batch.motif.sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg-l8978-l9207
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg-l8978-l9207
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
passage_locator:
label: E.H. WHINFIELD, M.A. / INTRODUCTION / E.H. WHINFIELD / QUATRAINS OF OMAR
KHAYYAM; lines 8978-9207
start: '8978'
end: '9207'
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 presents a speaker repeatedly turning to wine,
taverns, cups, and wine-jars while rejecting reputation, sectarian labels, worldly
favors, and formal piety. The passage personifies the world, fate, and death;
addresses Allah or a divine Thou for mercy or grace; reflects on clay, dust, human
mortality, judgment-day, Being and Not-being, and humanity as the signet of the
circle of existence.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The speaker says the world is a murderer and wine is its blood, and proposes
consuming that blood.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The speaker vows to cast away repute for a divine addressee and says he will
bear a penalty until judgment-day.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The speaker describes Death treading him down, plucking his feathers, draining
his lifeblood, and asks to be moulded into a wine-cup after death.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The speaker imagines the scent of wine in a cup made from his remains causing
him to breathe again.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: On Kadr's feast, the speaker says he will embrace the wine-jar, kiss its lip,
and clasp it to his breast.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The speaker claims knowledge of what is and is not, and of things above and
below, but says he would renounce this lore if a higher grade than drink could
be shown.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The speaker says the wine-jar's lip is made a place of prayer and that lessons
of true manhood are drunk there.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The speaker says life may be passed in taverns in order to repair time mis-spent
in mosques.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: Humanity is described as the whole creation's summary, the precious apple
of wisdom's eye, and the signet of the ring of existence.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: The speaker says people aspire to heaven, but when the fleshly clog drops,
it is seen that they come from dust and return to dust.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: At dawn the speaker goes to tavern haunts, spends the day with distraught
Kalendars, and asks the knower of secret and known things for grace to learn to
pray.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:12
text: The speaker is depicted with a Koran in one hand and a wine-cup in the other,
half inclined to wrong and half to right.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:13
text: Mankind is described as moulded of clay, specifically affliction's clay, kneaded
in distress, tasting the world briefly and then passing away.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:14
text: The speaker appeals to divine mercy, citing the divine statement of help in
time of need and presenting himself as especially needy.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: speaker
description: First-person voice of the quatrains; a self-described wine-drinker
who rejects repute, asks for mercy or grace, and reflects on death and existence.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:12
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: world
description: Personified as a murderer and elsewhere treated as false, grievous,
and unsatisfying.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:11
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Death
description: Personified as treading the speaker down, plucking feathers, and draining
lifeblood.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Allah / divine Thou
description: Addressed as one who may grant penitence, mercy, help, and grace; also
associated with judgment-day in the speaker's address.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:9
- ev:12
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: mankind / humanity
description: Described as moulded of clay and distress, briefly tasting the world,
and as the signet of the ring of existence.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:11
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Kalendars
description: Distraught companions with whom the speaker spends the day in tavern
haunts.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: sects
description: Groups that miscall the speaker, though he says he does not heed them.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: azure-marbled sky
description: The sky looks down on the speaker as a sorry Moslem, yet not quite
heathen.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: wine-drinking first-person seeker
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker repeatedly chooses wine, cup, wine-jar, and tavern settings while
also asking for prayer and mercy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:12
- id: role:2
label: renouncer of reputation and worldly approval
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker vows to cast repute away and breaks or rejects good repute and
sectarian labels.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:13
- id: role:3
label: mortality-reflecting sufferer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker reflects on death, bodily dissolution, grief, dust, and return
to dust.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- ev:11
- id: role:4
label: personified adversarial world
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The world is directly called a murderer whose blood is wine.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:5
label: personified destroyer
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Death is described as actively treading, plucking, and draining the speaker.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: divine addressee and mercy-granter
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The speaker addresses a divine Thou, invokes judgment-day, and asks for mercy,
help, and grace.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:9
- ev:12
- id: role:7
label: microcosmic humanity
