Book VI: The Mule Boasting of His Genealogy
A prelate's mule of noble birth was proud,And talk'd, incessantly and loud,Of nothing but his dam, the mare,Whose mighty deeds by him recounted were,--This had she done, and had been present there,--By which her son made out his claimTo notice on the scroll of Fame.Too proud, when young, to bear a doctor's pill;When old, he had to turn a mill.As there they used his limbs to bind,His sire, the ass, was brought to mind.Misfortune, were its only useThe claims of folly to reduce,And bring men down to sober reason,Would be a blessing in its season.
Words in this poem
- incessantly adv.
- Unceasingly; continually.
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VI: The Mule Boasting of His Genealogy 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 VI: The Mule Boasting of His Genealogy, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/6-7.html, id L28320.
Form and metre
Book VI: The Mule Boasting of His Genealogy is 15 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% 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 AAB-BCCDDEEFFGG proudA · loudA · mareB · were · thereB · claimC · fameC · pillD · millD · bindE · mindE · useF · reduceF · reasonG · seasonG
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 prelate's mule of noble birth was proud, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And talk'd, incessantly and loud, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| Of nothing but his dam, the mare, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose mighty deeds by him recounted were,-- | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| This had she done, and had been present there,-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| By which her son made out his claim | 8 | ········ |
| To notice on the scroll of Fame. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Too proud, when young, to bear a doctor's pill; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When old, he had to turn a mill. | 8 | ········ |
| As there they used his limbs to bind, | 8 | ········ |
| His sire, the ass, was brought to mind. | 8 | ·/······ |
| Misfortune, were its only use | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| The claims of folly to reduce, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And bring men down to sober reason, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Would be a blessing in its season. | 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.