Book III: The Woman Drowned
I hate that saying, old and savage,"'Tis nothing but a woman drowning."That's much, I say. What grief more keen should have edgeThan loss of her, of all our joys the crowning?Thus much suggests the fable I am borrowing.A woman perish'd in the water,Where, anxiously, and sorrowing,Her husband sought her,To ease the grief he could not cure,By honour'd rites of sepulture.It chanced that near the fatal spot,Along the stream which hadProduced a death so sad,There walk'd some men that knew it not.The husband ask'd if they had seenHis wife, or aught that hers had been.One promptly answer'd, 'No!But search the stream below:It must nave borne her in its flow.''No,' said another; 'search above.In that directionShe would have floated, by the loveOf contradiction.'This joke was truly out of season;--I don't propose to weigh its reason.But whether such propensityThe sex's fault may be,Or not, one thing is very sure,Its own propensities endure.Up to the end they'll have their will,And, if it could be, further still.
Words in this poem
- anxiously adv.
- In an anxious manner; with painful uncertainty; solicitously.
- sepulture n.
- The act of depositing the dead body of a human being in the grave; burial; interment. [F. sépulture, L. sepultura, fr. sepelire, sepultum, to bury.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- promptly adv.
- In a prompt manner.
- propose v. i.
- To speak; to converse.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book III: The Woman Drowned 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 III: The Woman Drowned, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/3-16.html, id L28268.
Form and metre
Book III: The Woman Drowned is 31 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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---DEED--FFFG-G-HH--IIJJ savageA · drowningB · edgeA · crowningB · borrowingC · water · sorrowingC · her · cure · sepulture · spotD · hadE · sadE · notD · seen · been · noF · belowF · flowF · aboveG · direction · loveG · contradiction · seasonH · reasonH · propensity · be · sureI · endureI · willJ · stillJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I hate that saying, old and savage, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| "'Tis nothing but a woman drowning." | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| That's much, I say. What grief more keen should have edge | 11 | ··········· |
| Than loss of her, of all our joys the crowning? | 11 | ······/··/˘ |
| Thus much suggests the fable I am borrowing. | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| A woman perish'd in the water, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Where, anxiously, and sorrowing, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Her husband sought her, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To ease the grief he could not cure, | 8 | ········ |
| By honour'd rites of sepulture. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| It chanced that near the fatal spot, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Along the stream which had | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Produced a death so sad, | 7 | ˘/˘···· |
| There walk'd some men that knew it not. | 8 | ········ |
| The husband ask'd if they had seen | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His wife, or aught that hers had been. | 8 | ········ |
| One promptly answer'd, 'No! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| But search the stream below: | 6 | ······ |
| It must nave borne her in its flow.' | 8 | ········ |
| 'No,' said another; 'search above. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| In that direction | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| She would have floated, by the love | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of contradiction.' | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| This joke was truly out of season;-- | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| I don't propose to weigh its reason. | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| But whether such propensity | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| The sex's fault may be, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Or not, one thing is very sure, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Its own propensities endure. | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Up to the end they'll have their will, | 8 | ········ |
| And, if it could be, further still. | 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.