Book IV: The Jay in the Feathers of the Peacock
A peacock moulted: soon a jay was seenBedeck'd with Argus tail of gold and green,High strutting, with elated crest,As much a peacock as the rest.His trick was recognized and bruited,His person jeer'd at, hiss'd, and hooted.The peacock gentry flock'd together,And pluck'd the fool of every feather.Nay more, when back he sneak'd to join his race,They shut their portals in his face.
There is another sort of jay,The number of its legs the same,Which makes of borrow'd plumes display,And plagiary is its name.But hush! the tribe I'll not offend;'Tis not my work their ways to mend.
Words in this poem
- argus n.
- A fabulous being of antiquity, said to have had a hundred eyes, who has placed by Juno to guard Io. His eyes were transplanted to the peacock's tail.
- gentry n.
- Birth; condition; rank by birth. [OE. genterie, gentrie, noble birth, nobility, cf. gentrise, and OF. gentelise, genterise, E. gentilesse, also OE. genteleri high-mindedness. See Gent, a., Gentl]
- plagiary n.
- A manstealer; a kidnaper. [L. plagiarius a kidnaper, a literary thief, fr. plagium kidnaping; cf. plaga a net, perh. akin to E. plait: cf. F. plagiaire.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book IV: The Jay in the Feathers of the Peacock 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 Jay in the Feathers of the Peacock, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/4-9.html, id L28279.
Form and metre
Book IV: The Jay in the Feathers of the Peacock is 16 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AABBCCDDEE seenA · greenA · crestB · restB · bruitedC · hootedC · togetherD · featherD · raceE · faceE
- 2 ABABCC jayA · sameB · displayA · nameB · offendC · mendC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A peacock moulted: soon a jay was seen | 10 | ·/········ |
| Bedeck'd with Argus tail of gold and green, | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| High strutting, with elated crest, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| As much a peacock as the rest. | 8 | ···/···· |
| His trick was recognized and bruited, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| His person jeer'd at, hiss'd, and hooted. | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| The peacock gentry flock'd together, | 9 | ·/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| And pluck'd the fool of every feather. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Nay more, when back he sneak'd to join his race, | 10 | ·········· |
| They shut their portals in his face. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| There is another sort of jay, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The number of its legs the same, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Which makes of borrow'd plumes display, | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| And plagiary is its name. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| But hush! the tribe I'll not offend; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| 'Tis not my work their ways to mend. | 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.