Chapter II: Remarks on Generosity
Show kindness, oh son ! since all human in name,By kindness can ev'ry wild animal tame!Round your enemy's neck, fasten favours profuse—With the sabre, he cannot divide such a noose.When a foe's ees abundance and favour and grace,Not again will his wickedness dare to show face.Do not sin, though a comrade should wickedness show!Good fruit from a seed that is bad will not grow.When you deal with a friend in a miserly way,He desires not to witness you prosp'rous and gay.If a ruler, to foes, a kind manner extends,In a very short time, all the foes become friends.
Words in this poem
- sabre n.
- A sword with a broad and heavy blade, thick at the back, and usually more or less curved like a scimiter; a cavalry sword. Saber fish, or Sabre fish (Zoöl.), the cutlass fish.
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- miserly a.
- Like a miser; very covetous; sordid; niggardly. [From Miser.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter II: Remarks on Generosity 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 II: Remarks on Generosity, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/2-17.html, id L29574.
Form and metre
Chapter II: Remarks on Generosity 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 93%).
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 nameA · tameA · profuseB · nooseB · graceC · faceC · showD · growD · wayE · gayE · extendsF · friendsF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Show kindness, oh son ! since all human in name, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| By kindness can ev'ry wild animal tame! | 11 | ·/˘····/˘˘· |
| Round your enemy's neck, fasten favours profuse— | 12 | ··/˘˘·/˘/˘˘/ |
| With the sabre, he cannot divide such a noose. | 12 | ··/˘·˘/˘/··· |
| When a foe's ees abundance and favour and grace, | 12 | ····˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Not again will his wickedness dare to show face. | 12 | ·˘/··/˘˘···· |
| Do not sin, though a comrade should wickedness show! | 12 | ·····/··/˘˘· |
| Good fruit from a seed that is bad will not grow. | 11 | ··········· |
| When you deal with a friend in a miserly way, | 12 | ········/˘˘· |
| He desires not to witness you prosp'rous and gay. | 12 | ·˘/··/˘····· |
| If a ruler, to foes, a kind manner extends, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘/ |
| In a very short time, all the foes become friends. | 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.