Omar Khayyam's quatrain 69 from the Rubaiyat reads:
But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays
Upon this Checker-board of Nights and Days;
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays.
Let's first discuss Khayyam's quatrain. What is he suggesting? You may want to become acquainted with Khayyam--his poetry, his contributions to society, and his famous poetry.
Second, do you agree with Khayyam's view? Why or why not?
19 comments:
I think he Khayyam is suggesting that life is but a game and we are all game pieces. I think the 'He', that is being referred to is God, or some higher power, because 'He' is capitalized and only a 'higher power' would have the power and authority to move around and manipulate the little game pieces (people just like you and I) Simply put, life is only a game and we are just pawns.
i think that Khayyam is saying that we are all part of a big game and that he who has the most power will be in control of all the pieces.
Omar Khayyam's work seems to be very intelligent. He was known as a great mathmetician and also a writer. I found a lot of symbolism within "The Great Chessmaster 2009." I think Khayyam is saying that life is like a big game of chess. Sometimes we get to king others and rule, while other times, we are the ones being jumped.
I don't think he is talking about god. I think he is just saying there is always a person in power and that person controls everyone else. The people who aren't in power have no choice or free will. They might like to think they do but really everyone is just used to better the people in power.
upon research of Omar it said that he was an athesist. i believe this quatrain is about how his God has all the power while all the people he rules are helpless. he is rebeling against Him by even writing this quatrain, bu giving a voice to the people.
I disagree that khayyam is refering to God controlling the pieces I think he is refering to a leader, pehaps a general sending troops to war because khayyam's belief in religion is questionable, but I believe that the reference to the "closet" at the end suggests that the pieces that "die" are in the closet nothing more, no afterlife.
I found that Khayyam's poem really does have the strong inner knowelegde of how the game of life is played. This kin of sounds like a little Marxism to me.
I think that this quatrain is directly related with Khayyam being aetheist. After researching him, it is possible that Khayyam is an aetheist because that is the way he believes God works- that it's all a game to him. Khayyam probably believed that the idea of God is the idea of someone using us as toys, killing, exploiting, and using us. According to this quatrain, every day and night we are alive, we are nothing more than mere game pieces.
I think that Khayyam was suggesting that all the people are just pawns on a checker-board, “helpless Pieces of the Game He plays”. In addition, that every move you take is like the moves on a checker-board. They all help create how the game will end “Checker-board of Nights and Days”. Then the line “And one by one back in the Closet lays” could mean that at the end of the day everyone has secrets in their closets.
In some ways, I agree with Khayyam. We may all be “helpless pieces” on a game board. And that every move is our days and nights. I also agree that that every move we make may give us skeletons that lay quietly in the back of our closets.
By My haven not WorldUnCn
Khayyam was a mathematican and was very smart, i think by using the chess board he is pointing out that like if full of decision, some good some bad. with in life you hove to be one step of your enemy, appoint, to accomplish your mission.
I think that he is saying everyone wants to outlive than others, but no one can beat the fate which can stay away from die.
I think that he is reffering to some higher power but not neccesarily god. I thought his choice of using the word throw is another reference to the controling tone of the poem.
i lied there is no throw in the poem. sorry :(
▲that guy is brilliant▲, at least he corrected himself. i agree that poem would be more marxist than religous. the people with the power would be the ones playing the game, rulers of some sort. and everyone else is simply pieces they move at whim. kinda repetitive of other posts sorry.
I believe that each chess piece is supposed to represent a different thing in life. I also think that the "He" is referring to God since it is capatalized like some people said. Therefore, this poem is religious and marxist because it refers to God having the higher power.
Yeah, I agree that this poem is about a higher power. The chess game symbolizing all of our lives, and a god having power and all the control over what happens. The use of chess, and the black and white of the game, may suggest this higher power that Khayyam describes is not a traditional all-loving god, but one that operates in pure logic. Think about it.
I believe that the poem does suggest a marxist view to a higher power which could indicate some kind of god or maybe the higher power he was referring to might have been some kind of controlling government because Omar lived during the Seljuq Dynasty in Persia. He was saying that this power controlled the people and moved the pieces to his liking.
I think that he is suggesting that our lives are like chess, a game and we are the pieces. I think it is odd that he is an atheist but he has this view of god as playing the game, almost like playing with our lives. I think it is suggesting that maybe he might have not always been an atheist but something in his life caused him not to believe in god anymore or become angry with god.
As I said in a previous post, I do believe that "He" is referring to God. However, once I concluded that Khayyam may be atheist I reconsidered what this poem truely meant. Khayyam refers to the chess pieces as helpless. I believe in this statement he is trying to say God's people are just part of a game that God plays. God manipulates the chess pieces (poeple) to his liking. However, when a chess piece falls out of line God may put them in a closet. The closet could refer to a place where the pieces serve time for wrong doings that occured on the chess board (meaning earth). Therefore, the closet is more or less like a punishment or some kind of hell. The checks and slays he talks about in the poem could represent life's betrayals. In an instant another chess piece could jump you putting you out of the game. Kyahham probably believed God is the one to blaim for your hardships.
I partly agree and partly disagree with Khayyam's quatrain because I see God as more than just a "chess player." I believe God does have control of our lives but I also believe some happenings are not in the hands of God. Everything happens for a reason.
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