Quatrain from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Quatrain from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, credited to Omar Khayyám, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox LibriVox volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Quatrain from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Translated by Henry George Keene. This was the Weekly Poetry project for June 26, 2011. The popularity of the celebrated translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Edward Fitzgerald has cast many other worthy translations into undeserved obscurity. Among the earlier translators was Henry George Keene (1781-1856) whose translation of one quatrain appeared in 'Fundgruben des Orients' in 1816. Instead of the image of the wine and cup popularly associated with the Rubaiyat, the stanza translated by Keene refers to an image even more thoroughly explored in the poem : the potter and his clay. It may be said that while the wine represents the chemistry of Omar's universe, the clay represents the physics. In this context, wine can be seen, not merely as an intoxicant, but rather as the mysterious elixir which enables the clay figures to enjoy a brief experience of life before they crumble into dust.(Summary by Algy Pug.)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Quatrain from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
• Author credits: Omar Khayyám
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 12
• Listed recording duration: 10:02

Catalogue topics

• poetry
• ancient texts
• classics (antiquity)
• philosophy.

Track guide

1. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by ALG — 0:45
2. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by BG — 0:53
3. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by CB — 0:49
4. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by DL — 0:48
5. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by GB — 0:50
6. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by GHS — 0:52
7. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by JCM — 0:47
8. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by LLW — 0:54
9. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by MG — 1:00
10. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by RN — 0:50
11. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by TG — 0:45
12. Quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - Read by WT — 0:52

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.