Persian Literature

Sohrab and Rustum

(Matthew Arnold)

Sohrab and Rustum was written in the early1850s in England. It was set in ancient Persia. Its text is quite short for an epic prose. A contemporary writer classified it as an epyllion, a narrative poem usually presenting an episode from the hero’s past and resembling an epic but much briefer and more limited. It has 892 lines without subdivisions.

The young Sohrab was the fruit of one of Rustum’s early amours. He had left his mother, and sought fame under the banners of Afrasiab, whose armies he commanded, and soon obtained renown beyond that of all contemporary heroes but his father.  Alothough a Persian, Aohrab has taken service in the army of Afrasiab, King of Tartars. He had carried death and dismay into the ranks of the Persians, and had terrified the boldest warriors of that country, before Rustum encountered him, which at last that hero resolved to do, under a feigned name.

They met three times. The first time they ceased combat by mutual consent, though Sohrab had the advantage; the second, the youth obtained a victory, but spared life of his adversary, still ignorant of the fact that the older warrior was in fact his father; the third was fatal to Sohrab, who, when writhing in the pangs of death, warned his conqueror to shun the vengeance that is inspired by parental woes, and bade him dread the rage of the mighty Rustum, who must soon learn that he had slain his son Sohrab. Using the classical model of the in medias res opening, the writer did not elaborate on those previous encounters and elected to begin with the third. The writer rendered the encampment and the battlefield on the shores of the River Oxus “epic” in quality and scale.

Sohrab’s death, were as death to the aged hero; and when he recovered from a trance, he called in despair for proofs of what Sohrab had said. The afflicted and dying youth tore open his mail, and showed his father a seal which his mother had placed on his arm when she discovered to him the secret of his birth, and bade him seek his father. The sight of his own signet rendered Rustum quite frantic; he cursed himself, attempting to put an end to his existence, and was only prevented by the efforts of his expiring son. After Sohrab’s death, he burnt his tents and all his worldy possessions, and carried the corpse to Seistan, where it was interred; the army of Turan was, agreeable to the last request of Sohrab, permitted to cross the Oxus unmolested. The numerous geographic references in the story intended to create grandeur for the setting of the action.

It may seem improbable that Rustum and Sohrab did not know that they are relatives. But it was provided in the story that Rustum could have no idea his son was in existence. The mother of Sohrab had written to him her child was a daughter, fearing to lose her darling infant if she revealed the truth; and Rustum, as before stated, fought under a feigned name, a usage not uncommon in the chivalrous combats of those days.

The final paragraph of the prose creates a feeling of quiet peace and reassurance after the tragedy, achieved partly on a symbolic level by the suggestion that the Oxus stands for the stream of human life, which begins with the bright strength of youth.  It has to endure its potentialities and foiled its hopes, but finally reaches the luminous home.
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
 
            The Rubaiyat is a collection of poems attributed to Persian mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyam.  Rubaiyat means quatrains or verses of four lines.           

Omar Khayyam is believed to have composed somewhere between 200 and 600 Rubaiyat or quatrains. Some are known to be authentic and are attributed to him, while others seem to be combinations or corruption of his poetry, and whose origins are more dubious.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is among the few masterpieces that have been translated into most languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, and Urdu.

The most famous translation of the Rubaiyat from Farsi into English was undertaken in 1859 by Edward J. Fitzgerald. It appears that in many of his translations, he has combined a few of the Rubaiyat to compose one, and sometimes it is difficult to trace and correspond the original to the translated version. However, he has tried his utmost to adhere to the spirit of the original poetry.

 
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.

 

            The Supreme Court of the Philippines quoted this verse when it junked the election protest of defeated presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr. against Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.  It simply means that no matter how much we debate, engage or oppose, some things that have been done cannot be undone.  As for the cited case, it was used to convey the message that it would be futile to discuss more about the outcome of the election since FPJ is already dead. 

 

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press,

End in Nothing, all Things end in – Yes-

Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what

Thou shalt be – Nothing—Thou shalt not be less.

In life, we have to devote ourselves to joy and love.  We have to behold the beauty of the world.  It can be summed up to mean that we should live our life to the fullest because this life is only temporary.


Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.

When we were younger, we went to school and learned from our teachers. As we grow older and more knowledgeable, we begin to question what the truth is—if there is truth to what we were taught in our early years. Then we begin to realize that we are still far from the truth so we tend to be skeptical in a way that we discover the sad truth that not all the things we believed in is true.