"Another Cup to Drown the Memory:" FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:30

"Another Cup to Drown the Memory:" FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:30

No. 30 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám continues the theme of bewilderment that we find ourselves, unasked, in the world, without a clear idea of the meaning of this life. The English verses portray these acts of being born and dying “without asking” as “impertinence,” i.e. insolence or disrespect. XXX. What, without asking, hither hurried whence? And, without asking, whither hurried hence!     Another a…