# LXXXIII explained — The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

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

## What happens

The chapter presents an allegory of vessels of various shapes and sizes, some talkative and some silent, suggesting a reflection on the diversity of human beings and their varying dispositions.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Potter and Clay Metaphor

The imagery of vessels of different shapes and sizes evokes the potter and clay metaphor, symbolizing the diversity of human forms and temperaments.

## Key lines

> Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small, That stood along the floor and by the wall; And some loquacious Vessels were; and some Listen’d perhaps, but never talk’d at all.

There were vessels of every kind, large and small, placed around the room; some were chatty, while others remained silent listeners.

_This verse uses the metaphor of vessels to comment on human diversity and the spectrum of talkativeness and reticence._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_rub_iy_t_of_omar_khayy_m_se/chapters/lxxxiii
- 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