(1048-1131) Sa'di (sä d) is revered for his A Persian poet, scientist, and wit, learning, and elegant style mathematician, Omar Khayyám of writing. Persian-speaking ö mr ki yäm') is probably the people of all ages still read his best-knowm Islamic poet in the works for enjoyment and ethi West, where his poems, called cal guidarnce in their lives. rubáiyát because of their stanza Born in the Persian city of structure, have been read and Shiraz, Sa' di, whose real name appreciated for centuries. was Muslihuddin (mõös le hoo dên'),adopted the Khayyam was born in Persia (now Iran) in the pseudonym Sa'di to show his appreciation for city of Nishapur (n shä poor), a major center of his royal patron, a local ruler named Sa'd bin art and learning in the Middle Zangi (säd' bn zän ge). Ages. He quickly earned a reputation as a mathematician and as a Education and Travel Sa'di was educated in scholar of philosophy, history, law, and astrol- Baghdad, which was the capital of the Islamic ogy. Despite his accomplishments in all these orld until it was sacked by the Mongols in fields, he wrote very little, focusing mostly on 1258. In addition to studying at a major univer- scholarly writings about mathematics. sity, he was a disciple of several famous reli- Khayyám's Poetry In recent times, Omar gious and mystical teachers. After devoting the Khayvám's reputation as a poet has eclipsed his first three decades of his life to his education, scientific fame. A collection of poetry called The Sa'di spent approximately thirty years traveling Rubáiyát is attributed to him, although it is now and composing poetry. Then, he spent another known that Khayyám did not write the majority three decades in religious seclusion, devoting of the poems in the collection. Over the years, much of his time and energy to revising his many poems written by other authors have been poems. During the last ten years of his life, Sa'di added to The Rubáiyát and ascribed to Khayyám. focused on teaching the ways of Islamic mysti- The question of authorship, however, is of little cism and taking care of the needy. concern to Omar Khayyám's admirers, who read Fables and Poems As a writer, Sa'di is known and enjoy The Rubáiyát to this day. mainly tor three major works: the Bustan, or Why So Well Known? The success of the "Garden," which is a collection of religious anu "
Rubáiyát is largely the result of an English trans- ethical poems; the Giulistan, or "Rose Garden lation published in 1859 by the noted English yhich is a book of fables; and the Divan, or scholar Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883). In his lection of Poems," which contains a large nu" "Lor translation, FitzGerald was less concerned with ber of odes, along with a variety of light, textual accuracy than with capturing the humorous poems. spirit of the original poems as he The Gulistan has crossed easily from one cu" interpreted them. As he adapted, Fitzgerald created a series of ture to another. Its lyrical speculations on life and ible i5 and energetic poems that are often quite differ- guidelines for moral behavior are so accessios ent in content from the to Westerners that it has been originals. Despite their repeatedly tral inaccuracy, FitzGerald's rubáiyát are widely rec- lated since 1787. ognized for their beauty and have enjoyed enor- mous popularity throughout the English speaking world. Comparing Literary Works
Preview Connecting to the Literature Fairy tales, fables, and other teaching stories often try to guide readers toward proper and humane behavior. Consider what such stories have in common with the selections you are about to read.
Literary Analysis Didactic Literature Didactic literature teaches lessons on ethics, or principles regarding and and reflects the of the society that right wrong conduct, it often values produces it. This literature usually presents specific situations or details from which a more general lesson, or moral, may be drawn. Look for the moral within each of these didactic works.
Comparing Literary Works
To better teach its lessons, didactic literature uses literary tools such as the following: Aphorisms-short, pointed statements expressing a truth about human experience. .Personification-a technique that gives human qualities to nonhuman things. Metaphor-a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else. Although these devices appear in all of the selections you are about to read, each selection uses them in different ways. As you read, look for these tools of didactic literature and compare the differing ways each one is used.
Reading Strategy Whole Sentences
Breaking Down Long Sentences Analyze meaning by breaking down long sentences and considering what they say, one section at a time. Separate a sentence's key parts (the who and the what) from the difficult language to get to the main idea. Use a
diagram like the one shown to analyze long sentences.
Who Wha Vocabulary Builder repentance (ri pen' tens) n. sorrow for beneficent (be nef e sent) adj. chari- wrongdoing; remorse (p. 102) table (p. 106) extortions (eks tôr shenz) n. acts of pomp (pämp) n. ceremonial splendor; magnificence (p. 103) obtaining money or something else myriads (mir edz) n. great numbers through threats, violence, or misuse Whole Sentence of persons or things (p. 105) of authority (p. 108) piety (pi e t) n. devotion to religious duties or practices (p. 105) from
ZheKubáiyát Omar Khayyám translated by Edward FitzGerald
Background In the eleventh century, Seljuk Turks took over the Per sian Empire, imposing authoritarian government and strict religious prac- tices on the population. Many believe that Omar Khayyám wrote his poems as a quiet protest against Seljuk rule. The poems, unpublished in his life- time, offer an alternative philosophy that stresses enjoying lite in the here and now. This philosophy is often expressed as carpe diem, Latin for "seize the day." Figuratively, the phrase expresses the principle "Enjoy lite tully while you can."
