# XLVII explained — The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

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

## What happens

The quatrain reflects on the insignificance of individual human existence in the vast, enduring world, comparing our brief coming and departure to a pebble cast into the sea.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Transience

The poem emphasizes the fleeting nature of life behind the 'Veil' and the long duration of the world after we are gone.

### Skepticism and Doubt

The imagery of the world heeding our coming and departure as little as the sea heeds a pebble-cast suggests a skeptical view of human significance.

## Key lines

> When You and I behind the Veil are past, Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last, Which of our Coming and Departure heeds As the Sea’s self should heed a pebble-cast.

After you and I have passed beyond the veil of death, the world will continue on for an immense time, paying no more attention to our arrival and departure than the sea would notice a single pebble thrown into it.

_This paraphrase captures the theme of human insignificance and the indifference of the universe._

## Links

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