Edward Fitzgerald best translation free PDF
I read the translation and verse by verse interpretation by Yoganada of Kriya yoga fame. Wine and drunkenness are not to be taken literally but like any ecstatic state in nature, love, sex, meditation which brings us closer to absolute or God.
https://yssofindia.org/spiritual/the-hidden-truths-in-omar-khayyam
above by yogananda link
https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Rub%C3%A1iy%C3%A1t/symbols/
The Rubáiyát is rich with symbolism. Many plants and objects are personified, given human characteristics and lines of dialogue. Some symbols show the influence of Sufism, a Muslim mystic sect. Sufis believed material experiences like love and intoxication helped humans approach the mystery of divine revelation. Though Khayyám wasn't a Sufi—his speaker in the poem is skeptical of any organized religion—he shares the Sufi reverence for the natural world. The most important symbols in the poem use objects and experiences to convey spiritual states.
Wine
Wine symbolizes indulgent earthly pleasures and the wisdom found in enjoying them. In Sufi literature wine indicates an ecstatic state where mortals are filled or "intoxicated" with divine love. In the Rubáiyát wine drinkers approach a similar joyful state, but they're seeking the divinity and sacredness in earthly life. The speaker often uses metonymy, a figure of speech substituting an attribute of the object for the object itself, to indicate wine drinking. "The Cup," "the Grape," and "the Vine," for instance, all indicate wine at many points in the poem.
To the speaker wine becomes an intoxicating drink, a mystical revelation, and a source of wisdom. Sometimes the speaker loves wine simply because he can achieve a state of drunken bliss. This state may be coupled with erotic imagery as in Quatrain 41. The speaker invites his reader or companion to abandon confusing philosophical thoughts and run their fingers through the hair of the "Minister of Wine," personifying wine as a lover. Quatrain 54 similarly encourages drinkers to lose their worries in the frivolity of "the fruitful Grape."
Wine graces the speaker with mystical knowledge he can't get from thought and reason. He pictures himself in a romance with the "Daughter of the Vine" after divorcing Reason, a drabber spouse, in Quatrain 55. Trying to learn about the world through logic and arguments has only puzzled him, so he's chosen the pleasures of drinking instead. Quatrain 59 portrays wine as a source of its own irrefutable logic defeating the quarrels of various religious sects. An angel offers the speaker wine in Quatrain 58, suggesting wine is a source of otherworldly wisdom and blessings. Nature is also portrayed as wiser than earthly authorities. The Nightingale in Quatrain 6 cries repeatedly for wine, even after the Biblical leader David is silenced.
Furthermore, the speaker often imagines wine as an authority itself, telling him how to live. Often this wisdom comes from the Cup or drinking vessel. In Quatrains 34 and 35, after the speaker tries and fails to observe a higher power, he asks the Cup to tell him the secret of his life. The Cup responds with a statement that resonates throughout the poem—the speaker should drink while he lives since he won't return after death. Quatrain 46 imagines an "Eternal Saki" or wine pourer in charge of pouring out human lives like bubbles from a bowl. As the speaker gains wisdom at the end of the poem in Quatrains 93 through 95, he reflects on the role of wine in his life. Though he has considered sober ways of living that will give him a better reputation, he will gladly forgo his earthly honor for wine. The wisdom wine has to offer is more important to him than any fame or glory he can achieve in the world.
Potters and Vessels
Potters and their clay vessels symbolize a divine creator and human beings. The extended metaphor emphasizes mankind's fragility and helplessness in the face of fate.
The Potter can mold and shape pots just as a mystical divine force shapes the events of human lives. Humans are encouraged to consider their humble origins as raw earth. Quatrain 37 introduces the image of wet clay begging its Potter to be gentle, and Quatrain 38 follows by describing a Maker molding humans from clay. In the extended metaphor in Quatrains 82 through 90, the Potter is not seen or heard, and his pots speculate about him while he's away. This absence reflects the invisible, unknowable nature of creator deities in religious traditions.
Like humans hoping their deity will treat them well but fearing he won't, the pots hope the Potter has good intentions but fear destruction at his hands. The pots worry the Potter has created them simply to destroy them. This concern is similar to the speaker's reflections on the brevity of human life and the problem of suffering. The flawed, broken pots of Quatrains 86 and 88 are concerned the Potter will break them because of faults he himself allowed in their design. This echoes the Christian doctrine of original sin—the idea man is born sinful and must be punished—which the speaker challenges in earlier quatrains.
The Rose
The rose symbolizes nature's beauty, which will inevitably fade. Iranian literature often used roses to stand for beauty and perfection, with the consequence that to hold or possess this beauty requires submission to its thorns. Roses in the Rubáiyát hint that no perfection will last. Quatrain 14 personifies the rose as a laughing woman, showing the carefree joy of nature. The rose has accepted her mortality. She scatters her treasure on the ground so it will disappear, rather than hoarding it for the future. The rose is associated with springtime, a season when flowers blossom and new plant life flourishes after winter. The speaker enjoys this beauty all the more because he knows it's temporary. When he vows to repent of earthly indulgences in Quatrain 94, he revokes his vows when Spring comes "Rose-in-hand," signifying the power nature has over him. In Quatrain 5 the mythical Persian garden of Iram, beautiful but temporary, is "gone with all his Rose" just as all nature on earth must someday die and disappear.
The Nightingale
The nightingale, which is so-called because it sings in the pre-dawn hours of the night, stands for the human soul. Birds often symbolized souls in Sufi mysticism. The "Bird of Time" in Quatrain 7 doubles as an image of time itself and of an individual human life flying briefly and quickly. Specifically the nightingale is often the soul of a devoted lover in Persian literature, seeking either romantic or spiritual love. In the Rubáiyát the nightingale becomes a soul in love with the beauty and joys of earthly life. The nightingale in Quatrain 6 calls out for wine just as the soul seeks joy. The speaker believes humans long for the celebratory mood of wine in the midst of life's uncertainty. As the speaker accepts the inevitability of death toward the end of the poem, he mentions the nightingale again in Quatrain 96. This time, though, the nightingale has flown away, and no one knows where it came from or where it's going, possibly suggesting an abandonment of a search for a beloved companion and a farewell to the joys of life. In this way it resembles the human soul disappearing into a mysterious afterlife when its brief time on earth is over.
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