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 Sultán's Turret with a Shaft of Light.
VII Literary Analysis Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring Didactic Literature Wh Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: lines or phrases in poem mo The Bird of Time has but a little way VIl might serve as a
To flutter-and the Bird is on the Wing. in a didactic story?
Vocabulary Builde VIII repentance (i pen'tans Whether at Naishápúr or Babylon,2 sorrow for wrongdoing Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, remorse
The Wine of Life keeps
oozing drop by droP, The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one. XII
of Verses underneath the Bough.
Book a Loaf of Bread-and Thou AJug of Wine. Beside me singing in the Wilderness were Paradise enowt3p Oh. Wilderness
XIlI Glories of This World; and Some for the some
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come:
Ah. take the Cash, and let the Credit go, Nor heed the rumble of a distant Druml
XVI
The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes-or it prospers; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, little hour or two-is gone. Lighting a
XVII
Think, in this batterd Caravanserais
Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day. How Sultán after Sultán with his Pomp Abodes his destined Hour, and went his way.
A Critical Viewing XXVII In what ways does the set-
Myself when young did eagerly frequent ting in this illustration cap
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument ture the imaginary quality About it and about: but evermore in Khayyám's poetry? Came out by the same door where in I went. Analyze Vocabulary Builder XXVIII pomp (pämp) n. ceremonia
With them the seed of Wisdom did
I sow, splendor; magnificence to make it grow; And with mine own hand wrought was all the Harvest that I reap'd- And this T came like Water, and like Wind I go.
XLVII Literary Analysis
Didactic Literature and When You and I behind the Veil are past, shall last, Metaphor For what con- On,but the while the World long, long dition is "behind the Veil" heeds Which of o u r Coming and Departure a metaphor? AS the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast. Reading Check
3. enow In poem XXVIll, what
(i nou') adj. enough. anon (e nän') adv. immediately; at once. seeds did the speaker 5. court. (kar e van se r) n. inn with a large central sow? 6. vanserai abode (e bõd') v. awaited.
from The Rubáiyát 103
ubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Edmurnd Dulac
A Critical Vie XLVII Which of Khayyám does this scene be A Moment's Halt-a momentary taste trate? Explain. [Int Of BEING from the Well amid the Waste- And Lo!-the phantom Caravan has reach'd The NoTHING it set out from-Oh, make haste!
04 Ancient Worlds LXTV
Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the Road, Which to discover we must travel too.
LXXI The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
XCIX Ah, Love! could you and I with Him conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits-and then Remold it nearer to the Heart's Desire! from the Gulistan Sa'di translated by Edward Rehats
of Background Sa'di was a mystic, or dervish, in the Islamic sect oneselt trom material Sutism, which stresses the importance of freeing meditation. Like many Suti desires and living a simple life of prayer and to convey his moral convictions. His mystics, Sa'di often used literature Manners of Kings"- that offer Gulistan comprises fables-such as "The and didactic stories sprinkled with poems moral guidance through simple, offer moral The sections from "The Manners of Kings" following aphorisms. guidance to rulers.