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Humanity is called the summary of creation and signet of the circle of existence;
a note glosses this as man the microcosm.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: tavern companions
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Kalendars are named as those with whom the speaker passes the day in tavern
haunts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:9
label: social or religious classifiers
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The sects are said to miscall the speaker, who ignores them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: role:10
label: cosmic witness
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The sky looks down upon the speaker's divided state between Moslem and heathen.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: wine
literal_form: rosy wine, bright wine, wine in cups and jars
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:10
- id: sym:2
label: wine-cup
literal_form: cup filled with wine; wine-cup held in one hand
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:10
- id: sym:3
label: wine-jar
literal_form: wine-jar with lip and neck, embraced and used as a place of prayer
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: sym:4
label: Koran
literal_form: Koran held in one hand
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:5
label: clay and dust
literal_form: mankind moulded of clay; humans coming from dust and returning to
dust
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:11
- id: sym:6
label: circle, ring, and signet
literal_form: circle of existence as a ring, with humanity as its signet
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:7
label: tavern and mosque contrast
literal_form: tavern haunts, taverns, mosques, and place of prayer at the wine-jar's
lip
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:9
- id: sym:8
label: judgment-day
literal_form: the judgment-day named as the limit of the speaker's endurance
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:9
label: Kadr's feast
literal_form: Kadr, the night of power, named in relation to drinking and the wine-jar
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Consuming the murderer's blood
summary: The speaker frames the world as a murderer and wine as that murderer's
blood, choosing wine rather than allowing fate's annoyances to consume peace.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Vow before judgment-day
summary: The speaker vows to abandon repute for a divine addressee, accepts a penalty
if he shrinks, and extends the endurance of that penalty to judgment-day.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Death, cup-making, and possible breath
summary: Death destroys the speaker's body; the speaker asks to be moulded into
a cup and filled with wine so that the wine's scent may make him breathe again.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Wine-jar devotion on Kadr
summary: On Kadr's feast the speaker says he will drink, embrace the wine-jar's
neck, kiss its lip, and clasp it to his breast.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Tavern as prayer-place
summary: The speaker makes the wine-jar's lip a place of prayer, drinks lessons
there, and presents tavern life as repairing time mis-spent in mosques.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:6
label: Humanity in the ring of existence
summary: Humanity is described as creation's summary and the signet of the ring
or circle of existence.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:7
label: Divided religious posture
summary: The speaker stands with Koran in one hand and wine-cup in the other, half
inclined to wrong and half to right, under the gaze of the sky.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: death transformed into vessel and possible renewed breath
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
basis: The speaker imagines being killed by Death, moulded into a wine-cup, filled
with wine, and perhaps breathing again through wine's scent.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage imagines revival as a poetic possibility, not a full narrative
resurrection.
- id: motif:2
label: judgment-day endurance before divine addressee
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The speaker explicitly names judgment-day while vowing endurance before a
divine Thou.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The passage does not narrate an actual judgment scene.
- id: motif:3
label: divine mercy for the needy sinner
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The speaker invokes divine mercy and help in time of need after claiming
sinfulness or neediness.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
confidence: medium
cautions: The emphasis is appeal for mercy rather than a described court or verdict.
- id: motif:4
label: tavern as inverted sacred place
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
basis: The wine-jar's lip is called a place of prayer, taverns are contrasted with
mosques, and the speaker asks for grace to learn to pray while frequenting tavern
haunts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: A note calls one quatrain probably mystical, but the extraction should
not assume a complete allegorical system.
- id: motif:5
label: wisdom renounced or surpassed by drink
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The speaker claims knowledge of Being and Not-being and of things above and
below, yet says he would renounce such lore if a higher grade than drink were
shown.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The status of drink as literal wine or mystical emblem is not resolved
within the passage.
- id: motif:6
label: humanity as microcosmic signet of existence
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Humanity is described as the summary of creation and the signet of the circle
of existence, with an editorial note stating that man is the microcosm.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy list has no explicit microcosm category; wisdom is the closest
supplied family.
- id: motif:7
label: dust origin and dust return
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
basis: The speaker says that when the fleshly clog drops, humans are seen to have
come from dust and to return to dust.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage stresses mortality and return to dust more than rebirth.
