Chapter VII: Story of the Tyrant Hajaj
"Hajaj," some one said, "is a tyrant well known ;His heart is as hard as a piece of black stone ;Of the sighs and complaints of mankind, without dread ;Oh God, bring the people's revenge on his head!"An experienced person of very great age,To the youth gave a bit of advice, very sage:"They'll seek justice from him, for the poor he oppressed,And from them, for the hatred of him they expressed.From him and his service, withhold you your hand!For Time will itself bring him under command.Do not fancy that I sympathize with his ways !Or bestow upon you, for your backbiting, praise."Sin bears the unfortunate person to Hell,Who has made his cup full and his book black, as well.Another, by backbiting, runs at his rear,Lest to Hell, by himself, his lone course he should steer.
Words in this poem
- sympathize v. t.
- To experience together.
- backbiting n.
- Secret slander; detraction.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VII: Story of the Tyrant Hajaj 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 the Tyrant Hajaj, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/7-16.html, id L29699.
Form and metre
Chapter VII: Story of the Tyrant Hajaj is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH knownA · stoneA · dreadB · headB · ageC · sageC · oppressedD · expressedD · handE · commandE · waysF · praiseF · hellG · wellG · rearH · steerH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Hajaj," some one said, "is a tyrant well known ; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| His heart is as hard as a piece of black stone ; | 11 | ··········· |
| Of the sighs and complaints of mankind, without dread ; | 12 | ····˘/·//··· |
| Oh God, bring the people's revenge on his head!" | 11 | ····/˘˘/··· |
| An experienced person of very great age, | 12 | ·˘/˘˘/˘·/˘·· |
| To the youth gave a bit of advice, very sage: | 12 | ·······˘//˘· |
| "They'll seek justice from him, for the poor he oppressed, | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
| And from them, for the hatred of him they expressed. | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| From him and his service, withhold you your hand! | 11 | ····/˘˘/··· |
| For Time will itself bring him under command. | 11 | ···˘/····˘/ |
| Do not fancy that I sympathize with his ways ! | 12 | ··/˘··/˘···· |
| Or bestow upon you, for your backbiting, praise." | 12 | ·˘/·····/·˘· |
| Sin bears the unfortunate person to Hell, | 11 | ···˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| Who has made his cup full and his book black, as well. | 12 | ············ |
| Another, by backbiting, runs at his rear, | 11 | ˘/˘·/·˘···· |
| Lest to Hell, by himself, his lone course he should steer. | 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.