tron The Manners of Kings
1 orders to kill prisoner. The helpless a I heard apadshah' giving with the the king o n that occasion of despair, fellow began to insult to the saying: and to use foul expressions according tongue he had, hands of life Who washes his heart. whatever he has in his Says becomes long and he is like a
When a man is in despair his tongue
a dog. vanquished cat assailing is no more possible, In time of need, when flight sword. The hand grasps the point of the sharp vizier? Vocabulary Builde a good-natured asked what he w a s saying, When the king nef e sent bridle their anger and forgiwe men; who (be Those "My lord. he says: eneficent
replied: "3 charitable
loveth the beneficent. for Allah but another vizier, forbore taking his life, The king, moved with pity, rank ought to speak of the former, said: "Men of o u r the antagonist This fellow has the of padshahs. the truth in presence nothing but unbecomingly." The king. being insulted the king and spoken St D
9 s (e Rely not upon possessions and this world Because it has cherished many like thee and slain When the pure soul is about to them. What boots it if one dies on a depart. throne or on the ground? 6 It isnarrated that one of the kings of Persia had stretched forth his tyrannical hand to the possessions of his to oppress them subjects and had begun violently that in consequence of his fraudulent so
extortions they dispersed in the world and chose exile on account of
the affliction entailed by his violence. When the population had dimin- ished. the prosperity of the country suffered, the treasury remained empty and on every side enemies committed violence. Who desires succor in the day of calamity, Say to him: "Be generous in times of The slave with a ring in his prosperity. ear, if not cherished will Be kind because then a depart. stranger will become thy slave. One day the Shah-namah was read in his assembly, the being the ruin of the dominion of Zohakô and the subject reign of Feridun. The vizier asked the king how it came to pass that Feridun, who possessed neither treasure nor land nor a retinue, established himself upon the throne. He replied: "As thou hast heard, the population enthusiasti- cally gathered around him and supported him so that he attained alty." The vizier said: "As the gathering around of the population isroy- the cause of royalty, then why dispersest thou the population? Perhaps thou hast no desire for royalty?" It is best to cherish the army life as thy Because a sultan reigns by means of his troops. The king asked: "What is the reason for the gathering around of the troops and the population? He replied: "A padshah must practice jus- tice that they may gather around him and clemency that they may dwell in safety under the shadow of his government; but thou possess- est neither of these qualities." A tyrannic man cannot be a sultan As a wolf cannot be a shepherd. A padshah who establishes oppression Destroys the basis of the wall of his own reign. The king. displeased with the advice of his censorious vizier, sent him toprison. Shortly afterward the sons of the king's uncle rose in rebellion, desirous of recovering the kingdom of their father. The population, whlch had been reduced to the last extremity by the king's oppression and scattered, now assembled around them and supported them, till he lost control of the government and they took possession of it. A padshah who allows his subjects to be oppressed VCritical Viewing= Will in his day of calamity become a violent foe. Which of the men pictu Be at peace with subjects and sit safe from attacks of foes is a visiting ambassade and which is a sultan? Because his subjects are the army of a just shahanshah.7 Which details helped determine your answe 7 Speculate] A padshah was in the same boat with a Persian slave who had never before TU been at sea and experi- enced the inconvenience of a vessel. He began to cry and to tremble to such a degree that he could not be pacified by kindness, so that at last the king became displeased as the matter could not be remedied. In that boat there happened to be a philosopher, who said: "With thy permission I shall quiet him." The padshah replied: "It will be a great favor." The philosopher ordered the slave to be thrown into the water so that he swallowed some of : it, whereon he was caught and pulled by his hair to the boat, to the stern of which he clung with both his hands. Then he sat down in a corner and became quiet. This appeared strange to the king who knew not what wisdom there was in the proceeding and asked for it. The
philosopher replied: "Before he had tasted the calamity of being drowned,
he knew not the safety of the boat; thus also a man does not appreciate the Literary Analysis
value of immunity from a misfortune until it has befallern him." Didactic Literature and Aphorisms What mode- thee not. O thou full man, barley-bread pleases aphorism might be a goc She is my sweetheart who appears ugly to thee. substitute for the philos- hell. To the huris" of paradise purgatory seems pher's words? Ask the denizens" of hell. To them purgatory is paradise.
There is a difference between him whose friend is in his arms
And him whose eyes of expectation are upon the door.
Reading Check In story 6, what punish- 7. shahanshah (shä' hän shä) emperor or King of kings, usually referred to as a shah. 8. huris (hoo rës) dark-eyed women who, in Islamic legend, live with the blessed in paradise. ment is given to the vizie 9. denizens (den i zenz) n. inhabitants or occupants. who displeases his king? 35 I was sitting in a vessel with a of great men when a boat company n e a r us. One of the which contained two brothers happened to sink to a sailor if he could save great nmen promised a hundred dinars10 out one, the other them both. Whilst however the sailor was pulling had no longer to live and therefore delay took place perished. I said: "He hast said is him." The sailor smiled and replied: "What thou in rescuing save this one because, when I o n c e certain. Moreover, I preferred to behind in the desert, he seated m e o n his camel, happerned to lag When I received a whipping by the hands of the other. whereas I had who doth right, doth it to his ouwn soul and he. w a s a boy I recited: He, the same."11 who doth evil, doth against scratch the interiorl2 of n o one As long a s thou canst, thorns on this road. Because there a r e dervish13 Be helpful in the affairs of a Because thou also hast affairs.
countries. used in a number of Islamic 10. dinars (di närz) n. gold coins the Qur'an. right...the sanme passage from doth 11. He, who the feelings. the interior injure 12. scratch Muslim dedicated to a life of poverty and chastity. dervish (dur vish) 13.