- id: motif:8
label: divided sacred and transgressive implements
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The speaker holds a Koran in one hand and a wine-cup in the other and describes
himself as half inclined to wrong and half to right.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: The duality is ethical and devotional within the speaker's self-description,
not a cosmic dualism.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage itself links the description of humanity as creation's summary
and signet of existence to the microcosm idea by noting, 'Man is the microcosm'
and citing Gulshan i Raz.
claim_level: same_function
target: microcosm teaching in Gulshan i Raz as cited by the note to quatrain 340
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The supplied passage provides only the editorial note and citation,
not the text of Gulshan i Raz, so the comparison cannot be developed further here.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: quatrain 326
quote_or_summary: The speaker says fate's annoyances should not consume peace; instead
wine should be consumed, because the world is a murderer and wine is its blood.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: quatrain 327
quote_or_summary: The speaker vows to cast repute away for a divine Thou, accepts
a penalty if he shrinks, and says he will bear it until judgment-day.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: quatrain 330
quote_or_summary: Death treads the speaker down, plucks his feathers, and drains
his lifeblood; the speaker asks to be moulded into a cup filled with wine, hoping
its scent may make him breathe again.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: quatrain 335 and note
quote_or_summary: On Kadr's feast, glossed as the night of power, the speaker says
he will drink, embrace the wine-jar's neck, kiss its lip, and clasp it to his
breast.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: quatrain 336 and note
quote_or_summary: The speaker claims to know what is and is not, and the lore of
things above and below, but says he would renounce all this if a higher grade
than drink could be shown.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: quatrain 339 and note
quote_or_summary: The speaker makes the wine-jar's lip a place of prayer, drinks
lessons of true manhood there, and passes life in taverns to repair time mis-spent
in mosques; the note says this quatrain is probably mystical.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: quatrain 340 and note
quote_or_summary: Humanity is called the whole creation's summary, the precious
apple of wisdom's eye, and the signet of the circle of existence; the note glosses
this as man the microcosm and cites Gulshan i Raz.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: quatrain 341
quote_or_summary: The speaker says fancies turn heads like wine and aspire to heaven,
but when the fleshly clog drops, it is seen that humans came from dust and return
to dust.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: quatrain 344 and note
quote_or_summary: At dawn the speaker goes to tavern haunts, spends the day with
distraught Kalendars, and asks the knower of secret and known things for grace
to learn to pray.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: quatrain 347 and note
quote_or_summary: The speaker holds a Koran in one hand and a wine-cup in the other,
is half inclined to wrong and half to right, and is seen by the sky as a sorry
Moslem yet not quite heathen.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: quatrain 338
quote_or_summary: The speaker tells confidants that mankind is moulded of clay,
specifically affliction's clay kneaded in distress, tastes the world awhile, and
then passes away.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: quatrain 333
quote_or_summary: The speaker says that even if he had sinned the sins of all mankind,
the divine addressee would incline to mercy and help in time of need, and asks
who is needier than he.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: quatrains 332 and 334
quote_or_summary: The speaker says he will dash to bits the glass of good repute;
later he asks whether he is a wine-bibber, Gueber, or infidel, says each sect
miscalls him, and says he is his own.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:14
type: summary
locator: quatrain 328
quote_or_summary: The speaker says humans stray belated in Being's rondure, with
pride humbled, wearied by the world's griefs and sated with its pleasures.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/sufistic-quatrains-omar-khayyam.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The literal extraction is well supported by the supplied passage. Motif assignments
involving mystical meanings of wine and tavern are cautious because the passage
includes both literal wine imagery and only limited editorial indication that
one quatrain is probably mystical.
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: |-
No taxonomy symbol refs were assigned because the supplied symbol list does not include wine, cup, jar, dust, clay, ring, or book/Koran.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-omar-khayyam-sufistic-quatrains-gutenberg__l8978-l9207
passage_sha256=4a400ba5b9a30e0b40890c0eea7963f0274bed4418c3a61a3136a566f6e1db39