# Medieval poem



## Outsider

Years ago, I came upon a poem by a Byzantine author, whose name I later forgot. All I remember is that it had a melancholic tone, spoke about wine, and contained a verse like:

_But give me wine, and I'll be satisfied_

This is a very crude paraphrasis, I'm sure, but I was wondering whether anyone would be able to recognize the poem and the author.

Any help will be appreciated.


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## konungursvia

It sounds rather like the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam: 

 Wake! for the sun, who scattered into flight
 The stars before him from the field of night
 Drives night along with them from Heav'n and strikes
 The Sultan's turret with a shaft of light.

 ...  Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
 A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse--and Thou
    Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
 And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

 and so on.


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## Outsider

konungursvia said:


> A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse--and Thou
> Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
> And Wilderness is Paradise enow.


Those verses are quite close to the idea of the one I read. 
However, the poet was definitely Greek...


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## ireney

Hmm, you probably are speaking about a poem by Theodore Prodromos usually called "Ptohoprodomos" (poor Prodromos) because of the style of his poems.


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## Outsider

Thank you. I did a brief web search for that name, but did not find anything familiar, unfortunately.

The actual poem is not as decadent as my poor recollection might suggest. Its tone is more melancholic than anything else.


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## Spectre scolaire

If the poem _Outsider_ is searching for, is from the _Rubaiyat_ of Omar Khayan, here is the Greek version of the last quatrain supplied by _konungursvia_:

Εδώ, μ’ένα κομμάτι ψωμί κάτω απ’τη φυλλωσιά,
μ’ένα φλασκί κρασί κι ένα βιβλίο με στίχους
κι Εσένα πλάι μου να τραγουδάς στην ερημιά,
γίνεται η ερημιά παράδεισος.

A _rubaiyat_ is “a collection of quatrains”, the Arabic root of the word being the same as in the number _four_.

But it could as well be Πτωχοπρόδρομος (as suggested by _ireney_).

Could you give us a more substantial hint, _Outsider_? “Πτωχοπρόδρομος” is a large and incoherent poem!
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## konungursvia

What a pleasure to read the learned contributions from you all. My most recent comment is this: whatever the identity of the Byzantine poet, I believe Omar Khayam is the person who invented the "give me wine and I'll be satisfied" genre.  Perhaps Outsider's Greek was himself "borrowing or stealing" from the old Persian.


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## Outsider

That is quite possible. I'm afraid I don't recall much more about the poem, but I think he started by saying he was old (?) and weary.


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## eranger

I'm sure this poem is from Omar Khayan, "Life is but a shadow, a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more...." 
I read it 42 years ago and never forgot a single word although I never found the text in a book again. Can someone tell me where I can find these verses?


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## Kevman

eranger said:


> "Life is but a shadow, a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more...."


That actually isn't medieval, Arabic _or_ Greek.   It's Shakespeare--from Macbeth's famous "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech (Act V, sc. v).


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## GreedyGreen

Kevman said:


> That actually isn't medieval, Arabic _or_ Greek.  It's Shakespeare--from Macbeth's famous "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech.


 
Well, if it's Shakespeare, that does make it fairly Medieval at least - wasn't he writting in the Tudor period?


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## GreedyGreen

GreedyGreen said:


> Well, if it's Shakespeare, that does make it fairly Medieval at least - wasn't he writting in the Tudor period?


 
Actually, sorry Kevman, but _I'm wrong_ there and you are quite right, as a quite google lookup tells me that the medieval period ended at the death of Henry VIII in 1540, so Shakespeare is post-medieval.

Well, I learn something new every day!


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## Outsider

There is no strict date for the end of the Middle Ages. Different authors differ. But most agree that they were over by the end of the 15th century. Shakespeare was part of a wave of Renaissance playrights, probably the greatest of them all.

Thank you all for the new suggestions. However, I am positive that the poem spoke of wine, and that its author was Byzantine. He could, of course, have been inspired by earlier Islamic writers such as Omar Khayyam; in fact, it's quite likely that he was. Could it have been Michael Psellos? Is anyone familiar with his works? Or someone else within a similar time frame, at any rate?


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## eranger

Kevman said:


> That actually isn't medieval, Arabic _or_ Greek.   It's Shakespeare--from Macbeth's famous "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech (Act V,.....).



Is it possible that Shakespeare borrowed the poem from Omar Khayam? I am almost certain that the textbook stated that he was the author. I think many writers come up with phrases sometimes that are really not original creations. I read once that "professional writing is often just undiscovered plagiarism".


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## Kevman

eranger said:


> Is it possible that Shakespeare borrowed the poem from Omar Khayam?


Well, that I can't say for absolute certain.  Shakespeare borrowed a lot of stuff, but there are some practical questions to consider here.  Was Omar Khayyam even translated into English before the 19th century?  Was theatre imagery as prevalent in Khayyam's poetry as it was in Shakespeare's writing?  Shakespeare, of course, drew such metaphors from his day-to-day professional life and had no need to lift them from other sources.  I don't know very much, though, about Omar Khayyam or the state of theatre and acting in 11th-century Persia.

At any rate, this topic is rather outside the scope both of this forum (which is really intended for questions concerning the Greek language and not English or Persian literature) and of this thread (which is strictly about the source of Outsider's poem).  Further discussion of the poor strutting and fretting player probably ought to take place elsewhere, in accordance with Forum Rules 8 & 9.  Feel free to send me a Private Message if you ever find any more concrete evidence that the line was written by anyone other than an English dramatist and at any time earlier than about 1600, because I'd be intrigued to see it.   You're talking about one of Shakespeare's more famous passages after all. 


Sorry, Outsider.  I don't have any information to shed on your particular question.


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