Chapter VII: Story of Sadi and his Tutor
I once a Nizamiah scholarship gained ;Day and night were debates and instruction maintained.To the tutor I said, " Oh thou, wise in our days!My friend, so and so, for me envy displays.When I give the true meaning of any nice text,The heart of that wicked companion is vexed."To this tale the promoter of learning gave heed ;He grew angry and said, "What a wonder, indeed!An envious friend's not approved in your sight;I know not who taught you that sland'ring was right !If he chooses, through baseness, the pathway to hell,By a different road you will reach there, as well."
Words in this poem
- scholarship n.
- The character and qualities of a scholar; attainments in science or literature; erudition; learning.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VII: Story of Sadi and his Tutor 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 VII: Story of Sadi and his Tutor, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/7-15.html, id L29698.
Form and metre
Chapter VII: Story of Sadi and his Tutor is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFF gainedA · maintainedA · daysB · displaysB · textC · vexedC · heedD · indeedD · sightE · rightE · hellF · wellF
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 once a Nizamiah scholarship gained ; | 11 | ······/˘··˘ |
| Day and night were debates and instruction maintained. | 12 | ····˘/·˘/˘˘/ |
| To the tutor I said, " Oh thou, wise in our days! | 12 | ··/˘······/· |
| My friend, so and so, for me envy displays. | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| When I give the true meaning of any nice text, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| The heart of that wicked companion is vexed." | 12 | ····/˘˘˘/˘·· |
| To this tale the promoter of learning gave heed ; | 12 | ····˘/˘·/˘·· |
| He grew angry and said, "What a wonder, indeed! | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘/ |
| An envious friend's not approved in your sight; | 12 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘··· |
| I know not who taught you that sland'ring was right ! | 11 | ··········· |
| If he chooses, through baseness, the pathway to hell, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/··· |
| By a different road you will reach there, as well." | 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.