Chapter II: Story of the Man and his Lost Son
A man lost his son off a pack-camel's back,And, at night, searched the whole caravan for his track.He'asked at each tent, and to ev'ry side hied;In the darkness, the light shining bright he espied.When again he returned to the caravan folk,To a driver of camels, I heard, he thus spoke :—"Do you know how this gem was recovered by me?Whoever approached me, I said, It is he!'"The holy, with life, ask each person they can,In the hope that they sometime may get the right man.For the sake of one heart, many griefs they oppose,And endure many thorns, for the sake of one rose.
Words in this poem
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
- sometime adv.
- At a past time indefinitely referred to; once; formerly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter II: Story of the Man and his Lost Son 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 the Man and his Lost Son, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/2-28.html, id L29585.
Form and metre
Chapter II: Story of the Man and his Lost Son 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 89%).
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 backA · trackA · hiedB · espiedB · folkC · spokeC · meD · heD · canE · manE · opposeF · roseF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A man lost his son off a pack-camel's back, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And, at night, searched the whole caravan for his track. | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| He'asked at each tent, and to ev'ry side hied; | 11 | ·˘········· |
| In the darkness, the light shining bright he espied. | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
| When again he returned to the caravan folk, | 12 | ·˘/·˘/··/˘·· |
| To a driver of camels, I heard, he thus spoke :— | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| "Do you know how this gem was recovered by me? | 12 | ·······˘/˘·· |
| Whoever approached me, I said, It is he!'" | 12 | ˘/˘˘/˘······ |
| The holy, with life, ask each person they can, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| In the hope that they sometime may get the right man. | 12 | ·····/······ |
| For the sake of one heart, many griefs they oppose, | 12 | ······/˘··˘/ |
| And endure many thorns, for the sake of one rose. | 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.