Chapter II: Remarks on the Fear of Kings and the Government of a Country
In connexion with favour, enough, I have said ;Yet it need not be showered on ev'ry one's head.Eat the blood and the wealth of tyrannical kings !For a bad cock is best, with plucked plumage and wings.If a man to be fighting your master is known,Why strengthen his hands with a stick and a stone?Destroy, without sorrow, the thorn-bearing root !And carefully cherish the tree that bears fruit !On a person the rank of a noble bestow,Who to the distressed will not arrogance show!Show no grace to the spot where a tyrant's lines fall !For mercy to him is oppression on all !Much better extinguish the world-burner's flame!Better one man on fire than a people in shame.Whenever you pity the fierce robbing-man,With your own arm you rifle the rich caravan.Throw tyrannical heads to the wind in its flight !Oppression on tyrants, is justice and right !
Words in this poem
- connexion n.
- Connection. See Connection. [L. connexio: cf. F. connexion.]
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter II: Remarks on the Fear of Kings and the Government of a Country 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 the Fear of Kings and the Government of a Country, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/2-33.html, id L29590.
Form and metre
Chapter II: Remarks on the Fear of Kings and the Government of a Country is 18 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII saidA · headA · kingsB · wingsB · knownC · stoneC · rootD · fruitD · bestowE · showE · fallF · allF · flameG · shameG · manH · caravanH · flightI · rightI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In connexion with favour, enough, I have said ; | 12 | ·˘/˘·/˘˘/··· |
| Yet it need not be showered on ev'ry one's head. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Eat the blood and the wealth of tyrannical kings ! | 12 | ·······˘/˘˘· |
| For a bad cock is best, with plucked plumage and wings. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| If a man to be fighting your master is known, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| Why strengthen his hands with a stick and a stone? | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Destroy, without sorrow, the thorn-bearing root ! | 11 | ˘/··/˘··/˘· |
| And carefully cherish the tree that bears fruit ! | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘····· |
| On a person the rank of a noble bestow, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘/ |
| Who to the distressed will not arrogance show! | 12 | ···˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| Show no grace to the spot where a tyrant's lines fall ! | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| For mercy to him is oppression on all ! | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘·· |
| Much better extinguish the world-burner's flame! | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Better one man on fire than a people in shame. | 12 | /˘···/··/˘·· |
| Whenever you pity the fierce robbing-man, | 11 | ˘/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| With your own arm you rifle the rich caravan. | 12 | ·····/˘··/˘· |
| Throw tyrannical heads to the wind in its flight ! | 12 | ·˘/˘˘······· |
| Oppression on tyrants, is justice and right ! | 11 | ˘/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
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.