Chapter I: Story on the Happy Times of the Contented Poor
Do not say that no rank is than empire more great ;For the Dervish's realm is the happiest state!The man lightly burdened will swifter proceed;This is truth, and the good to the saying give heed.The grief of a loaf, the poor beggar sustains;To a world, the distress of a monarch attains.When food for the ev'ning the beggar has found,As the king of Damascus, he'll slumber as sound.Both sorrow and gladness to end are inclined,And will vanish together at death, from the mind.What matters it then, whom the multitude crowned ?What matters it then, who the tax money found?If a noble should soar over Saturn on high,Or a destitute man in a dungeon should lie ;When both are attacked by the Army of Fate,Which is one which the other no mortal can state.
Words in this poem
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter I: Story on the Happy Times of the Contented Poor 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 the Happy Times of the Contented Poor, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/1-26.html, id L29531.
Form and metre
Chapter I: Story on the Happy Times of the Contented Poor is 16 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 AABBCCDDEEDDFFAA greatA · stateA · proceedB · heedB · sustainsC · attainsC · foundD · soundD · inclinedE · mindE · crownedD · foundD · highF · lieF · fateA · stateA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Do not say that no rank is than empire more great ; | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| For the Dervish's realm is the happiest state! | 12 | ··/˘˘···/˘˘· |
| The man lightly burdened will swifter proceed; | 12 | ··/˘/˘˘·/˘˘/ |
| This is truth, and the good to the saying give heed. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| The grief of a loaf, the poor beggar sustains; | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| To a world, the distress of a monarch attains. | 12 | ····˘/··/·˘/ |
| When food for the ev'ning the beggar has found, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| As the king of Damascus, he'll slumber as sound. | 12 | ····˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Both sorrow and gladness to end are inclined, | 12 | ·/˘·/˘···˘/˘ |
| And will vanish together at death, from the mind. | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘····· |
| What matters it then, whom the multitude crowned ? | 12 | ·/˘····/˘··˘ |
| What matters it then, who the tax money found? | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| If a noble should soar over Saturn on high, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Or a destitute man in a dungeon should lie ; | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| When both are attacked by the Army of Fate, | 12 | ···˘/˘··/˘·· |
| Which is one which the other no mortal can state. | 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.