# XV explained — The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

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

## What happens

This quatrain reflects on the futility of worldly wealth and accumulation, suggesting that both the miserly and the spendthrift meet the same end in death, where their earthly riches are of no use.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Transience

The poem contrasts the hoarding and squandering of grain with the inevitable decay of the body, emphasizing that all wealth is lost in death.

### Skepticism and Doubt

The final line questions the value of earthly pursuits, implying that the dead are never recovered, casting doubt on the purpose of material accumulation.

## Key lines

> And those who husbanded the Golden grain, And those who flung it to the winds like Rain, Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn’d As, buried once, Men want dug up again.

Both the careful savers of gold and the reckless spenders alike are turned into ordinary earth after death, not into precious gold that anyone would want to dig up.

_This paraphrase highlights the equalizing power of death and the futility of wealth._

## Links

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