batch.motif.sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg-l14052-l14243
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg-l14052-l14243
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
passage_locator:
label: QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM / MONSIEUR J.B. NICOLAS / THE QUATRAINS OF KHAYYAM
/ THE QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM; lines 14052-14243
start: '14052'
end: '14243'
translation: The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: A sequence of quatrains counsels detachment from fleeting worldly cares,
contentment, wine-drinking, and generosity while criticizing false devotion and
uncertainty about doctrine. It presents cosmological images of the Wheel of Heaven,
the universe as a body animated by justice, bulls above and below the earth, a
hidden voice behind a veil, and repeated tavern scenes in which a beloved or God
is associated with wine, the cup, and the speaker's heart.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The speaker urges the addressee to leave the cares of the fleeting world,
be joyous, and contentedly observe the games allotted to men under the Wheel of
Heaven.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The speaker advises pleasing drinkers, demolishing the bases of prayer and
fasting, drinking wine, and doing good.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The passage describes justice as the soul of the universe, the universe as
the body, angels as the body's wit, heavens as elements, and creatures as members.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: In a tavern scene, the object of the speaker's heart, glossed as God, presents
a cup and invites the speaker to drink.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Wine, ruby cups, beautiful faces, a rose-colored cup, tears, a flask, a brook,
and the announcement of dawn appear in linked drinking and dawn imagery.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The speaker counsels forgetting the past day, not worrying about tomorrow,
and living happily for one instant.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: A voice behind a veil addresses ignorant ones and says the sought way is neither
here nor there.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The passage says there is a bull called Parwin or Pleiades in the heavens
and another bull underneath the earth, with a herd of asses between them.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: The speaker gives the face of the friend, glossed as God, and the morning
cup as reasons for not giving up wine.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: The speaker says the heart is plunged into drunkenness by passion for the
well-beloved, and that the wine of this love was drawn from the blood of the heart.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: The passage contrasts lovers and drinkers with hypocrisy, apparent devotion,
false devotion, Hell, and Paradise.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: obs:12
text: The speaker asks God to pity the imprisoned heart and pardon the feet that
go to the tavern and the hand that seizes the cup.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: poetic speaker
description: The speaking voice that gives counsel, reports tavern and drinking
experiences, describes the heart, and addresses God.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Khayyam
description: Named as the source of good counsel in the instruction to follow Khayyam's
advice.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: friend / object of the heart / well-beloved
description: A beloved figure, at points glossed as God or Divinity, whose face,
love, and cup are linked to the speaker's wine-drinking.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: God
description: Named as exercising power in the heavens and directly addressed by
the speaker for pity and pardon.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: sages and people of intelligence or certainty
description: Those said to consider the world of dust or to perceive the cosmic
image of bulls and asses.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: men pondering belief, faith, doubt, and certainty
description: Groups of men described as pondering belief or faith, or hovering between
doubt and certainty.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: voice behind the veil
description: An unnamed speaker behind a veil who calls out to the ignorant ones
about the way they seek.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: counsel-giver
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:2
basis: The passage repeatedly gives imperatives and explicitly names Khayyam's good
counsel.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: divine beloved and cup-giver
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The beloved or friend is glossed as God/Divinity and is associated with presenting
a cup and motivating wine-drinking.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:3
label: divine authority and addressee
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: God is said to exercise power in the heavens and is asked for pity and pardon.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:4
label: knowing observers
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Sages and people of intelligence or certainty are described as considering
the world or perceiving the cosmic arrangement.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: role:5
label: religious seekers in uncertainty
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The passage depicts men pondering belief or faith and hovering between doubt
and certainty.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:6
label: devotional drinker
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker repeatedly justifies wine-drinking through the beloved, the morning
cup, and prayer for pardon after going to the tavern.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:7
label: hidden revealer
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: A concealed voice behind a veil announces that the sought way is neither
here nor there.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: wine and cup
literal_form: Wine, ruby cups, rose-colored wine, morning cup, flask, and the hand
seizing the cup.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: sym:2
label: tavern
literal_form: The tavern where the heart's object presents the cup and toward which
the speaker's feet go.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
- id: sym:3
label: Wheel of Heaven
literal_form: The Wheel of Heaven, the heavens, and periodic motion of time governing
favor and iniquity.
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: sym:4
label: heart
literal_form: The speaker's poor heart, hollowed or full of blood, imprisoned, grieved,
foolish, and intoxicated by love.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: sym:5
label: veil
literal_form: A veil behind which an unnamed voice cries out to the ignorant ones.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:6
label: cosmic bulls
literal_form: A bull called Parwin or Pleiades in the heavens, another bull under
the earth, and a herd of asses between them.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:7
label: universe as body
literal_form: Justice as the soul of the universe, the universe as body, angels
as wit, heavens as elements, and creatures as members.
