Fable I. the Old Woman and Empty Cask
An ancient dame a firkin sees,In which the rich Falernian leesSend from the nobly tinctured shellA rare and most delicious smell!There when a season she had clungWith greedy nostrils to the bung,"O spirit exquisitely sweet!"She cried, "how perfectly completeWere you of old, and at the best,When ev'n your dregs have such a zest!"They'll see the drift of this my rhyme,Who knew the author in his prime.
Words in this poem
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- firkin n.
- A varying measure of capacity, usually being the fourth part of a barrel; specifically, a measure equal to nine imperial gallons. [From AS. feówer four (or an allied word, perh. Dutch or Danish) + -kin. See Four.]
- falernian a.
- Of or pertaining to Mount Falernus, in Italy; as, Falernianwine.
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- exquisitely adv.
- In an exquisite manner or degree; as, lace exquisitely wrought.
- zest n.
- A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. Schism.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fable I. the Old Woman and Empty Cask 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, Fable I. the Old Woman and Empty Cask, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/fable-i-the-old-woman-and-empty-cask.html, id L21274.
Form and metre
Fable I. the Old Woman and Empty Cask is 12 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 90%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFF seesA · leesA · shellB · smellB · clungC · bungC · sweetD · completeD · bestE · zestE · rhymeF · primeF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| An ancient dame a firkin sees, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In which the rich Falernian lees | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| Send from the nobly tinctured shell | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| A rare and most delicious smell! | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| There when a season she had clung | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With greedy nostrils to the bung, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| "O spirit exquisitely sweet!" | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘· |
| She cried, "how perfectly complete | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Were you of old, and at the best, | 8 | ········ |
| When ev'n your dregs have such a zest!" | 8 | ········ |
| They'll see the drift of this my rhyme, | 8 | ········ |
| Who knew the author in his prime. | 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.