Book XI: Epilogue
'Tis thus, by crystal fount, my muse hath sung,Translating into heavenly tongueWhatever came within my reach,From hosts of beings borr'wing nature's speech.Interpreter of tribes diverse,I've made them actors on my motley stage;For in this boundless universeThere's none that talketh, simpleton or sage,More eloquent at home than in my verse.If some should find themselves by me the worse,And this my work prove not a model true,To that which I at least rough-hew,Succeeding hands will give the finish due.Ye pets of those sweet sisters nine,Complete the task that I resign;The lessons give, which doubtless I've omitted,With wings by these inventions nicely fitted!But you're already more than occupied;For while my muse her harmless work hath plied,All Europe to our sovereign yields,And learns, upon her battle-fields,To bow before the noblest planThat ever monarch form'd, or man.Thence draw those sisters themes sublime,With power to conquer Fate and Time.
Words in this poem
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book XI: Epilogue 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 XI: Epilogue, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/11-epilogue.html, id L28426.
Form and metre
Book XI: Epilogue is 25 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 56% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCDCDCCEEEFFGGHHIIJJKK sungA · tongueA · reachB · speechB · diverseC · stageD · universeC · sageD · verseC · worseC · trueE · hewE · dueE · nineF · resignF · omittedG · fittedG · occupiedH · pliedH · yieldsI · fieldsI · planJ · manJ · sublimeK · timeK
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 'Tis thus, by crystal fount, my muse hath sung, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Translating into heavenly tongue | 9 | ˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| Whatever came within my reach, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From hosts of beings borr'wing nature's speech. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Interpreter of tribes diverse, | 8 | ˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| I've made them actors on my motley stage; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| For in this boundless universe | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| There's none that talketh, simpleton or sage, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| More eloquent at home than in my verse. | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| If some should find themselves by me the worse, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And this my work prove not a model true, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To that which I at least rough-hew, | 8 | ········ |
| Succeeding hands will give the finish due. | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Ye pets of those sweet sisters nine, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Complete the task that I resign; | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| The lessons give, which doubtless I've omitted, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| With wings by these inventions nicely fitted! | 11 | ····˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| But you're already more than occupied; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| For while my muse her harmless work hath plied, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| All Europe to our sovereign yields, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| And learns, upon her battle-fields, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To bow before the noblest plan | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That ever monarch form'd, or man. | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Thence draw those sisters themes sublime, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| With power to conquer Fate and Time. | 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.