The Bald Man and the Fly
As on his head she chanced to sit,A Man's bald pate a Gadfly bit;He, prompt to crush the little foe,Dealt on himself a grievous blow:At which the Fly, deriding said,"You that would strike an insect deadFor one slight sting, in wrath so strict,What punishment will you inflictUpon yourself, who was so bluntTo do yourself this gross affront?"--"O," says the party, "as for me,I with myself can soon agree.The spirit of th' intention's all;But thou, detested cannibal!Blood-sucker! to have thee securedMore would I gladly have endured."What by this moral tale is meantIs--those who wrong not with intentAre venial; but to those that doSeverity, I think, is due.
Words in this poem
- pate n.
- A pie. See Patty. [F. pâté.]
- gadfly n.
- Any dipterous insect of the genus Oestrus, and allied genera of botflies. [Gad + fly.]
- cannibal n.
- A human being that eats human flesh; hence, any that devours its own kind. Darwin. [Cf. F. cannibale. Columbus, in a letter to the Spanish monarchs written in Oct., 1498, mentions that the people of Hayti lived in great fear of the Caribales (e]
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bald Man and the Fly 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, The Bald Man and the Fly, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-bald-man-and-the-fly.html, id L21317.
Form and metre
The Bald Man and the Fly is 20 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 88%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ sitA · bitA · foeB · blowB · saidC · deadC · strictD · inflictD · bluntE · affrontE · meF · agreeF · allG · cannibalG · securedH · enduredH · meantI · intentI · doJ · dueJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As on his head she chanced to sit, | 8 | ········ |
| A Man's bald pate a Gadfly bit; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| He, prompt to crush the little foe, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Dealt on himself a grievous blow: | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| At which the Fly, deriding said, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| "You that would strike an insect dead | 8 | ·····/·· |
| For one slight sting, in wrath so strict, | 8 | ········ |
| What punishment will you inflict | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| Upon yourself, who was so blunt | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| To do yourself this gross affront?"-- | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| "O," says the party, "as for me, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I with myself can soon agree. | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| The spirit of th' intention's all; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| But thou, detested cannibal! | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Blood-sucker! to have thee secured | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| More would I gladly have endured." | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| What by this moral tale is meant | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Is--those who wrong not with intent | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Are venial; but to those that do | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| Severity, I think, is due. | 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.