# LXV explained — The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

> Chapter companion for The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Omar Khayyám.

## What happens

The chapter reflects on the revelations of devout and learned figures from the past, who burned as prophets but are now merely stories told from a dream, returning to sleep.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Transience

The prophets' stories are fleeting, like a dream from which one awakens and returns to sleep.

### Skepticism and Doubt

Questions the lasting truth of devout revelations, reducing them to mere tales.

## Character check-ins

### The Súfi

Implied as one of the devout and learned who rose and burned as prophets.

## Key lines

> The Revelations of Devout and Learn’d Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn’d, Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep, They told their comrades, and to Sleep return’d.

The insights of holy and wise people from earlier times, who shone like prophets, are nothing more than tales they shared after waking from a dream, and then they went back to sleep.

_Highlights the ephemeral and possibly illusory nature of prophetic knowledge._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rub_iy_t_of_omar_khayy_m_se/chapters/lxv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rub_iy_t_of_omar_khayy_m_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rub_iy_t_of_omar_khayy_m_se/chapters