Penny Dreadfuls, 1900 · page 44 of 142
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and the Salaman and Absal of Jami — page 44: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is a text page from what appears to be a Victorian edition of *The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam*, presenting four consecutive quatrains (LXVIII-LXXI) in English verse translation. The page contains running poetry with no illustrations, employing decorative floral border elements typical of Victorian publishing. The verses use extended metaphors—comparing human existence to shadow-shapes in a magical lantern show, chess pieces in a game, and a ball struck by a player—while concluding with the famous lines about the Moving Finger that writes fate and cannot be undone. This is clearly extracted literary content rather than a sensational penny dreadful narrative.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
18 RUBAIYAT OF ee ee — ——o— = — er LXVIII. We are no other than a moving row Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go Round with the Sun-illumin’d Lantern held In Midnight by the Master of the Show ; LXIX. But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days; Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays. LXX. The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Here or There as strikes the Player goes ; And He that toss’d you down into the Field, He knows about it all—yE knows—HE knows! LXXI. The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. y~ > ; i ee a ns ie , CORNICLOO