1 h 22 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the universe offers no answer, but a friend, a garden and a morning still await you?
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is a sequence of four-line poems credited to the Persian mathematician, astronomer and poet. It opens at dawn, with light spilling across the sky and a call to wake. Its speaker faces a brief life, a silent universe and a fate no one can bend.
The quatrains move from questions about creation to the pleasures of the present. Years of study bring the speaker no firm answer about where we come from or where we go. Instead, he turns toward wine, love and friendship. Kings become dust, potters shape clay, and a writing hand moves on.
What you’ll discover
- A morning worth waking for Enter a dawn scene that urges sleepers to notice the hour already passing.
- Questions without easy answers Follow a searching speaker as learning leaves life's deepest mysteries unresolved.
- The chessboard of fate See nights and days become a board where human lives are the pieces.
- Wine, love and friendship Discover how a cup, a companion and a garden answer the pressure of passing time.
- Clay and the moving hand Meet potters shaping clay and a hand whose writing no one can erase.
Who will love it
For readers who love short, reflective poems, wonder about fate and the meaning of a brief life, or want a bridge to Persian poetry.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Persian scholar behind the quatrains
- Wake up, the morning is already passing
- The great questions get no answer
- Fate writes and nobody can erase it
- Wine, love and the gift of the present
- How the poem has lasted and how to read it
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 1 h 22 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear I Rubaiyat di Omar Khayyam in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
I Rubaiyat di Omar Khayyam
by Omar Khayyam
Beneath silent heavens, a voice turns to wine, friendship and a garden to savor the brief life fate allows.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
The Rubaiyat is a sequence of short poems of four lines each, credited to Omar Khayyam, a Persian mathematician, astronomer and poet who died in 1122. The word rubaiyat is the plural of rubai, which means a quatrain.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Persian scholar behind the quatrains
Omar Khayyam was born in Nishapur, in the north-east of Persia, in the middle of the eleventh century. In his own day he was known as a mathematician and astronomer, not as a poet. He wrote a respected treatise on algebra, and he is linked with the reform of the calendar under the Seljuk ruler Malik Shah. This matters because the poems come from a mind trained in numbers and observation.
The poems credited to him are quatrains, called rubai. Each has four lines, and the first, second and fourth lines usually rhyme. Each one stands alone as a complete thought, like a small coin that can be turned over and examined. Persian poets wrote thousands of these verses, and many were passed on by memory and later fixed to famous names.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about I Rubaiyat di Omar Khayyam
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam about?
It is a sequence of four-line poems on the shortness of life, the silence of the heavens and the power of fate. Its speaker answers these with wine, friendship and attention to the present moment.
What does rubaiyat mean?
Rubaiyat is the plural of rubai, a Persian word for a quatrain, a poem of four lines. Usually the first, second and fourth lines rhyme, and each quatrain makes one complete thought.
Did Omar Khayyam really write all the Rubaiyat?
Probably not. Many quatrains were credited to him long after his death, and manuscripts differ. Scholars cannot say for certain which verses are his, and the English poem is also shaped by Edward FitzGerald.
The author
Omar Khayyam
1048–1131 · Persian mathematician and poet
Omar Khayyam (1048–1131) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet. He was born and died in Nishapur, in present-day Iran, and also worked in Samarkand and Isfahan. He wrote about algebra in the eleventh century and helped reform the Persian calendar. Quatrains attributed to him were later collected as the Rubaiyat.
More by Omar Khayyam
All 2 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
