batch.motif.sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg-l2932-l2956
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg-l2932-l2956
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
passage_locator:
label: XXXI. / XXXII. / XXXIV. / XXXV.; lines 2932-2956
start: '2932'
end: '2956'
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: "“Drink!--for, once dead, you never shall return.”"
summary: The speaker leans or presses his lips to an earthen urn or jar to learn
the secret of life. The vessel answers by whispering an injunction to drink wine,
because after death there is no return to this world. The passage notes a related
mystic and doctrinal quatrain containing the same injunction.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The speaker leans to the lip of a poor earthen urn to learn the secret of
his life.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: In the alternative translation, the speaker presses his lips to the lip of
a jar in great desire to ask how long life might be attained.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The urn or jar is described as joining lip to lip with the speaker and whispering.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The vessel’s spoken message is an injunction to drink wine.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The vessel’s reason for the injunction is that once dead, the addressee will
not return to this world.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: The passage identifies another quatrain, C. 489, as containing the same injunction.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: speaker
description: A first-person speaker who seeks the secret of life by approaching
the lip of an earthen urn or jar.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: earthen urn or jar
description: A poor earthen urn, also described as a jar, whose lip meets the speaker’s
lip and which whispers an answer.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
roles:
- id: role:1
label: seeker of life’s secret
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker approaches the urn or jar to learn the secret of life or to ask
how long life may be attained.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: speaking vessel and instructor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The urn or jar is personified as whispering the instruction to drink wine
and stating that there is no return after death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: earthen urn or jar
literal_form: poor earthen urn / jar
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: wine
literal_form: wine named in the injunction to drink
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: lip-to-lip contact
literal_form: the speaker’s lip pressed or joined to the vessel’s lip
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: non-return after death
literal_form: statement that once dead, the addressee never returns / returns not
to this world
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Inquiry at the earthen vessel
summary: The speaker approaches the lip of an earthen urn or jar in order to learn
the secret of life or how long life may be attained.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Whispered injunction to drink
summary: The vessel responds by joining lip to lip with the speaker and whispering
that he should drink wine because after death there is no return.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Related quatrain with same injunction
summary: The commentary cites C. 489 as a mystic and doctrinal quatrain with the
same instruction to drink wine and the same assertion that there is no returning
after departure.
figure_refs: []
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: speaking vessel gives wisdom about mortality
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: A personified earthen urn or jar answers the speaker’s inquiry about life
with a whispered teaching about drinking wine and the finality of death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference to wisdom is broad; the passage presents instruction,
but does not name a formal wisdom figure or tradition.
- id: motif:2
label: no return after death
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The quatrain and its cited parallel state that once dead or gone, the addressee
does not return to this world.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: This motif is phrased from the passage itself and is not mapped to a supplied
afterlife or resurrection taxonomy category because the passage emphasizes non-return
rather than a journey or resurrection.
- id: motif:3
label: drink wine in response to mortality
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The vessel and the related quatrain both command drinking wine on the grounds
that life is finite and there is no return after death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The passage identifies C. 489 as mystic and doctrinal, but the extracted
motif remains at the literal passage level without expanding the doctrinal interpretation.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: 'The passage commentary states that quatrain C. 489 contains the same injunction
as XXXV: drink wine, because there is no returning after one is gone.'
claim_level: same_function
target: C. 489, described as a mystic and doctrinal quatrain
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:1
- ev:2
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is limited to the commentary’s stated similarity of
injunction; no broader historical or doctrinal relationship is established in
the supplied passage.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 2932-2936, XXXV
quote_or_summary: The speaker leans to the lip of a poor earthen urn to learn the
secret of life; it murmurs, “While you live, / Drink!--for, once dead, you never
shall return.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 2938-2944, translation from O. 100
quote_or_summary: In the cited translation from O. 100, the speaker presses his
lips to the lip of the jar to ask how long life might be attained; the jar joins
its lip to his and whispers to drink wine because he will not return to this world.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 2951-2956, note on C. 489
quote_or_summary: 'The note says C. 489 is “a mystic and doctrinal quatrain containing
the same injunction,” followed by: “Drink wine! ... There is no returning for
you; when you are gone, you are gone!”'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: Literal extraction is straightforward. Motif mapping is cautious because
the passage’s imagery is compact and only one broad supplied taxonomy reference,
wisdom, is directly supportable.
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 text and metadata. No external Khayyam or Sufi interpretation has been added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg__l2932-l2956
passage_sha256=d6936e837096c3f59d2012cc10f2349d43c9c4fbfb311990b25246bcdd256fe8