Book VIII: The Torrent and the River
With mighty rush and roar,Adown a mountain steepA torrent tumbled,--swelling o'erIts rugged banks,--and boreVast ruin in its sweep.The traveller were surely rashTo brave its whirling, foaming dash,But one, by robbers sorely press'd,Its terrors haply put to test.They were but threats of foam and sound,The loudest where the least profound.With courage from his safe success,His foes continuing to press,He met a river in his course:On stole its waters, calm and deep,So silently they seem'd asleep,All sweetly cradled, as I ween,In sloping banks, and gravel clean,--They threaten'd neither man nor horse.Both ventured; but the noble steed,That saved from robbers by his speed,From that deep water could not save;Both went to drink the Stygian wave;Both went to cross, (but not to swim,)Where reigns a monarch stern and grim,Far other streams than ours.
Still men are men of dangerous powers;Elsewhere, 'tis only ignorance that cowers.
Words in this poem
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- sorely adv.
- In a sore manner; grievously; painfully; as, to be sorely afflicted.
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- ween v. i.
- To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- stygian a.
- Of or pertaining to the river Styx; hence, hellish; infernal.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book VIII: The Torrent and the River 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 VIII: The Torrent and the River, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/8-23.html, id L28377.
Form and metre
Book VIII: The Torrent and the River is 28 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% 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 AB-ABCCDDEEFFGBBHHGIIJJKK- roarA · steepB · o'er · boreA · sweepB · rashC · dashC · press'dD · testD · soundE · profoundE · successF · pressF · courseG · deepB · asleepB · weenH · cleanH · horseG · steedI · speedI · saveJ · waveJ · swimK · grimK · ours
- 2 AA powersA · cowersA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With mighty rush and roar, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Adown a mountain steep | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| A torrent tumbled,--swelling o'er | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Its rugged banks,--and bore | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Vast ruin in its sweep. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The traveller were surely rash | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| To brave its whirling, foaming dash, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| But one, by robbers sorely press'd, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Its terrors haply put to test. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| They were but threats of foam and sound, | 8 | ········ |
| The loudest where the least profound. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| With courage from his safe success, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| His foes continuing to press, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| He met a river in his course: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On stole its waters, calm and deep, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So silently they seem'd asleep, | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| All sweetly cradled, as I ween, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In sloping banks, and gravel clean,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They threaten'd neither man nor horse. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Both ventured; but the noble steed, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That saved from robbers by his speed, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| From that deep water could not save; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Both went to drink the Stygian wave; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Both went to cross, (but not to swim,) | 8 | ········ |
| Where reigns a monarch stern and grim, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Far other streams than ours. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Still men are men of dangerous powers; | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| Elsewhere, 'tis only ignorance that cowers. | 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.