book of Pots.» It may be observed that the quatrains in this section are not so closely rendered from recognisable originals as the other quatrains composing FitzGerald's poem. This may be accounted for by the fact that the comparison between the human form—the Personal Ego—and a pot made of earth by the Supreme Potter (if one may be allowed the phrase) is constantly recurrent in all ruba'iyat attributed to Omar Khayyam. The section is therefore to a great extent a poetical reflection upon this phase of the philosophy of the ruba'iyat. The use FitzGerald has made of O. 103 cannot fail to amaze the student. Vide his own Note to quatrain 89.