Edward FitzGerald's translation of the "Rub iy tof Omar Khayy m, " perhaps the most frequently read Victorian poemand certainly one of the most popular poems in the English language, posesformidable challenges to an editor. FitzGerald compulsively revised his work, alternately swayed by friends' advice, importuned by his publisher's commercialinterests, and encouraged by public acclaim. In consequence, the editor is facedwith four published editions as well as manuscript and proof versions of the poem.Christopher Decker's critical edition of the "Rub iy t" is the first to publish all extant states of the poem and tounearth a full record of its complicated textualevolution. Decker supplies a rich interpretivecontext for the Rub iy t that reveals how its composition was so often acollaborative enterprise. His view of poetic creativity comprehends recent theoriesof the sociology of texts and challenges the common assumption that the desiredproduct of a critical edition is a single unified text of a literary work. Heilluminates the complex process of revision by providing a textual appendix in whicha comparative printing lays down each stratum of FitzGerald's composition.Biographical and textual introductions, making imaginative use of FitzGerald'scorrespondence, trace the history of the poem and pay special attention toFitzGerald's motives for revising, for creating a variously beautiful work inverse. This definitive edition of the"Rub iy t will be of specialinterest to scholars and students of Victorian poetry, publishing history, versetranslation, literary imitation, and revision. And readers for whom the poem is anold acquaintance will here find fresh ways to appreciate its strengths andfinesse.