Book VI: Epilogue
Here check we our career:Long books I greatly fear.I would not quite exhaust my stuff;The flower of subjects is enough.To me, the time is come, it seems,To draw my breath for other themes.Love, tyrant of my life, commandsThat other work be on my hands.I dare not disobey.Once more shall Psyche be my lay.I'm call'd by Damon to portrayHer sorrows and her joys.I yield: perhaps, while she employs,My muse will catch a richer glow;And well if this my labour'd strainShall be the last and only painHer spouse shall cause me here below.
Words in this poem
- career n.
- A race course: the ground run over. [F. carrière race course, high road, street, fr. L. carrus wagon. See Car.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- psyche n.
- A lovely maiden, daughter of a king and mistress of Eros, or Cupid. She is regarded as the personification of the soul.
- spouse v. t.
- To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VI: Epilogue 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: Epilogue, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/6-epilogue.html, id L28335.
Form and metre
Book VI: Epilogue is 17 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 AABBCCDDEEEFFGHHG careerA · fearA · stuffB · enoughB · seemsC · themesC · commandsD · handsD · disobeyE · layE · portrayE · joysF · employsF · glowG · strainH · painH · belowG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here check we our career: | 7 | ···/˘˘/ |
| Long books I greatly fear. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I would not quite exhaust my stuff; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The flower of subjects is enough. | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| To me, the time is come, it seems, | 8 | ········ |
| To draw my breath for other themes. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Love, tyrant of my life, commands | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| That other work be on my hands. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I dare not disobey. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Once more shall Psyche be my lay. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I'm call'd by Damon to portray | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Her sorrows and her joys. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I yield: perhaps, while she employs, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| My muse will catch a richer glow; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And well if this my labour'd strain | 8 | ········ |
| Shall be the last and only pain | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her spouse shall cause me here below. | 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.