WORLD LITERATURE

RUBAIYAT by Omar Khayyam

GITANJALI by Rabindranath Tagore
RUBAIYAT
by Omar Khayyam
RUBAIYAT
by Omar Khayyam

Author:
Omar Khayyam (1048-1122) A Persian
poet, philosopher, astronomer and
mathematician.
Translator:
Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883) A
prominent English poet of the Victorian age.
He made five editions of Omar Khayyam’s
Rubaiyat which were published in 1859.
RUBAIYAT
by Omar Khayyam

About the Title

Rubai is a Farsi word for quatrain, a four-line poetry stanza. The
plural of rubai is Rubaiyat. Thus the literal English rendering of the
title of the poem is The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam.

About the poem

It depicts a simple man who finds solace by escaping into
material pleasures, and treats the universal and ageless themes of
doubt, fear and regret.
A Masterpiece
Hedonism is demonstrated in his poetry which was daring of his
time. It is a belief which means pleasure is it most important thing
in life. It is a way of living and behaving in life that means we get as
much as possible. Ethical hedonism is the idea that all people have
the right to do everything in their power to achieve the greatest
amount of pleasure possible to them. In this poem, the poet
message is that-we should take the happiness of our life sip by sip.
RUBAIYAT
by Omar Khayyam

• Features of this Poem

1. Human ups and downs
2. Failure
3. Success
4. Life
5. Death
Realizations observed in the Poem
It appears that either “Wine, the Cup or Bowl and the Grape
touch every stanza in the poem. The narrator seems to be an
alcoholic and he likes to drink everyday because of loneliness.
Gitanjali
by Rabindranath Tagore

General Information

Author: Rabindranath Tagore

Country: British Raj
Language: Bengali, English
Subject: Devotion to God
Genre: Poem
Publication Date: 1910
Publication in English: 1912
Gitanjali
by Rabindranath Tagore

• The English Gitanjali become popular in the West and was widely
translated.
• The word gitanjali is composed from “gita which means song and
Anjali that means offering. Thus means- an offering of songs.
• The title may also be interpreted as “prayer offering of song”
• It is composed of 103 poems.
• Major Theme
The major theme in Gitanjali is devotion to God.
This focuses on the Indian philosophical aspects.
It describes that God’s presence is pervading in all aspects.
It lets the readers have a direct contact with God.
How mankind can be united by the religious bond of love and compassion
Spiritual Bond and Service to humanity.
Example of Poem No. 72
Example of Poem No. 72