The Pilot and Sailors
On hearing a poor man lamentHis worldly thoughts in discontent,Esop this tale began to write,For consolation and delight.The ship by furious tempests toss'd,The Mariners gave all for lost;But midst their tears and dread, the sceneIs changed at once, and all serene.The wind is fair, the vessel speeds,The Sailors' boist'rous joy exceeds:The Pilot then, by peril wise,Was prompted to philosophise."'Tis right to put a due restraintOn joy, and to retard complaint,Because alternate hope and frightMake up our lives of black and white."
Words in this poem
- philosophise v. i.
- To reason like a philosopher; to search into the reason and nature of things; to investigate phenomena, and assign rational causes for their existence.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pilot and Sailors 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 Pilot and Sailors, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-pilot-and-sailors.html, id L21305.
Form and metre
The Pilot and Sailors 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 91%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGBB lamentA · discontentA · writeB · delightB · toss'dC · lostC · sceneD · sereneD · speedsE · exceedsE · wiseF · philosophiseF · restraintG · complaintG · frightB · whiteB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On hearing a poor man lament | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| His worldly thoughts in discontent, | 8 | ·/˘··˘˘/ |
| Esop this tale began to write, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| For consolation and delight. | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| The ship by furious tempests toss'd, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The Mariners gave all for lost; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| But midst their tears and dread, the scene | 8 | ········ |
| Is changed at once, and all serene. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The wind is fair, the vessel speeds, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The Sailors' boist'rous joy exceeds: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The Pilot then, by peril wise, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Was prompted to philosophise. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "'Tis right to put a due restraint | 8 | ······˘/ |
| On joy, and to retard complaint, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Because alternate hope and fright | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Make up our lives of black and white." | 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.