A Glimmer of Light on the Complicated Khayyam's Rubaiyat: A Step towards a Psychological Analysis of Khayyam's Rubaiyat

Khayyam’s Rubaiyat are among the most fascinating and unknown world literature's masterworks. In an attempt to prepare them for a psychological analysis, his Rubaiyat were examined for their possible attribution to Khayyam and interpretability. To do so, 20 of his Rubaiyat that are commonly believed by the experts to be written by him were selected and psychologically analyzed. First, the unique position of his Rubaiyat in Persian literature was considered. Then, the most controversial issues about his Rubaiyat, namely, his religious, agnosticistic, nihilistic and hedonistic themes, were discussed. In addition, Khayyam's views on two of his important ideas, namely, death and wine, were investigated. Finally, the possibility of a psychological interpretation of his Rubaiyat was explored. As a result, three interpretive models for different analytical perspectives, including the psychological one, were presented. These interpretative models, which were specified to be directive, purposeful, and implied, make the Rubaiyat prone to different psychological interpretations. Since some of the misunderstandings about Khayyam’s Rubaiyat are due to the misguided attempts to interpret them from perspectives not necessarily relevant to his ideas, these interpretive models could be quite helpful.