Chapter I: Story on Oppression
One was cutting the branches and trunk of a tree ;The lord of the garden his doings did see.He said, "If the work of this person is vile,Himself, and not me, he is hurting, the while."Advice is salvation, if taken aright;Overthrow not the weak with the shoulder of might!For, to-morrow, to God as a king will be borneThe beggar, that now, you'd not value one corn.Since you wish that you may on the morrow be great,Do not sink your own foe to a humble estate!For when this dominion shall pass from your grasp,That beggar your skirt, out of malice, will clasp.At oppressing the feeble, take care not to aim ;For, should they prevail, you'll be covered with shame.In the view of the noble of mind, it is baseAt the hand of the fallen to suffer disgrace.Enlightened and fortunate men of renown,Have obtained by their wisdom the throne and the crown.In the wake of the true, do not crookedly steer !And if Truth you desire, unto Sadi give ear !
Words in this poem
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- crookedly adv.
- In a curved or crooked manner; in a perverse or untoward manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter I: Story on Oppression is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Garden of Fragrance: being a complete translation of the Bostan of Sadi from the original Persian into English verse, by G. S. Davie (London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1882), Internet Archive, the G. S. Davie translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Saadi, Chapter I: Story on Oppression, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/1-25.html, id L29530.
Form and metre
Chapter I: Story on Oppression is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ treeA · seeA · vileB · whileB · arightC · mightC · borneD · cornD · greatE · estateE · graspF · claspF · aimG · shameG · baseH · disgraceH · renownI · crownI · steerJ · earJ
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| One was cutting the branches and trunk of a tree ; | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| The lord of the garden his doings did see. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| He said, "If the work of this person is vile, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Himself, and not me, he is hurting, the while." | 11 | ˘/·····/˘·· |
| Advice is salvation, if taken aright; | 11 | ˘/·˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Overthrow not the weak with the shoulder of might! | 12 | /˘······/˘·· |
| For, to-morrow, to God as a king will be borne | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| The beggar, that now, you'd not value one corn. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Since you wish that you may on the morrow be great, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Do not sink your own foe to a humble estate! | 12 | ········/˘˘/ |
| For when this dominion shall pass from your grasp, | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| That beggar your skirt, out of malice, will clasp. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| At oppressing the feeble, take care not to aim ; | 12 | ·˘/˘·/˘····· |
| For, should they prevail, you'll be covered with shame. | 12 | ···˘/··/˘˘·· |
| In the view of the noble of mind, it is base | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| At the hand of the fallen to suffer disgrace. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Enlightened and fortunate men of renown, | 12 | ˘/˘˘·/˘˘··˘/ |
| Have obtained by their wisdom the throne and the crown. | 12 | ·˘/··/˘····· |
| In the wake of the true, do not crookedly steer ! | 12 | ········/˘˘· |
| And if Truth you desire, unto Sadi give ear ! | 12 | ····˘/······ |
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.