The He-Goats and She-Goats
When the She-Goats from Jove obtain'dA beard, th' indignant Males complain'd,That females by this near approachWould on their gravity encroach."Suffer, my sapient friends," says he,"Their eminence in this degree,And bear their beard's most graceful length,As they can never have your strength."Warn'd by this little tale, agreeWith men in gen'ral form'd like thee,While you by virtue still exceed,And in the spirit take the lead.
Words in this poem
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- sapient a.
- Wise; sage; discerning; -- often in irony or contempt. [L. sapiens, -entis, p.pr. of sapere to taste to have sense, to know. See Sage, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The He-Goats and She-Goats 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 He-Goats and She-Goats, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-he-goats-and-she-goats.html, id L21304.
Form and metre
The He-Goats and She-Goats 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 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 AABBCCDDCCEE obtain'dA · complain'dA · approachB · encroachB · heC · degreeC · lengthD · strengthD · agreeC · theeC · exceedE · leadE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When the She-Goats from Jove obtain'd | 8 | ······˘/ |
| A beard, th' indignant Males complain'd, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| That females by this near approach | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| Would on their gravity encroach. | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| "Suffer, my sapient friends," says he, | 9 | /˘·/˘˘··· |
| "Their eminence in this degree, | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| And bear their beard's most graceful length, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As they can never have your strength." | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Warn'd by this little tale, agree | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| With men in gen'ral form'd like thee, | 8 | ········ |
| While you by virtue still exceed, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And in the spirit take the lead. | 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.