Chapter VII: Story on the Effects of Impertinence
A man spoke impertinent words in a fray ;They tore with their fingers his collar away.Well-beaten and naked he, weeping, sat down ;Said a man of experience, "Oh self-loving clown!If your mouth like a rose-bud unopened had been,Your shirt, rose-like, riven you would not have seen."The madman speaks words that in boasting abound;Like the drum that is empty, he makes a great sound.A burning is only a flame, don't you see !That at once with some water extinguished can be.If a person be blessed, through the merit he bears,Not the man but the merit its presence declares.If the musk you possess be not real, do not tell !If it is, it will make itself known by the smell.What need to swear gold is the purest of gold?For the touch-stone will, surely, its nature unfold!There are critics a thousand who, after this plan,Say that Sadi's a worthless and reticent man.It is meet that to tear my poshteen they should strain !But I cannot endure them to harry my brain.
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
- reticent a.
- Inclined to keep silent; reserved; uncommunicative. [L. reticens, p. pr. of reticere to keep silence; re- + tacere to be silent. See Tacit.]
- harry v. i.
- To make a predatory incursion; to plunder or lay waste.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VII: Story on the Effects of Impertinence 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 on the Effects of Impertinence, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/7-5.html, id L29688.
Form and metre
Chapter VII: Story on the Effects of Impertinence is 20 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ frayA · awayA · downB · clownB · beenC · seenC · aboundD · soundD · seeE · beE · bearsF · declaresF · tellG · smellG · goldH · unfoldH · planI · manI · strainJ · brainJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A man spoke impertinent words in a fray ; | 11 | ···˘/˘˘···· |
| They tore with their fingers his collar away. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Well-beaten and naked he, weeping, sat down ; | 12 | ·/˘·/˘˘·/˘·· |
| Said a man of experience, "Oh self-loving clown! | 12 | ····˘/˘··/˘· |
| If your mouth like a rose-bud unopened had been, | 12 | ·······˘/˘·· |
| Your shirt, rose-like, riven you would not have seen." | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| The madman speaks words that in boasting abound; | 11 | ·/·····/˘˘/ |
| Like the drum that is empty, he makes a great sound. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| A burning is only a flame, don't you see ! | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| That at once with some water extinguished can be. | 12 | ·····/˘˘/˘·· |
| If a person be blessed, through the merit he bears, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Not the man but the merit its presence declares. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| If the musk you possess be not real, do not tell ! | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| If it is, it will make itself known by the smell. | 12 | ······˘/···· |
| What need to swear gold is the purest of gold? | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| For the touch-stone will, surely, its nature unfold! | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| There are critics a thousand who, after this plan, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| Say that Sadi's a worthless and reticent man. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘· |
| It is meet that to tear my poshteen they should strain ! | 12 | ············ |
| But I cannot endure them to harry my brain. | 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.