Book I: Death and the Unfortunate
A poor unfortunate, from day to day,Call'd Death to take him from this world away.'O Death' he said, 'to me how fair thy form!Come quick, and end for me life's cruel storm.'Death heard, and with a ghastly grin,Knock'd at his door, and enter'd in'Take out this object from my sight!'The poor man loudly cried.'Its dreadful looks I can't abide;O stay him, stay him' let him come no nigher;O Death! O Death! I pray thee to retire!'
A gentleman of noteIn Rome, Maecenas, somewhere wrote:--"Make me the poorest wretch that begs,Sore, hungry, crippled, clothed in rags,In hopeless impotence of arms and legs;Provided, after all, you giveThe one sweet liberty to live:I'll ask of Death no greater favourThan just to stay away for ever."
Words in this poem
- grin n.
- A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- crippled a.
- Lamed; lame; disabled; impeded.
- impotence n.
- The quality or condition of being impotent; want of strength or power, animal, intellectual, or moral; weakness; feebleness; inability; imbecility. [L. impotenia inability, poverty, want of moderation. See Impotent.]
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book I: Death and the Unfortunate is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Fables of La Fontaine, Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, the Elizur Wright translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jean de La Fontaine, Book I: Death and the Unfortunate, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/1-15.html, id L28225.
Form and metre
Book I: Death and the Unfortunate is 20 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABBCC-DDEE dayA · awayA · formB · stormB · grinC · inC · sight · criedD · abideD · nigherE · retireE
- 2 AAB-BCC-- noteA · wroteA · begsB · rags · legsB · giveC · liveC · favour · ever
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A poor unfortunate, from day to day, | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| Call'd Death to take him from this world away. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| 'O Death' he said, 'to me how fair thy form! | 10 | ·········· |
| Come quick, and end for me life's cruel storm.' | 9 | ·······/· |
| Death heard, and with a ghastly grin, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Knock'd at his door, and enter'd in | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Take out this object from my sight!' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The poor man loudly cried. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| 'Its dreadful looks I can't abide; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| O stay him, stay him' let him come no nigher; | 11 | ··········· |
| O Death! O Death! I pray thee to retire!' | 10 | ········˘/ |
| A gentleman of note | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| In Rome, Maecenas, somewhere wrote:-- | 8 | ·····/·· |
| "Make me the poorest wretch that begs, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Sore, hungry, crippled, clothed in rags, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In hopeless impotence of arms and legs; | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Provided, after all, you give | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| The one sweet liberty to live: | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| I'll ask of Death no greater favour | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Than just to stay away for ever." | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
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.