--Bahram of the Wild Ass--a
Sassanian
Sovereign--had also
his Seven Castles (like the King of Bohemia!
his Seven Castles (like the King of Bohemia!
Omar Khayyam - Rubaiyat
) Pehlevi, the old Heroic Sanskrit of Persia.
Hafiz also speaks
of the Nightingale's Pehlevi, which did not change with the People's.
I am not sure if the fourth line refers to the Red Rose looking
sickly, or to the Yellow Rose that ought to be Red; Red, White, and
Yellow Roses all common in Persia. I think that Southey in his Common-
Place Book, quotes from some Spanish author about the Rose being White
till 10 o'clock; "Rosa Perfecta" at 2; and "perfecta incarnada" at 5.
(X. ) Rustum, the "Hercules" of Persia, and Zal his Father, whose
exploits are among the most celebrated in the Shahnama. Hatim Tai, a
well-known type of Oriental Generosity.
(XIII. ) A Drum--beaten outside a Palace.
(XIV. ) That is, the Rose's Golden Centre.
(XVIII. ) Persepolis: call'd also Takht-i-Jam-shyd--THE THRONE OF
JAMSHYD, "King Splendid," of the mythical Peshdadian Dynasty, and
supposed (according to the Shah-nama) to have been founded and built
by him. Others refer it to the Work of the Genie King, Jan Ibn
Jan--who also built the Pyramids--before the time of Adam.
BAHRAM GUR.
--Bahram of the Wild Ass--a Sassanian Sovereign--had also
his Seven Castles (like the King of Bohemia! ) each of a different
Colour: each with a Royal Mistress within; each of whom tells him a
Story, as told in one of the most famous Poems of Persia, written by
Amir Khusraw: all these Sevens also figuring (according to Eastern
Mysticism) the Seven Heavens; and perhaps the Book itself that Eighth,
into which the mystical Seven transcend, and within which they
revolve. The Ruins of Three of those Towers are yet shown by the
Peasantry; as also the Swamp in which Bahram sunk, like the Master of
Ravenswood, while pursuing his Gur.
The Palace that to Heav'n his pillars threw,
And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew--
I saw the solitary Ringdove there,
And "Coo, coo, coo," she cried; and "Coo, coo, coo. "
[Included in Nicolas's edition as No. 350 of the Rubaiyat, and also in
Mr. Whinfield's translation. ]
This Quatrain Mr. Binning found, among several of Hafiz and others,
inscribed by some stray hand among the ruins of Persepolis. The
Ringdove's ancient Pehlevi Coo, Coo, Coo, signifies also in Persian
"Where? Where? Where? " In Attar's "Bird-parliament" she is reproved
by the Leader of the Birds for sitting still, and for ever harping on
that one note of lamentation for her lost Yusuf.
Apropos of Omar's Red Roses in Stanza xix, I am reminded of an old
English Superstition, that our Anemone Pulsatilla, or purple "Pasque
Flower," (which grows plentifully about the Fleam Dyke, near
Cambridge,) grows only where Danish Blood has been spilt.
(XXI. ) A thousand years to each Planet.
of the Nightingale's Pehlevi, which did not change with the People's.
I am not sure if the fourth line refers to the Red Rose looking
sickly, or to the Yellow Rose that ought to be Red; Red, White, and
Yellow Roses all common in Persia. I think that Southey in his Common-
Place Book, quotes from some Spanish author about the Rose being White
till 10 o'clock; "Rosa Perfecta" at 2; and "perfecta incarnada" at 5.
(X. ) Rustum, the "Hercules" of Persia, and Zal his Father, whose
exploits are among the most celebrated in the Shahnama. Hatim Tai, a
well-known type of Oriental Generosity.
(XIII. ) A Drum--beaten outside a Palace.
(XIV. ) That is, the Rose's Golden Centre.
(XVIII. ) Persepolis: call'd also Takht-i-Jam-shyd--THE THRONE OF
JAMSHYD, "King Splendid," of the mythical Peshdadian Dynasty, and
supposed (according to the Shah-nama) to have been founded and built
by him. Others refer it to the Work of the Genie King, Jan Ibn
Jan--who also built the Pyramids--before the time of Adam.
BAHRAM GUR.
--Bahram of the Wild Ass--a Sassanian Sovereign--had also
his Seven Castles (like the King of Bohemia! ) each of a different
Colour: each with a Royal Mistress within; each of whom tells him a
Story, as told in one of the most famous Poems of Persia, written by
Amir Khusraw: all these Sevens also figuring (according to Eastern
Mysticism) the Seven Heavens; and perhaps the Book itself that Eighth,
into which the mystical Seven transcend, and within which they
revolve. The Ruins of Three of those Towers are yet shown by the
Peasantry; as also the Swamp in which Bahram sunk, like the Master of
Ravenswood, while pursuing his Gur.
The Palace that to Heav'n his pillars threw,
And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew--
I saw the solitary Ringdove there,
And "Coo, coo, coo," she cried; and "Coo, coo, coo. "
[Included in Nicolas's edition as No. 350 of the Rubaiyat, and also in
Mr. Whinfield's translation. ]
This Quatrain Mr. Binning found, among several of Hafiz and others,
inscribed by some stray hand among the ruins of Persepolis. The
Ringdove's ancient Pehlevi Coo, Coo, Coo, signifies also in Persian
"Where? Where? Where? " In Attar's "Bird-parliament" she is reproved
by the Leader of the Birds for sitting still, and for ever harping on
that one note of lamentation for her lost Yusuf.
Apropos of Omar's Red Roses in Stanza xix, I am reminded of an old
English Superstition, that our Anemone Pulsatilla, or purple "Pasque
Flower," (which grows plentifully about the Fleam Dyke, near
Cambridge,) grows only where Danish Blood has been spilt.
(XXI. ) A thousand years to each Planet.
