Chapter IX: Admonition and Advice
Have you knowledge regarding your cage made of bone?For your life is a bird; as the spirit, 'tis known.When a bird leaves its cage and confinement alive,It will not be captive again, though you strive.For a moment's the world, opportunity prize !A moment's preferred to the world by the wise.Alexander, who held the whole world in his sway,At the moment he died could not bear it away;It was not allowed that his world they should seize,And grant him instead one short moment of ease.They have gone! What each sowed he will reap just the same;Nought remains now, excepting a good and bad name.Why should I set my heart on this traveller's home?For our comrades have gone; on the road we still roam.The garden will yield that same rose after us,And friends will, together, sit down and discuss.By this sweetheart, the world, let your heart not be buoyed!For whoever she favoured his heart she destroyed.When the tomb's niche becomes a poor man's sleeping place,Resurrection will wipe all the dust from his face.Raise your head up, this moment, from Apathy's breast!Lest, to-morrow, regret makes it greatly distressed.Don't you, ent'ring Shiraz to take up your abode,Wash your body and head from the dust of the road?Hence, oh thou depraved habitation of sin !To a strange city, soon, you'll your journey begin.From the founts of your eyes, cause a current to flow!And wash from yourself any filth you may show !
Words in this poem
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- discuss v. t.
- To break to pieces; to shatter. Sir T. Browne. [L. discussus, p. p. of discutere to strike asunder (hence came the sense to separate mentally, distinguish); dis- + quatere to shake, strike. See Quash.]
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
- favoured a.
- Countenanced; aided; regarded with kidness; as, a favored friend.
- resurrection n.
- A rising again; the resumption of vigor. [F. résurrection, L. resurrectio, fr. resurgere, resurrectum, to rise again; pref. re- re- + surgere to rise. See Source.]
- shiraz n.
- A kind of Persian wine; -- so called from the place whence it is brought.
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter IX: Admonition and Advice 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 IX: Admonition and Advice, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/9-12.html, id L29746.
Form and metre
Chapter IX: Admonition and Advice is 28 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNN boneA · knownA · aliveB · striveB · prizeC · wiseC · swayD · awayD · seizeE · easeE · sameF · nameF · homeG · roamG · usH · discussH · buoyedI · destroyedI · placeJ · faceJ · breastK · distressedK · abodeL · roadL · sinM · beginM · flowN · showN
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Have you knowledge regarding your cage made of bone? | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘····· |
| For your life is a bird; as the spirit, 'tis known. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| When a bird leaves its cage and confinement alive, | 12 | ·······˘/˘˘/ |
| It will not be captive again, though you strive. | 11 | ····/˘˘/··· |
| For a moment's the world, opportunity prize ! | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘˘· |
| A moment's preferred to the world by the wise. | 12 | ·/˘˘/˘······ |
| Alexander, who held the whole world in his sway, | 12 | ·˘/˘········ |
| At the moment he died could not bear it away; | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
| It was not allowed that his world they should seize, | 12 | ···˘/˘······ |
| And grant him instead one short moment of ease. | 11 | ···˘/··/˘·· |
| They have gone! What each sowed he will reap just the same; | 12 | ············ |
| Nought remains now, excepting a good and bad name. | 13 | ··˘/··/˘····· |
| Why should I set my heart on this traveller's home? | 12 | ········/˘˘· |
| For our comrades have gone; on the road we still roam. | 12 | ·//········· |
| The garden will yield that same rose after us, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And friends will, together, sit down and discuss. | 11 | ···˘/˘···˘/ |
| By this sweetheart, the world, let your heart not be buoyed! | 13 | ··/········/˘ |
| For whoever she favoured his heart she destroyed. | 12 | ·˘/˘·/˘···˘/ |
| When the tomb's niche becomes a poor man's sleeping place, | 12 | ····˘/···/˘· |
| Resurrection will wipe all the dust from his face. | 12 | ·˘/˘········ |
| Raise your head up, this moment, from Apathy's breast! | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘· |
| Lest, to-morrow, regret makes it greatly distressed. | 12 | ··/˘˘/··/˘˘/ |
| Don't you, ent'ring Shiraz to take up your abode, | 12 | ··/˘˘/····˘/ |
| Wash your body and head from the dust of the road? | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Hence, oh thou depraved habitation of sin ! | 12 | ···˘/˘·˘/˘·· |
| To a strange city, soon, you'll your journey begin. | 12 | ···/˘···/˘˘/ |
| From the founts of your eyes, cause a current to flow! | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| And wash from yourself any filth you may show ! | 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.