FitzGerald translated Omar Khayyam's Persian rubaiyat in 1859. Work gained popularity from 1861 with Whitley Stokes's support. By 1880s, book became extremely popular worldwide. FitzGerald's translation inspired similar translations in multiple languages
Couplet is a pair of rhyming lines with same metre. Can be formal (closed) with end-stopped lines or run-on (open). Term comes from French meaning "two pieces of iron"
Lyric poetry conveys powerful feelings through short verse with musical qualities. Unlike narrative poetry, it doesn't have to tell a story. Expresses emotions privately by a single speaker. Uses poetic devices like rhyme and meter to create song-like rhythm
Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) created unique 'Onegin stanza' and wrote in all genres. Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841) wrote romantic poems about Caucasus legends. Nikolai Nekrasov (1821-1877) first raised peasant language and serf issues. Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-1873) translated Heine and wrote patriotic poems
Homer wrote enduring epics The Iliad and The Odyssey. Sappho, an ancient Greek poet, wrote about love and religion. Sappho's poems were set to music and earned her "Ode to Aphrodite" fame
French has many vowel sounds, creating musicality in poetry. Children learn French poems in school from preschool to high school. French poems can be codified (sonnets) or rebel (Rimbaud, Surrealists). Classic French uses 12-meter alexandrin verse