The Battle of the Mice and Weasels
The routed Mice upon a dayFled from the Weasels in array;But in the hurry of the flight,What with their weakness and their frightEach scarce could get into his cave:Howe'er, at last their lives they save.But their commanders (who had tiedHorns to their heads in martial pride,Which as a signal they design'dFor non-commission'd mice to mind)Stick in the entrance as they go,And there are taken by the foe,Who, greedy of the victim, glutsWith mouse-flesh his ungodly guts.Each great and national distressMust chiefly mighty men oppress;While folks subordinate and poorAre by their littleness secure.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- ungodly a.
- Not godly; not having regard for God; disobedient to God; wicked; impious; sinful.
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Battle of the Mice and Weasels 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 Battle of the Mice and Weasels, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-battle-of-the-mice-and-weasels.html, id L21297.
Form and metre
The Battle of the Mice and Weasels is 18 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII dayA · arrayA · flightB · frightB · caveC · saveC · tiedD · prideD · design'dE · mindE · goF · foeF · glutsG · gutsG · distressH · oppressH · poorI · secureI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The routed Mice upon a day | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Fled from the Weasels in array; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| But in the hurry of the flight, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What with their weakness and their fright | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Each scarce could get into his cave: | 8 | ········ |
| Howe'er, at last their lives they save. | 8 | ········ |
| But their commanders (who had tied | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Horns to their heads in martial pride, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which as a signal they design'd | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| For non-commission'd mice to mind) | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Stick in the entrance as they go, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And there are taken by the foe, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who, greedy of the victim, gluts | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With mouse-flesh his ungodly guts. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Each great and national distress | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Must chiefly mighty men oppress; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| While folks subordinate and poor | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Are by their littleness secure. | 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.