Seize the day
While not all of Omar Khayyam's quatrains contained the message of carpe diem, the way Edward Fitzgerald puts them together makes this the overarching theme of the poem. The first quatrain in the poem already starts with the capitalized AWAKE, urging the audience to go out and use their life. Further on, quatrain 20 tells the audience to focus on today, because yesterday has gone and no one knows what might happen tomorrow. Overall, all other themes can be traced back to this concept. We cannot know everything, we should not try to learn everything and just enjoy the day. Our fate has been written already, making any fighting against it futile. Religious fervor and piety do not create a better soul, as death is claiming everyone in the same way. Overall, one should aim to live his or her best life every day, not waste thoughts on the past or present and most of all, drink wine.
Wine
The poem repeatedly mentions the positive effects of wine. Wine as a source of joy, a source of wisdom or even a source of the divine. In wine, humanity can find their meaning in life. In accordance with the main theme of the poem, to live life in the present, wine is considered helpful for this endeavor. For example, quatrain 41 states that while the narrator could learn and understand more, wine is all they ever cared about. Furthermore, wine and time spent at the tavern brings one closer to God than any religious service ever might, as seen in quatrain 56. In the final quatrain, the narrator confides in the audience and tells them that he has been accused of leading a sinful life. They have promised to better themselves, but always were drunk when doing so. In the end, wine is their only true religion, as God has already decided their fate.
Aferlife
Throughout the poem, Fitzgerald translates Khayyam's words in a way that clearly distance them from the belief that there is an afterlife. The narrator of the poem urges the audience to not get caught up in thoughts on what might be, but rather live. This is especially vivid in quatrain 25, when scholars thinking about what might be are scorned for their philosophical behavior and reminded that all their efforts will be meaningless in death. The quatrains 44, 45 and 46 further discuss the concept through the lens of the Islamic religion. The narrator states that while Mohammed was a successful warrior, he led the spiritual thinking to others like the narrator. They then concluded that all that is clear is that there is a world, all other thought should be drowned in wine.
Anti-Intellectualism
As part of the concept of carpe diem, the narrator often urges the audience to disregard the actions of those wise and learned. Those people are caught up in thoughts about yesterday and tomorrow and forget to live in the day. A good example can be found in quatrain 27, where the narrator considers all the learning and studying he did throughout his life. They conclude that they did not change through it, making it a useless effort. In other sections, the concept is connected to the drinking of wine as the better option.
Fate
The later quatrains of the poem discuss fate as a God-given constant. One cannot control what has been preordained, so one should not fight against it. A good example of this can be found in quatrain 51, where the narrator cautions the audience that neither strong piety nor wisdom can change their fate. They may cry and fight, but what has been written stands strong. From quatrain 59 onwards a short story of the narrator in a pottery shop starts. The pottery shop is a metaphor for the creation of men and each pot states that the way they were created must be the way God intended them to be.
