Book III: The Drunkard and His Wife
Each has his fault, to which he clingsIn spite of shame or fear.This apophthegm a story brings,To make its truth more clear.A sot had lost health, mind, and purse;And, truly, for that matter,Sots mostly lose the latterEre running half their course.When wine, one day, of wit had fill'd the room,His wife inclosed him in a spacious tomb.There did the fumes evaporateAt leisure from his drowsy pate.When he awoke, he foundHis body wrapp'd aroundWith grave-clothes, chill and damp,Beneath a dim sepulchral lamp.'How's this? My wife a widow sad?'He cried, 'and I a ghost? Dead? dead?'Thereat his spouse, with snaky hair,And robes like those the Furies wear,With voice to fit the realms below,Brought boiling caudle to his bier--For Lucifer the proper cheer;By which her husband came to know--For he had heard of those three ladies--Himself a citizen of Hades.'What may your office be?'The phantom question'd he.'I'm server up of Pluto's meat,And bring his guests the same to eat.''Well,' says the sot, not taking time to think,'And don't you bring us anything to drink?'
Words in this poem
- apophthegm n.
- A short, pithy, and instructive saying; a terse remark, conveying some important truth; a sententious precept or maxim.
- pate n.
- A pie. See Patty. [F. pâté.]
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- thereat adv.
- At that place; there.
- spouse v. t.
- To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
- snaky a.
- Of or pertaining to a snake or snakes; resembling a snake; serpentine; winding.
- caudle n.
- A kind of warm drink for sick persons, being a mixture of wine with eggs, bread, sugar, and spices. [OF. caudel, F. chaudeau, dim. of LL calidum a sweet drink, fr. L. caidus warm. See Caldron.]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- server n.
- One who serves.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book III: The Drunkard and His Wife 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 Drunkard and His Wife, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/3-7.html, id L28259.
Form and metre
Book III: The Drunkard and His Wife is 32 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 56% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 ABAB-CC-DDEEFFGG--HHIHHIJJKKLLMM clingsA · fearB · bringsA · clearB · purse · matterC · latterC · course · roomD · tombD · evaporateE · pateE · foundF · aroundF · dampG · lampG · sad · dead · hairH · wearH · belowI · bierH · cheerH · knowI · ladiesJ · hadesJ · beK · heK · meatL · eatL · thinkM · drinkM
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Each has his fault, to which he clings | 8 | ········ |
| In spite of shame or fear. | 6 | ······ |
| This apophthegm a story brings, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To make its truth more clear. | 6 | ······ |
| A sot had lost health, mind, and purse; | 8 | ········ |
| And, truly, for that matter, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Sots mostly lose the latter | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Ere running half their course. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When wine, one day, of wit had fill'd the room, | 10 | ·········· |
| His wife inclosed him in a spacious tomb. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| There did the fumes evaporate | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| At leisure from his drowsy pate. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When he awoke, he found | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| His body wrapp'd around | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With grave-clothes, chill and damp, | 6 | ······ |
| Beneath a dim sepulchral lamp. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| 'How's this? My wife a widow sad?' | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He cried, 'and I a ghost? Dead? dead?' | 8 | ········ |
| Thereat his spouse, with snaky hair, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And robes like those the Furies wear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With voice to fit the realms below, | 8 | ········ |
| Brought boiling caudle to his bier-- | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| For Lucifer the proper cheer; | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| By which her husband came to know-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For he had heard of those three ladies-- | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Himself a citizen of Hades. | 9 | ˘/·/˘˘·/˘ |
| 'What may your office be?' | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The phantom question'd he. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| 'I'm server up of Pluto's meat, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And bring his guests the same to eat.' | 8 | ········ |
| 'Well,' says the sot, not taking time to think, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| 'And don't you bring us anything to drink?' | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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.