Book IV
To you, who've graver things bespoke,This seems no better than a joke,And light for mere amusement made;Yet still we drive the scribbling trade,And from the pen our pleasure find,When we've no greater things to mind.Yet if you look with care intense,These tales your toil shall recompense;Appearance is not always true,And thousands err by such a view.'Tis a choice spirit that has priedWhere clean contrivance chose to hide;That this is not at random said,I shall produce upon this headA fable of an arch device,About the Weasel and the Mice.
Words in this poem
- graver n.
- One who graves; an engraver or a sculptor; one whose occupation is te cut letters or figures in stone or other hard material.
- amusement n.
- Deep thought; muse. [Cf. F. amusement.]
- scribbling n.
- The act or process of carding coarsely. Scribbing machine, the machine used for the first carding of wool or other fiber; -- called also scribbler. [See 1st Scribble.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Fables of Phædrus Literally translated into English prose with notes, Project Gutenberg ebook #25512; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Phaedrus, Book IV, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/book-iv.html, id L21292.
Form and metre
Book IV is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH bespokeA · jokeA · madeB · tradeB · findC · mindC · intenseD · recompenseD · trueE · viewE · priedF · hideF · saidG · headG · deviceH · miceH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To you, who've graver things bespoke, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| This seems no better than a joke, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And light for mere amusement made; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Yet still we drive the scribbling trade, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And from the pen our pleasure find, | 8 | ····//˘· |
| When we've no greater things to mind. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Yet if you look with care intense, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| These tales your toil shall recompense; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Appearance is not always true, | 8 | ˘/˘··/·· |
| And thousands err by such a view. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Tis a choice spirit that has pried | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where clean contrivance chose to hide; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| That this is not at random said, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I shall produce upon this head | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A fable of an arch device, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| About the Weasel and the Mice. | 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.