Book Description

Edward FitzGerald or Fitzgerald (31 March 1809 - 14 June 1883) was an English poet and writer. His most famous poem is the first and best known English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which has kept its reputation and popularity since the 1860s. In 1853, FitzGerald issued Six Dramas of Calderon, freely translated. He then turned to Oriental studies, and in 1856 published anonymously a version of the Salámán and Absál of Jami in Miltonic verse. In March 1857, Cowell discovered a set of Persian quatrains by Omar Khayyám in the Asiatic Society library, Calcutta, and sent them to FitzGerald. At the time, the name with which FitzGerald has been so closely identified first occurs in his correspondence: "Hafiz and Omar Khayyam ring like true metal."