Chapter VII: Story of the Slanderer's Reproof
Some resolute men, knowing God in their heart,Were seated, conversing together, apart.One among them began to revile and deride ;And in sland'ring a helpless one, ope'd the door wide.Another addressed him, " Oh prejudiced friend !Did you ever in war with crusaders contend?"He replied, " From behind the four walls that I own ;In my lifetime, a foot to the front I've not shown."The pure-hearted Dervish his answer thus gave:"I have never beheld such an infamous knave !For while infidels sit from his warring secure,Musalmans must his tongue's fiery venom endure !"
Words in this poem
- deride v. t.
- To laugh at with contempt; to laugh to scorn; to turn to ridicule or make sport of; to mock; to scoff at. [L. deridere, derisum; de- + rid to laugh. See Ridicule.]
- lifetime n.
- The time that life continues.
- dervish n.
- A Turkish or Persian monk, especially one who professes extreme poverty and leads an austere life. [Per. derw, fr. OPer. derew to beg, ask alms: cf. F. derviche.]
- knave n.
- A boy; especially, a boy servant. Wyclif. [OE., boy, servant, knave, AS. cnafa boy, youth; cf. AS. cnapa boy, youth, D. kna, G. knabe boy, knappe esquire, Icel. knapi, Sw. knape esquire, knäfvel knave.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VII: Story of the Slanderer's Reproof 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 Slanderer's Reproof, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/7-19.html, id L29702.
Form and metre
Chapter VII: Story of the Slanderer's Reproof 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 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 AABBCCDDEEFF heartA · apartA · derideB · wideB · friendC · contendC · ownD · shownD · gaveE · knaveE · secureF · endureF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Some resolute men, knowing God in their heart, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| Were seated, conversing together, apart. | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘˘/˘˘/ |
| One among them began to revile and deride ; | 12 | ····˘/·˘/·˘/ |
| And in sland'ring a helpless one, ope'd the door wide. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Another addressed him, " Oh prejudiced friend ! | 12 | ˘/˘˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| Did you ever in war with crusaders contend?" | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘˘/ |
| He replied, " From behind the four walls that I own ; | 12 | ·˘/········· |
| In my lifetime, a foot to the front I've not shown." | 12 | ··/········· |
| The pure-hearted Dervish his answer thus gave: | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| "I have never beheld such an infamous knave ! | 12 | ··/˘˘/··/˘˘· |
| For while infidels sit from his warring secure, | 12 | ··/˘˘···/˘˘/ |
| Musalmans must his tongue's fiery venom endure !" | 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.