Virginia Bria

Omar Khayyam Poems

Arts & Literature

“Akhavan’s translations of Khayyam’s poems emanate light, verve, and compassion. His quatrains paint vivid and intense images in the mind’s eye, capturing the joy and complexity of a brilliant thinker—one who embraced life in his eleventh-century Persian culture, which denied him freedom to voice his inner thoughts for fear of persecution. Unlike the Victorian and hedonistic style of Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat, Akhavan’s translations flow gracefully and are eloquently simplistic, enticing the poetry lover to languor in the richness of Omar’s world.”