how great poetry is made?

A bit from Umar Khayyam:

Tell me: how the greatest poetry is made?

From the original? From the first thought? Well…not necessarily….consider the following:

Translations from the original-

quatrain 45
“One jar of wine and a lover’s lips, on the bank of the sown field,
These have robbed me of cash, and thee of the credit,
The whole human race is pledged to heaven or hell,
But whoever went to hell. And who ever came from heaven?”

this from Edward Heron-Allen’s “Ruba’iyat- BEING
A facsimile of the manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxfod- w a transcript into modern Persian characters:

“It will be observed that this quatrain, which is not found in C, N, or W, is practically a paraphrase of q 40 : “I know not whether he who fashioned me/appointed me to dwell in heaven or dreadful hell/ but some food, and an adored one, and wine, upon the green bank of a field/ all these three are cash to me- thinke be the credit-heaven”

The quatrain is probably spurious. (dave’s bolding) Compare also q 32 and q 76..p221 is almost identical and L has a corresponding quatrain, # 37 (B.34) the 1st 3 lines of which read: “A goblet and wine and a cup bearer on the bank of a field…etc.”

Also : “The laws of Persian prosody, to which Umar never paid strict attention, require that lines 2 and 4 should not end with a word identical in sound and meaning.” !!!!!!!!!!! (my exclamation points)

LONDON: H.S. Nichols LTD, 39 Charing Cross Rd. W.C.

quatrain 35 “In springtime with an houri’s disposition
Should give me a goblet of wine along the fringes of a sown field,
Though this may appear unfitting 2 to the people,
A dog will be better than I if I should mention paradise.

2 literally- ugly

quatrain 45 “I know not at all whether He Who molded me
Made me of the folk of paradise of of ugly hell.
A bowl, a beloved, and a harp along the fringes of a sown field-
These three are cash for me, and for thee- a credit /paradise,

1859- Fitzgerald “Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough,
A flask of wine, a book of verse-and thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness
And wilderness is paradise enow.

1872-Fitzgerald-“A book of verses underneath the bough,
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread-and thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness-
O, wilderness were paradise enow