Chapter II: Story of Hatim's Daughter
I have heard that the Tai, in the Prophet's own time,Refused to receive the religion sublime.His enlight'ning and threatening army he sent,And captured a number who would not repent.He ordered them all to be put to the sword ;For rev'rence they lacked and their faith was abhorred."I'm a daughter of Hatim, " a woman exclaimed,"They request my release from this governor famed.Oh revered one ! have mercy upon me, I pray !For my father was gen'rous enough, in his day !"Obeying the pure-minded Prophet's commands,They severed the chains from her feet and her hands.They put all the rest of the tribe to the sword,And a torrent of blood, without pity, outpoured.To a soldier, the woman in agony said—"As you've done to the others, cut off, too, my head!For I feel it ungen'rous, that I should be looseBy myself, and my friends all confined in the noose."To the brothers of Tai, she was speaking through tears,When the sound of her voice reached the "prophet's" sharp ears.He gave her the tribe and some presents of note ;"A pure nature," he said, " will not error promote."
Words in this poem
- repent a.
- Prostrate and rooting; -- said of stems. Gray. [L. repens, -entis, creeping, p. pr. of repere to creep.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter II: Story of Hatim's Daughter 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: Story of Hatim's Daughter, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/2-23.html, id L29580.
Form and metre
Chapter II: Story of Hatim's Daughter is 22 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 AABBCCDDEEFFCCGGHHIIJJ timeA · sublimeA · sentB · repentB · swordC · abhorredC · exclaimedD · famedD · prayE · dayE · commandsF · handsF · swordC · outpouredC · saidG · headG · looseH · nooseH · tearsI · earsI · noteJ · promoteJ
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 have heard that the Tai, in the Prophet's own time, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Refused to receive the religion sublime. | 12 | ˘/˘·˘/·˘/˘˘/ |
| His enlight'ning and threatening army he sent, | 12 | ·····/˘˘/˘·· |
| And captured a number who would not repent. | 12 | ·/˘˘·/˘···˘/ |
| He ordered them all to be put to the sword ; | 12 | ·/˘˘········ |
| For rev'rence they lacked and their faith was abhorred. | 12 | ·····˘····˘/ |
| "I'm a daughter of Hatim, " a woman exclaimed, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘/ |
| "They request my release from this governor famed. | 12 | ·˘/·˘/··/˘˘· |
| Oh revered one ! have mercy upon me, I pray ! | 12 | ·˘/··/˘····· |
| For my father was gen'rous enough, in his day !" | 12 | ··/˘···˘/··· |
| Obeying the pure-minded Prophet's commands, | 11 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘˘/ |
| They severed the chains from her feet and her hands. | 12 | ·/˘˘········ |
| They put all the rest of the tribe to the sword, | 11 | ··········· |
| And a torrent of blood, without pity, outpoured. | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·/ |
| To a soldier, the woman in agony said— | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| "As you've done to the others, cut off, too, my head! | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| For I feel it ungen'rous, that I should be loose | 12 | ············ |
| By myself, and my friends all confined in the noose." | 12 | ··/····˘/··· |
| To the brothers of Tai, she was speaking through tears, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| When the sound of her voice reached the "prophet's" sharp ears. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| He gave her the tribe and some presents of note ; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| "A pure nature," he said, " will not error promote." | 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.