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Explore the Craft of Writing Arabic Verse Rubai and Omar Stanzas, Rubaiyat The Rubai stanza is best known from poems by the Persian poet, Umar at-Khayyam (1122) who created an interlocking chain of exotic quatrains. His poems were loosely translated and the form adapted by Edward Fitzgerald, English poet in 1859 and presented to the western world as the Rubaiyat of Omar Kyayyam. Just the title conjures thoughts of exotic romance in my head. About a third of the poems of Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat are from the original 7th century Persian poems. The elements of the Rubai stanza are: stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains that are interlocked by rhyme. A series of the rubai quatrains is called a Rubaiyat. accentual, folk meter, the rhythm of normal speech. The lines are of approximate equal length. When written in iambic pentameter it is known as an Omar Stanza rhymed. Interlocking rhyme scheme aaba, bbcb, ccdc, etc which is why the verse forms is sometimes referred to as the Interlocking Rubaiyat. It is interesting that the original Fitzgerald "translation" does not have an interlocking rhyme scheme but instead treats L3 as unrhymed. I can only guess that the original in Farsi has interlocking rhyme and that is why most descriptions of the form specify that feature. usually composed with enjambment in the first couplet of the stanza. First 2 stanzas of Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light. Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, "Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup "Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry." Yesterday by Mike Montreuil I saw you there, under the sun not knowing you had just begun summer of liberty. Would I keep my never, just won. Not having the chivalry needed despite my intimacy, the hello I gave to you, your dress, quite scantily. It was the lust I had for you following the curves into the unknown of my youth that grew to a love that was new. Rubaiyat by jainrohit After Long Lasting - perennial freeze Not much is left in pallid autumn trees When No one treads the avenues of life Her coming was coming of Gentle breeze Her dress was colored with all hues of life Her words hissed all the values of life She seemed as a stranger yet sacrosanct Her actions imbibed all the clues of life Her presence was etched on every moment To escape her presence a futile attempt A soft Glance - you immerse in her faith. Her beauty will prevent any contempt She coalesced into me freezing my breath Her colour was dark and her name was death Rubaiyat Sonnet is a contemporary invented sonnet form found at Poet's Collective. It uses the interlocking rhyme scheme of the Rubai stanza otherwise it has little in common with the original form. The elements of the Rubaiyat Sonnet are: a quatorzain made up of 3 quatrains followed by a couplet. metric, either tetrameter or pentameter lines, no metric pattern specified. rhymed, rhyme scheme aaba bbcb ccac aa. pivot at discretion of poet. Middle Eastern Poetic Genres and Forms Ghazal Marisya Mukhammas Mussades Muwashsha Nazm Qasida Rubai Shair Sher & its Meters Soaz Urjuza Zajal