Primary sourceBook
What is the benefit of our arrival and departure?
Omar Khayyám
An English translation of a single quatrain attributed to Omar Khayyám, reflecting on life, death, and meaning.
A quatrain attributed to Omar Khayyám, given in Persian and English translation.
About this source
What it is
This short poem is one quatrain attributed to Omar Khayyám of Nishapur, given here in an English translation by Dmitri Smirnov alongside the original Persian text and its pronunciation.
Why it matters
The quatrain questions the purpose of human life and death, a recurring theme in the poetry linked to Khayyám. Comparing the Persian original with an English version shows how translators try to capture both meaning and rhythm across languages.
Look closer
- What image does the poem use to describe human life, and what might it mean?
- Why might someone translate both the sound and the meaning of a poem, not just the words?
- What mood or feeling does the poem leave with you?
This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Omar Khayyam on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.
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