batch.motif.sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg-l1826-l1921
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg-l1826-l1921
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
passage_locator:
label: EDWARD FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION / OF THE / QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM / PREFACE;
lines 1826-1921
start: '1826'
end: '1921'
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: In the preface to an analysis of Edward FitzGerald's translation of Omar
Khayyam's quatrains, Edward Heron-Allen states that the volume aims to settle
how far FitzGerald's poem is translation, adaptation, or original composition.
He recounts the manuscript and printed sources associated with FitzGerald, including
the Ouseley manuscript, a Calcutta manuscript, Cowell's copies, and a rare Calcutta
printed edition. The passage narrates the loss of the Calcutta manuscript, the
copying of Cowell's difficult copy, the search for the printed edition, its discovery
in a Calcutta bazar, and an unresolved question about whether certain quatrains
moved between a manuscript margin and the printed book.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The volume is described as compiled to settle whether FitzGerald's poem should
be regarded as translation, adaptation, or original work.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The author says he has previously discussed the history of FitzGerald's poem
and the Oriental works whose influence is traceable in it.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The passage says a short history of FitzGerald's major materials is needed
because the translation/adaptation/original-composition question had remained
open for argument.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The Ouseley manuscript is named as one of the sources connected with FitzGerald's
poem.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Prof. Cowell is said to have made a copy of the Ouseley manuscript for FitzGerald
before going to India in August 1856.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: Cowell is quoted as saying he obtained for FitzGerald a copy from the Bengal
Asiatic Society's manuscript at Calcutta and later sent him a rare Calcutta printed
edition obtained from his Munshi.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: The author states that full knowledge of FitzGerald's materials required consulting
the Calcutta manuscript, the Calcutta printed edition of 1836, and the Ouseley
manuscript line by line and word by word.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: The Calcutta manuscript was found to be lost, stolen, or strayed, leaving
Cowell's copy as the only remaining record of that portion of the material.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: Cowell's copy was sent to India and copied by a good writer; another copy
was made to replace the stolen copy.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: After extensive unsuccessful searching, a clerk of Mr. Pringle found the rare
Calcutta printed edition in a Calcutta bazar.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:11
text: The printed edition is said to be evidently printed from the lost Calcutta
manuscript itself, with readings and sequence matching.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:12
text: Some quatrains omitted from the main printed sequence are said to be added
in an appendix, with a printer's note explaining that they were found in a bayaz
and appended because of their antinomian tendency.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:13
text: The author leaves unresolved whether the appended quatrains came from the
manuscript margins into the book or were copied from the book onto the manuscript
margins between 1836 and 1856.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Edward Heron-Allen
description: Named author of the analysis and first-person compiler/investigator
in the preface.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Edward FitzGerald
description: Translator or poet whose poem and source materials are under examination.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Prof. Cowell
description: Scholar who copied or procured manuscript and printed materials for
FitzGerald and later placed his copy at the author's disposal.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Mr. Aldis Wright
description: FitzGerald's editor, quoted as saying FitzGerald took great liberties
with the original.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Mr. A. T. Pringle
description: Director of Indian Records in the Home Department at Calcutta, contacted
about reproducing or copying the Calcutta manuscript.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Mr. Pringle's clerk
description: Unnamed clerk who found a copy of the rare Calcutta printed edition
in the Calcutta bazar.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Munshi
description: Cowell's Munshi, from whom Cowell obtained the rare Calcutta printed
edition.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: compiler and textual investigator
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage states the volume was compiled for a textual question and narrates
the author's searches, correspondence, and comparisons.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:2
label: poet-translator under examination
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The passage asks whether FitzGerald's poem is translation, adaptation, or
original composition and discusses his source materials.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: source-provider and manuscript intermediary
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Cowell copied the Ouseley manuscript, obtained another manuscript copy, sent
a printed edition, and supplied his own copy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: editorial witness
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Aldis Wright is cited for the statement that FitzGerald took great liberties
with the original.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: archival correspondent and search facilitator
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Pringle was contacted to obtain a photographic reproduction or clean copy
and his circle is connected with the later discovery.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: finder of rare printed book
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The clerk is said to have picked up the long-sought book in the Calcutta
bazar.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: supplier of printed edition to Cowell
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Cowell says he obtained the rare Calcutta printed edition from his Munshi.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Ouseley manuscript
literal_form: manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: Calcutta manuscript
literal_form: manuscript No. 1548 in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Library at Calcutta
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: sym:3
label: Cowell's copy
literal_form: copy of the Calcutta manuscript made by an inferior scribe in a difficult
hand
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:4
label: rare Calcutta printed edition
literal_form: printed edition from type at Calcutta in 1836
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: sym:5
label: bayaz
literal_form: book of extracts named as the source for appended quatrains in the
printer's note
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:6
label: diwan order
literal_form: alphabetical order in a diwan, contrasted with appendix placement
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:7
label: penny box oblivion
literal_form: the penny box from which the poem is said to have been rescued in
a familiar anecdote
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Statement of purpose
summary: The preface states that the volume aims to settle the relation between
FitzGerald's poem and its Persian originals as translation, adaptation, or original
work.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Background and earlier scholarship
summary: The author refers to his prior work on the Ouseley manuscript and on Oriental
influences, and explains why a short history of the source materials is needed.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Transmission of source materials
summary: Cowell supplies or procures copies of the Ouseley manuscript, the Calcutta
manuscript, and a rare Calcutta printed edition for FitzGerald.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Lost manuscript and replacement copying
summary: The Calcutta manuscript cannot be found, Cowell's copy becomes the only
record of it, and the author sends that copy to India to have it copied.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:5
label: Discovery of the rare printed edition
summary: After searches in European and Indian libraries fail, an unnamed clerk
finds the rare 1836 Calcutta printed edition in a Calcutta bazar.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:6
label: Comparison of printed edition and lost manuscript
summary: The author concludes the printed edition appears to derive from the lost
manuscript and discusses an unresolved question about appended quatrains and manuscript
margins.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: quest for lost textual wisdom
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage narrates a sustained search for manuscripts and a rare printed
book needed to determine the relation between a poem and Persian source texts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a scholarly-literary preface rather than a mythic narrative; the
'quest' label is an analytic pattern, not a term used by the passage.
