The Trees Protected
The gods took certain trees (th' affairWas some time since) into their care.The oak was best approved by Jove,The myrtle by the queen of love;The god of music and the dayVouchsafed to patronise the bay;The pine Cybele chanced to please,And the tall poplar Hercules.Minerva upon this inquiredWhy they all barren trees admired?"The cause," says Jupiter, "is plain,Lest we give honour up for gain.""Let every one their fancy suit,I choose the olive for its fruit."The sire of gods and men replies,"Daughter, thou shalt be reckon'd wiseBy all the world, and justly too;For whatsover things we do,If not a life of useful days,How vain is all pretence to praise!"Whate'er experiments you try,Have some advantage in your eye.
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.]
- patronise v. t.
- To act as patron toward; to support; to countenance; to favor; to aid.
- minerva n.
- The goddess of wisdom, of war, of the arts and sciences, of poetry, and of spinning and weaving; -- identified with the Grecian Pallas Athene. [L.]
- admired a.
- Regarded with wonder and delight; highly prized; as, an admired poem.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- pretence n.
- The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Trees Protected 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 Trees Protected, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-trees-protected.html, id L21288.
Form and metre
The Trees Protected is 22 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 91% of the lines: 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 AA--BBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ affairA · careA · jove · love · dayB · bayB · pleaseC · herculesC · inquiredD · admiredD · plainE · gainE · suitF · fruitF · repliesG · wiseG · tooH · doH · daysI · praiseI · tryJ · eyeJ
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 gods took certain trees (th' affair | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Was some time since) into their care. | 8 | ········ |
| The oak was best approved by Jove, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The myrtle by the queen of love; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The god of music and the day | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Vouchsafed to patronise the bay; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The pine Cybele chanced to please, | 8 | ········ |
| And the tall poplar Hercules. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Minerva upon this inquired | 9 | ˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Why they all barren trees admired? | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| "The cause," says Jupiter, "is plain, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Lest we give honour up for gain." | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "Let every one their fancy suit, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I choose the olive for its fruit." | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The sire of gods and men replies, | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| "Daughter, thou shalt be reckon'd wise | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| By all the world, and justly too; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For whatsover things we do, | 7 | ······· |
| If not a life of useful days, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| How vain is all pretence to praise!" | 8 | ········ |
| Whate'er experiments you try, | 8 | ˘˘/˘/˘·· |
| Have some advantage in your eye. | 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.