Penny Dreadfuls, 1900 · page 33 of 142
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and the Salaman and Absal of Jami — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This is a page of running prose poetry from what appears to be a Victorian edition of *The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam*. The page displays four numbered quatrains (XXIV–XXVII) presenting meditations on mortality, the futility of seeking religious or philosophical answers, and the inevitability of death. The verses emphasize themes of earthly pleasure before death, the meaninglessness of competing worldly and spiritual concerns, and the speaker's youthful pursuit of wisdom that ultimately yielded no answers. The ornamental border and classical typography suggest this is from a carefully produced Victorian literary edition rather than sensational penny dreadful content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OMAR KHAYYAM. ad mi XXIV. Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, - Before we too into the Dust descend ; 7 Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and—sans End ! XXV. Alike for those who for To-pay prepare, And those that after some To-morrow stare, A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, “ Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.” XXVI. Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss’d Of the Two Worlds so wisely—they are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn Are scatter’d, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. XXVII. Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by the same door where in I went. COMmICcooOoks. conn