Chapter VIII: On Inquiring into the State of the Weak, and Thanking God for His Favours
No one knows of the worth of the days of delight,Unless he has, once, been in desperate plight.Before a rich person, how easy appearCold, winter and want, in a famine-struck year?He who snake-bitten slept, after being distressed,For curing him, thanks to the Master expressed.Since in foot you are rapid, and manly in gait,With slow moving trav'llers in thankfulness wait !Do the young on the old many favours bestow?Do the strong for the weak any sympathy show?Of water's worth, what do Jihoonians know?Ask of those left behind in the sun's parching glow!What grief for the parch'd, in Zarood's desert wide,Has the Arab who sits by the Tigris green side?The man knows the value of health, in his case,Who, helpless, has melted in fever a space.When will the dark night appear long to your mind,Since, from side unto side, you can turn when inclined ?On the falling and rising of ague, reflect !For the man who is ill the long night can detect.The master awoke by the drum's sound at last ;Does he know how the night of the sentinel passed?
Words in this poem
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- 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.]
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
- parching a.
- Scorching; burning; drying.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VIII: On Inquiring into the State of the Weak, and Thanking God for His Favours 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 VIII: On Inquiring into the State of the Weak, and Thanking God for His Favours, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/8-7.html, id L29725.
Form and metre
Chapter VIII: On Inquiring into the State of the Weak, and Thanking God for His Favours is 22 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 AABBCCDDEEEEFFGGHHIIJJ delightA · plightA · appearB · yearB · distressedC · expressedC · gaitD · waitD · bestowE · showE · knowE · glowE · wideF · sideF · caseG · spaceG · mindH · inclinedH · reflectI · detectI · lastJ · passedJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No one knows of the worth of the days of delight, | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| Unless he has, once, been in desperate plight. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Before a rich person, how easy appear | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Cold, winter and want, in a famine-struck year? | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| He who snake-bitten slept, after being distressed, | 12 | ···/˘···/˘˘/ |
| For curing him, thanks to the Master expressed. | 12 | ·/˘····/˘˘/˘ |
| Since in foot you are rapid, and manly in gait, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| With slow moving trav'llers in thankfulness wait ! | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Do the young on the old many favours bestow? | 12 | ······/˘/˘˘/ |
| Do the strong for the weak any sympathy show? | 12 | ······/˘/˘˘· |
| Of water's worth, what do Jihoonians know? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Ask of those left behind in the sun's parching glow! | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| What grief for the parch'd, in Zarood's desert wide, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Has the Arab who sits by the Tigris green side? | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| The man knows the value of health, in his case, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Who, helpless, has melted in fever a space. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| When will the dark night appear long to your mind, | 11 | ·····˘/···· |
| Since, from side unto side, you can turn when inclined ? | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| On the falling and rising of ague, reflect ! | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| For the man who is ill the long night can detect. | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| The master awoke by the drum's sound at last ; | 11 | ·/˘˘/······ |
| Does he know how the night of the sentinel passed? | 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.