Chapter II: Story of the Miserly Father and the Generous Son
One departed and left earthly treasure behind ;His successor was gen'rous and prudent in mind.He did not, like misers, clutch greedily gold ;Over it, like the free, he relinquished his hold.His palace was filled with the needy and poor,And travellers lived in his guest-house secure.He made kinsmen and strangers, in spirit, content ;And was not, like his father, on hoarding-up bent.A reprover addressed him: " Oh squandering hand !Do not scatter, at once, all you have in command!In a year you can one harvest, only, obtain;It is silly to burn, in one moment, the grain !If you do not have patience in times of distress,Look to your accounts when you plenty possess !"
Words in this poem
- hoarding n.
- A screen of boards inclosing a house and materials while builders are at work. [Eng.] [From OF. hourd, hourt, barrier, palisade, of German or Dutch origin; cf. D. horde hurdle, fence, G. horde, hürde; akin to E. hurdle. sq. root16. See Hurdle.]
- reprover n.
- One who, or that which, reproves.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter II: Story of the Miserly Father and the Generous 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 Miserly Father and the Generous Son, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/2-7.html, id L29564.
Form and metre
Chapter II: Story of the Miserly Father and the Generous Son is 14 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG behindA · mindA · goldB · holdB · poorC · secureC · contentD · bentD · handE · commandE · obtainF · grainF · distressG · possessG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| One departed and left earthly treasure behind ; | 12 | ·˘/˘··/˘/˘·· |
| His successor was gen'rous and prudent in mind. | 12 | ·˘/˘····/˘·· |
| He did not, like misers, clutch greedily gold ; | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘· |
| Over it, like the free, he relinquished his hold. | 12 | ·······˘/˘·· |
| His palace was filled with the needy and poor, | 12 | ·/˘··˘··/˘·· |
| And travellers lived in his guest-house secure. | 12 | ·/˘˘·˘····˘/ |
| He made kinsmen and strangers, in spirit, content ; | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘/˘ |
| And was not, like his father, on hoarding-up bent. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| A reprover addressed him: " Oh squandering hand ! | 12 | ·˘/˘˘/··/˘˘· |
| Do not scatter, at once, all you have in command! | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
| In a year you can one harvest, only, obtain; | 12 | ······/˘/˘˘/ |
| It is silly to burn, in one moment, the grain ! | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| If you do not have patience in times of distress, | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| Look to your accounts when you plenty possess !" | 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.