Illustrated Rubaiyat

[Yugoboy]

The haiga collaboration I started a month or so ago was just a warm-up. I knew about the upgrade to come and didn't want to interfere with that.

But now the remodeling is well under way, and I'm ready to get this idea underway (I've been sitting on it for a few months).

I've started a blog here: http://rubaiyatonline.blogspot.com/ where I will be posting the entire text of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (the Fitzgerald translation which is public domain). I'd like to throw open the doors to anyone who wants to illustrate any of the quatrains to please just post the quatrain and image in this thread, and I'll move it over to the blog.

It's a little late tonight for me to get the blog any further along, but I just got it set up and wanted to at least tease the idea.

The inspiration for this came from the fact that somehow I've become some sort of collector of illustrated editions by total accident. I've got a couple nice ones (one's supposedly worth $120... I got it for $12) but thought my buddies and folk here could do at least as nice a job.

Illustrations do not have to have a direct relationship to the text. If you're inspired to go off on a tangent, but were inspired by a quatrain... terrific! Also, straight-up photos will be accepted as well, as long as they were taken by you and you feel strongly that it fits the quatrain.

Hopefully I'll have it a little more underway tomorrow.

EDIT: Second edit: Feel free to peruse the poem and post your quatrain and image to this thread. I'll be uploading each quatrain as its own post and putting them in order. Therefore, if you want an image to show up soon, do a low number quatrain. If there's a specific one you want to do, post it here (with the number) and I'll insert it when I get to that one (shouldn't take me more than a week to get it all up, but life can get in the way).
FWIW - I'm using the first translation version (there are 3).

[Yugoboy]

I was planning on creating an opening image or two to get us started on this.
Unfotunately, last night my computer refused to turn on. Actually, it's not the computer, it's the power to the computer. It actually would turn on, but the battery's so old I'd get about 10 minutes out of it, and the cable won't charge (for the moment).
That's not your problem.
The point is that I won't be updating the blog for a day or two, but I'd love to see a couple things here so I can move them over and get some movement.
I promise I'll be playing with this as soon as my computer issues are resolved.

(Got a bitchin' image in my head for Quatrain 1... don't know if source images will be available, or if I can make it work... sometimes the easy-seeming ones just don't play well when they go from brain to screen)

[ElectronChaser]

I have been reading through these and honestly cant make heads or tails of most of it. Literature is not a strong point of mine.

[Yugoboy]

(03-08-2011 03:16 PM)ElectronChaser Wrote:  I have been reading through these and honestly cant make heads or tails of most of it. Literature is not a strong point of mine.

It's poetry translated from Arabic. The culture is Muslim, but as you can tell from some of the verses, it was a more open-minded liberal Muslim, much like what was in Cordoba in the 1200s-1300s.
The imagery is really potent in places and the Rubaiyat really lends itself to illustration.
If you go to the entire book on Gutenberg, there's an introduction that might help. Seriously, about half the book (and 60-70% of the words) is Fitzgerald's introduction.

Like I said above, if a quatrain inspires you in any way, go with it. You don't have to illustrate an entire quatrain's imagery. If one line, or one word gets you 'shoppin' that's cool...

[johnebones]

"Oh Thou who burn'st in Heart for those who burn

In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn;

How long be crying, 'Mercy on them, God!'

Why, who art Thou to teach, and He to learn?"


This one sounds interesting.

[Yugoboy]

I've posted my first image. I'm not entirely sold on the image, but I wanted to get the ball rolling.
Something about the sunrise element isn't quite "right", but it's late and I gotta work in the morning...

I hope to make this a going concern once the tourney is well and truly over...

[HoboSong]

Quatrain III

"And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted—'Open then the Door!
We are the Cock crew. Open the door or we
shall open it with our members. No mere portal
shall block our anatomy. May many a Trojan lie
wasted at our grundle.'"

[DonWrite]

Is this project still in the works? I just found this collaboration forum, and it looks like a swell place. Quatrain VI looks pretty red to me. I'm thinking I may have an idea or something.