Chapter I: On being always Prepared for an Enemy
I don't bid you fear to wage war with a foe;Of his talk about peace, greater fear you should show!Many persons by day have the verse of peace read,Who, at night, marched their troops on the sleeping foe's head.The conquering men sleep in armour complete;For a woman, a couch is a sleeping-place meet.A soldier in camp, on retiring to rest,Does not sleep, as a woman at home does, undressed.It behoves you, in secret, for war to prepare !For the foe to attack you in secret will dare.Taking care, is the business of men of good stamp ;The advanced guard's the brazen defence of the camp.
Words in this poem
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter I: On being always Prepared for an Enemy 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: On being always Prepared for an Enemy, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/1-49.html, id L29554.
Form and metre
Chapter I: On being always Prepared for an Enemy is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFF foeA · showA · readB · headB · completeC · meetC · restD · undressedD · prepareE · dareE · stampF · campF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I don't bid you fear to wage war with a foe; | 11 | ··········· |
| Of his talk about peace, greater fear you should show! | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| Many persons by day have the verse of peace read, | 12 | /˘/˘········ |
| Who, at night, marched their troops on the sleeping foe's head. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| The conquering men sleep in armour complete; | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘˘/ |
| For a woman, a couch is a sleeping-place meet. | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| A soldier in camp, on retiring to rest, | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘·· |
| Does not sleep, as a woman at home does, undressed. | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| It behoves you, in secret, for war to prepare ! | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| For the foe to attack you in secret will dare. | 12 | ····˘/··/˘·· |
| Taking care, is the business of men of good stamp ; | 12 | /˘···/˘····· |
| The advanced guard's the brazen defence of the camp. | 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.