What is a Rubaiyat?

The Rubáiyát is a Persian form of poetry built upon quatrains.

History

The Rubáiyát form refers to a string of Ruba’i, an Arabic word meaning ‘four,’ with Rubáiyát being the plural. This form was first developed by a Muslim mystic by the name of Abul Hassan Rodeki and spread by poets writing in Urdu. Over time, it became common to link these four-line poems together into Rubáiyát.

The Rubáiyát was first named as an English-language form of poetry by Edward FitzGerald in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, his famous 1859 translation of a selection of quatrains attributed to the 11th Century Persian astronomer Omar Khayyam.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam has become one of the best known examples of Persian poetry but at the time of its launch it was not commercially successful. Critically, it was widely praised, with small clubs assembling to celebrate the work.

From this, many English poets began to use the form, including Robert Frost in his poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.’

Form

There are several variations to the Ruba’i. Most obviously we have the Rubáiyát, a string of four-line verses conforming to the rhyme scheme AABA. This idea can evolve further, into what we call the Interlocking Rubáiyát, where each B rhyme sets the rhyme scheme for the next verse

A
A
B
A

B
B
C
B

C
C
D
C

D
D
E
D

When written in Persian, there are 24 meters that must be adhered to, however in English, many poets have chosen to adopt iambic pentameter or a specific meter from the Persian. This metre can be written as:

– – . . – . – . – – . . –

In this case, each dash refers to a long syllable and each dot a shorter one. It is not unheard of for a poet to stretch or modify this meter however, with several variations establishing themselves in the canon.

There are no limits to the number of stanzas a Rubáiyát can use, though the Circular Rubáiyát is one in which the rhyme scheme reaches the final rhyme and links back to the first, for example: ZZAZ

Use

Omar Khayyam used the Rubáiyát to cover all manner of topics, and amongst the 1200–2000 verses attribute to him there is an immense range. Iranian writer Sadegh Hedayat commented that, “If a man had lived for a hundred years and had changed his religion, philosophy, and beliefs twice a day, he could scarcely have given expression to such a range of ideas.”

Most Persian poetry before the modern era does not subscribe to uniform themes; instead the poet is encourages to offer insight and commit to form. Contrastingly, Indian poetry developed three genres: Lyric, Epic and Drama, while modern Persian poetry tends towards the Lyric and Epic. Historical Persian poetry is described as only adopting one of these modes, the Lyric. Lyric poetry is focused on emotional response, thus as long as a work is designed to elicit emotion, the Rubáiyát can be used.