- id: motif:2
label: lost source preserved through copies
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Calcutta manuscript is lost, stolen, or strayed, but Cowell's copy remains
as the only record and is copied again in India.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage concerns manuscript transmission; no sacred or mythic status
is explicitly assigned to the manuscript.
- id: motif:3
label: recovery from oblivion
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage refers to FitzGerald's poem being rescued from the oblivion of
the penny box and later subjected to source-critical analysis.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: low
cautions: The phrase occurs as a literary anecdote, not as a developed symbolic
motif in the passage.
- id: motif:4
label: uncertain origin of transmitted sayings
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The author frames an unresolved problem about whether certain quatrains passed
from manuscript margins into the printed book or from the printed book into manuscript
margins.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a textual-critical uncertainty, not a mythological origin story.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage supports a source-critical comparison between FitzGerald's poem
and Persian manuscript or printed originals to decide whether the poem functions
as translation, adaptation, or original composition.
claim_level: linguistic_similarity
target: FitzGerald's poem compared with Persian originals, including the Ouseley
manuscript, Calcutta manuscript, and 1836 Calcutta printed edition
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The preface describes the comparison project but does not present the
line-by-line results within this passage.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage supports a cautious comparison between the lost Calcutta manuscript
and the 1836 Calcutta printed edition, stating that the printed edition appears
to follow the manuscript's readings and sequence.
claim_level: linguistic_similarity
target: lost Calcutta manuscript and 1836 Calcutta printed edition
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: medium
limitations: The manuscript is unavailable, and the passage itself notes an unresolved
question about the direction of transmission for marginal or appended quatrains.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 1826-1840
quote_or_summary: The title identifies Edward Heron-Allen's analysis of FitzGerald's
translation; the preface says the volume was compiled to settle how far FitzGerald's
poem is translation, adaptation, or original work.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short summary only.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1841-1861
quote_or_summary: The author refers to previous discussion of the Ouseley manuscript,
the history of FitzGerald's poem, and Oriental influences, and says a short history
of the major materials is necessary after the poem was rescued from 'the oblivion
of the penny box.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; brief phrase quoted.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 1862-1871
quote_or_summary: The influence of the Ouseley manuscript is set aside except for
parallels, while doubts about FitzGerald's 'great liberties with the original'
are tied to the vicissitudes of his remaining materials.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; brief phrase quoted.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 1871-1881
quote_or_summary: Cowell made a copy of the Ouseley manuscript for FitzGerald before
India, later obtained a copy from the Bengal Asiatic Society's Calcutta manuscript,
and sent a rare Calcutta printed edition obtained from his Munshi.
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 1881-1888
quote_or_summary: The author says the Calcutta manuscript, the Calcutta printed
edition of 1836, and the Ouseley manuscript had to be consulted 'line by line,
and word by word' to understand FitzGerald's actual materials.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; brief phrase quoted.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 1888-1902
quote_or_summary: Cowell supplied his difficult copy of the Calcutta manuscript;
after enquiries the original manuscript was found to be lost, stolen, or strayed,
so Cowell's copy was sent to India and copied by a good writer.
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 1903-1912
quote_or_summary: After the author searched many European and Indian libraries in
vain and suspected confusion with a lithographed edition, one of Pringle's clerks
found the long-sought 1836 Calcutta printed book in the Calcutta bazar.
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 1912-1918
quote_or_summary: The printed edition is said to be evidently printed from the lost
Calcutta manuscript, with matching readings and sequence; omitted quatrains are
mostly added in an appendix from a bayaz, according to a printer's note.
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 1918-1921
quote_or_summary: The author raises but cannot solve whether the appended quatrains
were printed from manuscript margins or later written onto the manuscript margins
from the printed book between 1836 and 1856.
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: medium
notes: Literal textual and historical data are explicit. Motif candidates are interpretive
because the passage is a scholarly preface rather than a mythic narrative; comparison
claims are limited to source-critical comparison described in the passage.
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 supplied passage and metadata. No external taxonomy identifiers beyond the provided available motif family reference 'wisdom' were added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg__l1826-l1921
passage_sha256=907434b0bbef3da56013231d775ba066bc5bd5619fd935176023d3774ae721b7