Book IV: The Oracle and the Atheist
That man his Maker can deceive,Is monstrous folly to believe.The labyrinthine mazes of the heartAre open to His eyes in every part.Whatever one may do, or think, or feel,From Him no darkness can the thing conceal.A pagan once, of graceless heart and hollow,Whose faith in gods, I'm apprehensive,Was quite as real as expensive.Consulted, at his shrine, the god Apollo.'Is what I hold alive, or not?'Said he,--a sparrow having brought,Prepared to wring its neck, or let it fly,As need might be, to give the god the lie.Apollo saw the trick,And answer'd quick,'Dead or alive, show me your sparrow,And cease to set for me a trapWhich can but cause yourself mishap.I see afar, and far I shoot my arrow.'
Words in this poem
- labyrinthine a.
- Pertaining to, or like, a labyrinth; labyrinthal.
- graceless a.
- Wanting in grace or excellence; departed from, or deprived of, divine grace; hence, depraved; corrupt.
- mishap v. i.
- To happen unluckily; -- used impersonally.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book IV: The Oracle and the Atheist 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 IV: The Oracle and the Atheist, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/4-19.html, id L28289.
Form and metre
Book IV: The Oracle and the Atheist is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 AABBCCDEED--FFGGHIIH deceiveA · believeA · heartB · partB · feelC · concealC · hollowD · apprehensiveE · expensiveE · apolloD · not · brought · flyF · lieF · trickG · quickG · sparrowH · trapI · mishapI · arrowH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That man his Maker can deceive, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Is monstrous folly to believe. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The labyrinthine mazes of the heart | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Are open to His eyes in every part. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Whatever one may do, or think, or feel, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| From Him no darkness can the thing conceal. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| A pagan once, of graceless heart and hollow, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Whose faith in gods, I'm apprehensive, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Was quite as real as expensive. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Consulted, at his shrine, the god Apollo. | 11 | ˘/˘·····˘/˘ |
| 'Is what I hold alive, or not?' | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Said he,--a sparrow having brought, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Prepared to wring its neck, or let it fly, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| As need might be, to give the god the lie. | 10 | ·········· |
| Apollo saw the trick, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| And answer'd quick, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| 'Dead or alive, show me your sparrow, | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| And cease to set for me a trap | 8 | ········ |
| Which can but cause yourself mishap. | 8 | ····/˘/· |
| I see afar, and far I shoot my arrow.' | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
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.