Chapter VII: Story of the Holy Man and the Youth
I have heard that among the religious, one hadIn pleasantry joked with a good-looking lad.The other good men, who in solitude dwell,Discussed in his absence his shortcomings well.This story at length with rapidity spread;To the man who was pious they told it; he said :" Do not rend a friend's cover, love-stricken in plight;Good humour's not wrong, nor is backbiting right!"
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- backbiting n.
- Secret slander; detraction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VII: Story of the Holy Man and the Youth 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 Holy Man and the Youth, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/7-17.html, id L29700.
Form and metre
Chapter VII: Story of the Holy Man and the Youth is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 AABBCCDD hadA · ladA · dwellB · wellB · spreadC · saidC · plightD · rightD
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 among the religious, one had | 12 | ·······˘/˘·· |
| In pleasantry joked with a good-looking lad. | 11 | ·/˘˘····/˘· |
| The other good men, who in solitude dwell, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Discussed in his absence his shortcomings well. | 11 | ˘/··/˘·/·˘· |
| This story at length with rapidity spread; | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘· |
| To the man who was pious they told it; he said : | 11 | ·····/····· |
| " Do not rend a friend's cover, love-stricken in plight; | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| Good humour's not wrong, nor is backbiting right!" | 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.