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:8
label: brook at dawn
literal_form: The speaker sits with a friend and rose-colored wine on the border
of a brook as dawn is announced.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Counsel to detach from fleeting worldly care
summary: The speaker urges joy, contentment, and freedom from worldly cares under
the unstable Wheel of Heaven.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- id: scene:2
label: Ethical and religious inversion around wine
summary: The passage advises wine-drinking and doing good while criticizing the
bases of prayer and fasting, hypocrisy, apparent devotion, and false devotion.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: scene:3
label: Cosmological unity and cosmic order
summary: The universe is described as a single body animated by justice, while the
heavens, time, and cosmic bulls frame human existence.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: scene:4
label: Tavern encounter with the beloved cup-giver
summary: In the tavern, the heart's object, glossed as God, presents a cup and urges
the speaker to drink for love.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Dawn drinking beside a brook
summary: The speaker sits with a charming friend and rose-colored wine beside a
brook before dawn is announced.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:6
label: Hidden voice and uncertain way
summary: Men ponder belief, faith, doubt, and certainty until a voice behind a veil
declares that the sought way is neither here nor there.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:7
label: Prayer for the tavern-bound heart
summary: The speaker asks God to pity the imprisoned heart and pardon the feet and
hand associated with tavern-going and the cup.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Wisdom counsel on impermanence and contentment
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The quatrains repeatedly instruct the addressee to accept the fleeting world,
avoid anxiety over past and future, and live contentedly.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: This is a wisdom-counsel pattern rather than a narrative episode.
- id: motif:2
label: Divine beloved associated with wine and the cup
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_beloved
basis: The beloved, friend, or mistress is explicitly glossed as God/Divinity in
several places and is linked with the face, cup, wine, and love.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The divine identification comes through bracketed glosses in the supplied
passage.
- id: motif:3
label: Mystical quest redirected beyond ordinary alternatives
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
basis: The passage depicts seekers moving between belief, faith, doubt, and certainty,
then a hidden voice says the sought way is neither here nor there.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives a condensed aphoristic scene, not a full quest narrative.
- id: motif:4
label: Unity of cosmos and living body
taxonomy_refs:
- annihilation_union
basis: The passage presents justice, universe, angels, heavens, and creatures as
components of one eternal unity.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The wording supports unity, but not an explicit account of annihilation
of the self.
- id: motif:5
label: Dual alternatives and uncertainty
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The passage contrasts belief and doubt, certainty and uncertainty, here and
there, lovers and hypocrites, Hell and Paradise, and the two cosmic bulls above
and below.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The contrasts are aphoristic and satirical; they do not form a single
dualist doctrine in the passage.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 14052-14066; quatrain 326 and preceding quatrain
quote_or_summary: The speaker urges leaving fleeting worldly cares, being joyful,
and remaining a peaceful spectator under the Wheel of Heaven.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 14068-14074; quatrain 327
quote_or_summary: The speaker says to follow Khayyam's counsel, please drinkers,
reject prayer and fasting as bases, drink wine, and do good.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 14076-14082; quatrain 328
quote_or_summary: "“Justice is the soul of the universe, the universe is the body”;
the passage continues with angels, heavens, creatures, and “the eternal unity.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 14084-14093; quatrain 329
quote_or_summary: In the tavern, the object of the speaker's heart, glossed as God,
presents a cup and tells the speaker to drink for love.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 14103-14125; quatrains 331-333
quote_or_summary: Sages see little agreeable in the dusty world except wine and
beautiful faces; the speaker describes tears, a blood-filled heart like a flask,
and sitting with a friend and rose-colored wine beside a brook at dawn.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 14127-14158; quatrains 334-337
quote_or_summary: The speaker advises forgetting the past, not worrying about tomorrow,
notes the abandonment of earthly goods, describes a man outside religious categories,
and reports a voice behind a veil saying the sought way is neither here nor there.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 14160-14167; quatrain 338
quote_or_summary: A bull called Parwin or Pleiades is said to hang in the heavens,
another bull lies under the earth, and a herd of asses is placed between them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 14169-14201; quatrains 339-342
quote_or_summary: The speaker justifies wine by the face of the friend glossed as
God and the morning cup, imagines remaking the world, describes the heart intoxicated
by the well-beloved, and contrasts lovers and drinkers with Hell and Paradise.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 14203-14243; quatrains 343-347
quote_or_summary: The passage says no one who appears in the world returns; names
wine, a beloved mistress glossed as Divinity, and repose; criticizes false devotion;
and asks God to pity the imprisoned heart and pardon the feet going to the tavern
and the hand seizing the cup.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary only.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Extraction is based directly on the supplied English passage. Motif assignments
are candidate-level because the passage is aphoristic and uses editorial bracketed
glosses for some divine identifications. No external comparison claims were added.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Used only the provided passage and metadata. Taxonomy references are limited to supplied motif families and symbols.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg__l14052-l14243
passage_sha256=0805ded8477d84ccc26fa4a1912f5d8d9bc6d7b851169371ec88155272c64cf2