From La Fontaine
Love's worshippers alone can knowThe thousand mysteries that are his;His blazing torch, his twanging bow,His blooming age are mysteries.A charming science--but the dayWere all too short to con it o'er;So take of me this little lay,A sample of its boundless lore.
As once, beneath the fragrant shadeOf myrtles breathing heaven's own air,The children, Love and Folly, played--A quarrel rose betwixt the pair.Love said the gods should do him right--But Folly vowed to do it then,And struck him, o'er the orbs of sight,So hard he never saw again.
His lovely mother's grief was deep,She called for vengeance on the deed;A beauty does not vainly weep,Nor coldly does a mother plead.A shade came o'er the eternal blissThat fills the dwellers of the skies;Even stony-hearted Nemesis,And Rhadamanthus, wiped their eyes.
"Behold," she said, "this lovely boy,"While streamed afresh her graceful tears,"Immortal, yet shut out from joyAnd sunshine, all his future years.The child can never take, you see,A single step without a staff--The harshest punishment would beToo lenient for the crime by half."
All said that Love had suffered wrong,And well that wrong should be repaid;Then weighed the public interest long,And long the party's interest weighed.And thus decreed the court above--"Since Love is blind from Folly's blow,Let Folly be the guide of Love,Where'er the boy may choose to go."
Words in this poem
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- coldly adv.
- In a cold manner; without warmth, animation, or feeling; with indifference; calmly.
- nemesis n.
- The goddess of retribution or vengeance; hence, retributive justice personified; divine vengeance. [L., fr. gr. Nomad.]
- rhadamanthus n.
- One of the three judges of the internal regions; figuratively, a strictly just judge.
- afresh adv.
- Anew; again; once more; newly. [Pref. a- + fresh.]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From La Fontaine is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Cullen Bryant, From La Fontaine, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/from-la-fontaine.html, id L07330.
Form and metre
From La Fontaine is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABC-C- knowA · hisB · bowA · mysteriesB · dayC · o'er · layC · lore
- 2 ABABCDCD shadeA · airB · playedA · pairB · rightC · thenD · sightC · againD
- 3 ABABCDCD deepA · deedB · weepA · pleadB · blissC · skiesD · nemesisC · eyesD
- 4 ABABCDCD boyA · tearsB · joyA · yearsB · seeC · staffD · beC · halfD
- 5 ABABCDCD wrongA · repaidB · longA · weighedB · aboveC · blowD · loveC · goD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Love's worshippers alone can know | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/·· |
| The thousand mysteries that are his; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| His blazing torch, his twanging bow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| His blooming age are mysteries. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| A charming science--but the day | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Were all too short to con it o'er; | 8 | ········ |
| So take of me this little lay, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A sample of its boundless lore. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As once, beneath the fragrant shade | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of myrtles breathing heaven's own air, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| The children, Love and Folly, played-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A quarrel rose betwixt the pair. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Love said the gods should do him right-- | 8 | ········ |
| But Folly vowed to do it then, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And struck him, o'er the orbs of sight, | 8 | ········ |
| So hard he never saw again. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| His lovely mother's grief was deep, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| She called for vengeance on the deed; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A beauty does not vainly weep, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor coldly does a mother plead. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A shade came o'er the eternal bliss | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| That fills the dwellers of the skies; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Even stony-hearted Nemesis, | 9 | /˘/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And Rhadamanthus, wiped their eyes. | 8 | ········ |
| "Behold," she said, "this lovely boy," | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| While streamed afresh her graceful tears, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| "Immortal, yet shut out from joy | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| And sunshine, all his future years. | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| The child can never take, you see, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A single step without a staff-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The harshest punishment would be | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Too lenient for the crime by half." | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| All said that Love had suffered wrong, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And well that wrong should be repaid; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Then weighed the public interest long, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And long the party's interest weighed. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And thus decreed the court above-- | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| "Since Love is blind from Folly's blow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Let Folly be the guide of Love, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where'er the boy may choose to go." | 9 | ˘˘/······ |
On this poem
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.