{\b Edward Fitzgerald}.

{\b Date of Birth}.: 1809

{\b Date of Death}.: 1883

{\b Works}.

English Scholar and poet. His first work of note was a  biography of the 
Quaker poet Bernard Barton (1849). Euphranor, a dialogue on Youth (1851) was 
his next published work (a commentary on English Education). He went on to 
produce a book of aphorisms, Polonius: a collection of wise saws and Modern 
Instances. (1852), and a series of translations of plays by Calderon, 
Aeschylus and Sophocles.

His interest in Persian poetry lead him to produce his most important work, 
his free translation of  The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1859).

{\b Featured Works}.

'The Meadows in Spring', 'The Dream Called Life', 'The Rubaiyat of Omar 
Khayyam of Naishapur'.

{\b General Comment}.

Edward Fitzgerald was born near Woodbridge, Suffolk. He was one of eight 
children and his parents owned a number of estates in England and Ireland. He 
was educated at the King Edward VI Grammar School and Trinity College, 
Cambridge. 

He spent most of his life in Suffolk where he lived the life of a country 
gentleman rarely travelling, except to London. He lived for sixteen years on 
his family estate at Boulge and spent the remainder of his life in Woodbridge. 

In 1850 he married the daughter of the poet Bernard Barton whose biography he 
had penned previously. The marriage appears to have been an unhappy one and 
they separated after only a few months. After learning Spanish privately he 
produced blank-verse translations of six poems by Calderon (1853). His 
developing fascination with Persian poetry led him to translate a series of 
works. Salaman and Absal, an allegory by Kami was published anonymously in 
1856 followed in 1859 by his most celebrated work, translations from the 
Rubaiyat.

His warm personality and sophisticated wit earned him the friendship of many 
great writers including William Thackery, Alfred Tennyson and Thomas Carlyle. 
Tennyson was to dedicate his poem 'Tiresias' to Fitzgerald. He left a legacy 
of delightful letters, bursting with anecdotes concerning his literary 
acquaintances, which were edited and published after his death.