New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-03-10
Fitzgerald offered the FIRST quatrains
to Fraser's Magazine, which did not

Fitzgerald offered the first quatrains
| to Fraser's Magazine, which did not
want them. He then gave them to a
publisher free, who brought them out
in thin little pamphlet at fyepence
| There was so little demand for this
that he afterward exposed it out in
front at a penny. Here Rossetti at last
picked one up and passed it on to
Swinburne, which started the cult.
| The tree Of popularity grew slowly
even yet. No one can tell just how the
universal craze finally broke out, but
break it did, and now we are all OBJ
sessed by it.
The popularity OF the poem extend
/ ed to the translator. Edward Fitzger-
aid was one OF the oldest figures that
| ever invaded the repEblic of letters
He was so shy that lived almost as
hermit and was so ayerse to fame
that he allowed his name to appear on
only one Of his books. The poets par
ents were cousins, his fathers name
being Purcell, the mother one Of the
famous Irish family of Fitzgerald,
which name the father also took on
coming into the estate. 1t was his Irish
extraction which afterward caused Ed
ward to refer to himself as scatter
Drained Paddy" Born In 1909, the boy
lived for few years of his infancy in
Paris In a house once occupied by
Robespferre and afterward at Naseby
on farm covering NEST of the battle
field where Oliver Cromwell whipped
Charles |. He thus occupied the habi-
tat Of revolution, although there was
nothing of the revolutionist in his own
makeup. He attended school at Bury
st. Edmunds. and at Cambridge was
graduated, somewhat to his own sur
prise, since he had spent most of his
time in the. university in dawdling with
art, verses and what not The remain
der OF his life was uneventful in an
/ outward way. He had several houses
and lived in them by turns, shut him.
self more and more from the world,
read only few books, Shakespeare
and the Greek dramatists, made sew
eral TRANSACTIONS, always very free,
and wrote some original books both in
verse and prose, but without attract
Ing notice; finally took up Persian
translated one or two poets, then hap
pened on Omar, became fascinated
and one day about a half century ago
gave the "Rubaiyat" to the world. The
world did not want it, did not take 1t
Tor long time and now cannot get
enough Of it.
The old SUITS tried to make it ap-
pear that Omar's paean of praise to
wine is only fgurative Fitzgerald
would not have it that way at all. He
insisted that his Hamlet must be mad,
else he was not Hamlet. 1t must be
confessed that the English translator
created much more human document
out of old Omar than the Suf1s did.
but at the expense of his morality and
standing in respectable society. He
made the astrOnOmer-poet bibulous
sport, but quite interesting withal. An.
other theory of ,Fitzgerald's was that
the way to translate poet is to carry
over his atmosphere rather than his
mere words, the spirit and not the let
ter. It is more important to preserve
his poetry than his grammar The
translator himself must be poet and
as poet, must be free and not slavish
To this theory the world owes the
'Rubaiyat;;" therefore it must be good
Still, it would throw any of the old
school linguists into spasms.
Pretty much everybody has read the
"Rubaiyat,' but it is thing that will
bear much rereading, so 1t will do nc
harm to sprinkle in little Of it here
just to redeem the text
The imagery Of the poem has seldom
been excelled. 1t Is the oriental wealth
shaped and polished by Fitzgerald's
delicate touch. What more exquisite
than this?
The bird of time has but little way
To flutter-and the bird is on the wing.
thorn under the rose the decay OF
beauty, the grave.
The wine Of life keeps oozing drop by
drop;
The leaves of life keep falling one by one
It is Tennyson's 1.-TWO Voices" over
again, only here the dull one sided
voice" has all the best Of the argu-
ment. The moan in the laughter, the
tear behind the smile, the skeleton at
the feast, is ever obtruded.
Each morn thousand roses brings, you
say.
Yes. but where leaves the rose of yester-
day?
Yet there is a nobler note He sings
. OF materialism, it is true, but of the
, vanity Of materialism.
], The ball no question makes of ayes and
Z, noes,
But here or there as strikes the player
goes.
And he that tossed you down into the
IL field,
/ He knows about IT all-he knows-he
knows!
/ Not SO materialistic, after all! That
and other similar
e-fo, crir,o