Chapter V: On Patience, Resignation, and Submission to the Decrees of Fate
Felicity dwells in God's favour alone ;In war and the arm of the strong, it's unknown.If the high sphere of Heav'n give not wealth, be awareThat it will not by manliness come to your snare !The ant although weak does not hardship sustain ;By their pow'rfulness, lions their food do not gain.Since the hand is unable to reach to the skies,One is bound to submit to the changes that rise.If Fate has inscribed that your life will be long,The snake, sword and tiger can do you no wrong.And if of your life not a part should remain,The antidote kills you, the same as the bane.When Rustam his last daily morsel had gnawed,Was dust from his body not brought by Shighad ?
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- manliness n.
- The quality or state of being manly.
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter V: On Patience, Resignation, and Submission to the Decrees of Fate 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 V: On Patience, Resignation, and Submission to the Decrees of Fate, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/5-2.html, id L29653.
Form and metre
Chapter V: On Patience, Resignation, and Submission to the Decrees of Fate 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 97%).
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 aloneA · unknownA · awareB · snareB · sustainC · gainC · skiesD · riseD · longE · wrongE · remainF · baneF · gnawedG · shighadG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Felicity dwells in God's favour alone ; | 11 | ˘/˘˘···/˘˘/ |
| In war and the arm of the strong, it's unknown. | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| If the high sphere of Heav'n give not wealth, be aware | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| That it will not by manliness come to your snare ! | 12 | ·····/˘˘···· |
| The ant although weak does not hardship sustain ; | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| By their pow'rfulness, lions their food do not gain. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Since the hand is unable to reach to the skies, | 12 | ····˘/˘····· |
| One is bound to submit to the changes that rise. | 12 | ····˘/··/˘·· |
| If Fate has inscribed that your life will be long, | 11 | ···˘/······ |
| The snake, sword and tiger can do you no wrong. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And if of your life not a part should remain, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| The antidote kills you, the same as the bane. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| When Rustam his last daily morsel had gnawed, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| Was dust from his body not brought by Shighad ? | 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.