Chapter IV: On Pride and its Result, and Sadness and its Blessing
Do not ask for the Faith from one proud of his pelf!Do not piety seek from a lover of self!If rank you desire do not copy the base !With the eye of humility limit your gaze!When will an intelligent person surmise,That power exalted in arrogance lies?For a nobler position than this, do not seek !That in praise of your nature the multitude speak!When a man, like yourself, makes you feel his pride's weight,With wisdom's clear eye, can you view him as great?You also from haughtiness do just the same ;You resemble the proud who preceding you came.When in station exalted, securely you stand,Do not laugh at the fallen, if sense you command !Many persons established have suffered disgrace,And those who were fallen have seized on their place.I admit, that from faults you are perfectly free !Do not curse me! Of faults I'm as full as can be.The Raba's ring-knocker, one holds in his hand;In a tavern, another's so drunk, he can't stand.If He wills that the former may near Him remain,And drives off the latter, to call him again ;The first is not helped by his own acts of grace,And the door is not shut in the other one's face.
Words in this poem
- pelf n.
- Money; riches; lucre; gain; -- generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten or worthless. It has no plural. [OE. pelfir booty, OF. pelfre, akin to pelfrer to plunder, and perh. to E. pillage. Cf. Pilfer.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter IV: On Pride and its Result, and Sadness and its Blessing 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 IV: On Pride and its Result, and Sadness and its Blessing, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/4-5.html, id L29626.
Form and metre
Chapter IV: On Pride and its Result, and Sadness and its Blessing is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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 AAB-CCDDEEFFGGBBHHGGIIBB pelfA · selfA · baseB · gaze · surmiseC · liesC · seekD · speakD · weightE · greatE · sameF · cameF · standG · commandG · disgraceB · placeB · freeH · beH · handG · standG · remainI · againI · graceB · faceB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Do not ask for the Faith from one proud of his pelf! | 12 | ············ |
| Do not piety seek from a lover of self! | 12 | ··/˘˘···/˘·· |
| If rank you desire do not copy the base ! | 12 | ···˘/˘··/˘·· |
| With the eye of humility limit your gaze! | 12 | ····˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| When will an intelligent person surmise, | 11 | ···˘/˘˘/˘˘/ |
| That power exalted in arrogance lies? | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| For a nobler position than this, do not seek ! | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘····· |
| That in praise of your nature the multitude speak! | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| When a man, like yourself, makes you feel his pride's weight, | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| With wisdom's clear eye, can you view him as great? | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| You also from haughtiness do just the same ; | 11 | ·/˘·/˘˘···· |
| You resemble the proud who preceding you came. | 12 | ·˘/˘···˘/˘·· |
| When in station exalted, securely you stand, | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| Do not laugh at the fallen, if sense you command ! | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| Many persons established have suffered disgrace, | 12 | /˘/˘˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| And those who were fallen have seized on their place. | 12 | ····/˘··˘··· |
| I admit, that from faults you are perfectly free ! | 12 | ·˘/·····/˘˘· |
| Do not curse me! Of faults I'm as full as can be. | 12 | ············ |
| The Raba's ring-knocker, one holds in his hand; | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| In a tavern, another's so drunk, he can't stand. | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘····· |
| If He wills that the former may near Him remain, | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| And drives off the latter, to call him again ; | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| The first is not helped by his own acts of grace, | 12 | ·····˘······ |
| And the door is not shut in the other one's face. | 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.