The Bald-Pate Dupe
Fondling or fondled--any how--(Examples of all times allow)That men by women must be fleeced.A dame, whose years were well increased,But skill'd t' affect a youthful mien,Was a staid husband's empress queen;Who yet sequester'd half his heartFor a young damsel, brisk and smart.They, while each wanted to attachThemselves to him, and seem his match,Began to tamper with his hair.He, pleased with their officious care,Was on a sudden made a coot;For the young strumpet, branch and root,Stripp'd of the hoary hairs his crown,E'en as th' old cat grubb'd up the brown.
Words in this poem
- fleeced a.
- Furnished with a fleece; as, a sheep is well fleeced.
- 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]
- damsel n.
- A young person, either male or female, of noble or gentle extraction; as, Damsel Pepin; Damsel Richard, Prince of Wales. [OE. damosel, damesel, damisel, damsel, fr. OF. damoisele, damisele, gentlewoman, F. demoiselle young lady; cf. OF. damoisel young nobleman, F. damoiseau; fr. LL]
- tamper n.
- One who tamps; specifically, one who prepares for blasting, by filling the hole in which the charge is placed.
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bald-Pate Dupe 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-Pate Dupe, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-bald-pate-dupe.html, id L21265.
Form and metre
The Bald-Pate Dupe 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 89%).
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 howA · allowA · fleecedB · increasedB · mienC · queenC · heartD · smartD · attachE · matchE · hairF · careF · cootG · rootG · crownH · brownH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fondling or fondled--any how-- | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| (Examples of all times allow) | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| That men by women must be fleeced. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A dame, whose years were well increased, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| But skill'd t' affect a youthful mien, | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| Was a staid husband's empress queen; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Who yet sequester'd half his heart | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| For a young damsel, brisk and smart. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They, while each wanted to attach | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Themselves to him, and seem his match, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Began to tamper with his hair. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| He, pleased with their officious care, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Was on a sudden made a coot; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For the young strumpet, branch and root, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Stripp'd of the hoary hairs his crown, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| E'en as th' old cat grubb'd up the brown. | 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.