Chapter III: Story on the Frailty of Lovers
I have heard that a minstrel's sweet notes so entrancedA fairy-faced maid that she gracefully danced.Her, the hearts of admirers so closely begirt,That the flame of a candle set fire to her skirt.Distracted in spirit, she anger displayed,When one of her lovers said, " Why be afraid?The fire has, oh friend ! set your skirt in a blaze!It has burned, in a moment, the hope of my days."If you are a friend, do not boast of the fact !To serve God and yourself, is an impious act.
Words in this poem
- begirt v. t.
- To encompass; to begird.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter III: Story on the Frailty of Lovers 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 III: Story on the Frailty of Lovers, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/3-4.html, id L29596.
Form and metre
Chapter III: Story on the Frailty of Lovers is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 AABBCCDDEE entrancedA · dancedA · begirtB · skirtB · displayedC · afraidC · blazeD · daysD · factE · actE
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 a minstrel's sweet notes so entranced | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| A fairy-faced maid that she gracefully danced. | 12 | ·/˘·˘···/˘˘· |
| Her, the hearts of admirers so closely begirt, | 12 | ····˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| That the flame of a candle set fire to her skirt. | 12 | ·····/˘·/··· |
| Distracted in spirit, she anger displayed, | 12 | ˘/˘·/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| When one of her lovers said, " Why be afraid? | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| The fire has, oh friend ! set your skirt in a blaze! | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| It has burned, in a moment, the hope of my days." | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| If you are a friend, do not boast of the fact ! | 11 | ··········· |
| To serve God and yourself, is an impious act. | 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.