Book XII: Love and Folly
Love bears a world of mystery--His arrows, quiver, torch, and infancy:'Tis not a trifling work to soundA sea of science so profound:And, hence, t' explain it all to-dayIs not my aim; but, in my simple way,To show how that blind archer lad(And he a god!) came by the loss of sight,And eke what consequence the evil had,Or good, perhaps, if named aright--A point I leave the lover to decide,As fittest judge, who hath the matter tried.Together on a certain day,Said Love and Folly were at play:The former yet enjoy'd his eyes.Dispute arose. Love thought it wiseBefore the council of the gods to go,Where both of them by birth held stations;But Folly, in her lack of patience,Dealt on his forehead such a blowAs seal'd his orbs to all the light of heaven.Now Venus claim'd that vengeance should be given.And by what force of tears yourselves may guessThe woman and the mother sought redress.The gods were deafen'd with her cries--Jove, Nemesis, the stern assizeOf Orcus,--all the gods, in short,From whom she might the boon extort.The enormous wrong she well portray'd--Her son a wretched groper made,An ugly staff his steps to aid!For such a crime, it would appear,No punishment could be severe:The damage, too, must be repair'd.The case maturely weigh'd and cast,The public weal with private squared:Poor Folly was condemn'd at last,By judgment of the court above,To serve for aye as guide to Love.
Words in this poem
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- nemesis n.
- The goddess of retribution or vengeance; hence, retributive justice personified; divine vengeance. [L., fr. gr. Nomad.]
- assize n.
- An assembly of knights and other substantial men, with a bailiff or justice, in a certain place and at a certain time, for public business. [OE. assise, asise, OF. assise, F. assises, assembly of judges, the decree pronounced by them, tax, impost, fr. assis, assise, p. p. of asseoir, fr. L. assid to ]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- groper n.
- One who gropes; one who feels his way in the dark, or searches by feeling.
- maturely adv.
- In a mature manner; with ripeness; completely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book XII: Love and Folly 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 XII: Love and Folly, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/12-14.html, id L28440.
Form and metre
Book XII: Love and Folly is 39 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 --AABBCDCDEEFFGGH--H--IIJJKKLLLMMNONOPP mystery · infancy · soundA · profoundA · dayB · wayB · ladC · sightD · hadC · arightD · decideE · triedE · dayF · playF · eyesG · wiseG · goH · stations · patience · blowH · heaven · given · guessI · redressI · criesJ · assizeJ · shortK · extortK · portray'dL · madeL · aidL · appearM · severeM · repair'dN · castO · squaredN · lastO · aboveP · loveP
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 bears a world of mystery-- | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| His arrows, quiver, torch, and infancy: | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| 'Tis not a trifling work to sound | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A sea of science so profound: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And, hence, t' explain it all to-day | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| Is not my aim; but, in my simple way, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To show how that blind archer lad | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| (And he a god!) came by the loss of sight, | 10 | ·········· |
| And eke what consequence the evil had, | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| Or good, perhaps, if named aright-- | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| A point I leave the lover to decide, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| As fittest judge, who hath the matter tried. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Together on a certain day, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Said Love and Folly were at play: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The former yet enjoy'd his eyes. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Dispute arose. Love thought it wise | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| Before the council of the gods to go, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Where both of them by birth held stations; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But Folly, in her lack of patience, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Dealt on his forehead such a blow | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As seal'd his orbs to all the light of heaven. | 10 | ·········/ |
| Now Venus claim'd that vengeance should be given. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··/ |
| And by what force of tears yourselves may guess | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| The woman and the mother sought redress. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The gods were deafen'd with her cries-- | 8 | ········ |
| Jove, Nemesis, the stern assize | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| Of Orcus,--all the gods, in short, | 8 | ········ |
| From whom she might the boon extort. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The enormous wrong she well portray'd-- | 9 | ·˘/˘···˘/ |
| Her son a wretched groper made, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| An ugly staff his steps to aid! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For such a crime, it would appear, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| No punishment could be severe: | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| The damage, too, must be repair'd. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The case maturely weigh'd and cast, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The public weal with private squared: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Poor Folly was condemn'd at last, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| By judgment of the court above, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To serve for aye as guide to Love. | 8 | ········ |
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.