# XCI explained — The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

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

## What happens

The speaker requests that his fading life be sustained with wine (the Grape), and that after death his body be washed and buried in a living leaf shroud by a garden-side, suggesting a desire for a natural, life-affirming end.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Transience

The chapter directly addresses the speaker's fading life and the preparation for death.

### Hedonism and Wine

Wine (the Grape) is invoked as a sustaining force even in the face of death.

## Character check-ins

### Omar Khayyám

The speaker of the quatrain, expressing a personal wish for his own death and burial.

## Key lines

> Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, And wash the Body whence the Life has died, And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf, By some not unfrequented Garden-side.

Please sustain my declining life with wine, and after I die, wash my body and bury me wrapped in a fresh leaf, in a garden where people sometimes pass by.

_The speaker requests a burial that incorporates wine and living nature, emphasizing a connection to life even in death._

## Links

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