Book V: The Serpent and the File
A serpent, neighbour to a smith,(A neighbour bad to meddle with,)Went through his shop, in search of food,But nothing found, 'tis understood,To eat, except a file of steel,Of which he tried to make a meal.The file, without a spark of passion,Address'd him in the following fashion:--'Poor simpleton! you surely biteWith less of sense than appetite;For ere from me you gainOne quarter of a grain,You'll break your teeth from ear to ear.Time's are the only teeth I fear.'
This tale concerns those men of letters,Who, good for nothing, bite their betters.Their biting so is quite unwise.Think you, ye literary sharks,Your teeth will leave their marksUpon the deathless works you criticise?Fie! fie! fie! men!To you they're brass--they're steel--they're diamond!
Words in this poem
- neighbour v. i.
- To dwell in the vicinity; to be a neighbor, or in the neighborhood; to be near.
- meddle v. i.
- To mix; to mingle. [OE. medlen to mix, OF. medler, mesler, F. mêler, LL. misculare, a dim. fr. L. miscere to mix. Mix, and cf. Medley, Mellay.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book V: The Serpent and the File 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 V: The Serpent and the File, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/5-16.html, id L28308.
Form and metre
Book V: The Serpent and the File is 22 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG smithA · withA · foodB · understoodB · steelC · mealC · passionD · fashionD · biteE · appetiteE · gainF · grainF · earG · fearG
- 2 AABCCB-- lettersA · bettersA · unwiseB · sharksC · marksC · criticiseB · men · diamond
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 serpent, neighbour to a smith, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| (A neighbour bad to meddle with,) | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Went through his shop, in search of food, | 8 | ········ |
| But nothing found, 'tis understood, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To eat, except a file of steel, | 8 | ········ |
| Of which he tried to make a meal. | 8 | ········ |
| The file, without a spark of passion, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Address'd him in the following fashion:-- | 9 | ˘/···/˘/˘ |
| 'Poor simpleton! you surely bite | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| With less of sense than appetite; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For ere from me you gain | 6 | ······ |
| One quarter of a grain, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| You'll break your teeth from ear to ear. | 8 | ········ |
| Time's are the only teeth I fear.' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| This tale concerns those men of letters, | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Who, good for nothing, bite their betters. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Their biting so is quite unwise. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Think you, ye literary sharks, | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Your teeth will leave their marks | 6 | ······ |
| Upon the deathless works you criticise? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Fie! fie! fie! men! | 4 | ···· |
| To you they're brass--they're steel--they're diamond! | 9 | ·······/˘ |
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.