The Old Man And His Sons Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDEFFGGGH IJ IKKBBL MMNNOO PQQRSTTUUTVVPPRRVVWW FFXX| A | |
| - | |
| All power is feeble with dissension | B |
| For this I quote the Phrygian slave | C |
| If aught I add to his invention | B |
| It is our manners to engrave | C |
| And not from any envious wishes | D |
| I'm not so foolishly ambitious | E |
| Phaedrus enriches oft his story | F |
| In quest I doubt it not of glory | F |
| Such thoughts were idle in my breast | G |
| An aged man near going to his rest | G |
| His gather'd sons thus solemnly address'd | G |
| 'To break this bunch of arrows you may try | H |
| And first the string that binds them I untie ' | - |
| The eldest having tried with might and main | I |
| Exclaim'd 'This bundle I resign | J |
| To muscles sturdier than mine ' | - |
| The second tried and bow'd himself in vain | I |
| The youngest took them with the like success | K |
| All were obliged their weakness to confess | K |
| Unharm'd the arrows pass'd from son to son | B |
| Of all they did not break a single one | B |
| 'Weak fellows ' said their sire 'I now must show | L |
| What in the case my feeble strength can do ' | - |
| They laugh'd and thought their father but in joke | M |
| Till one by one they saw the arrows broke | M |
| 'See concord's power ' replied the sire 'as long | N |
| As you in love agree you will be strong | N |
| I go my sons to join our fathers good | O |
| Now promise me to live as brothers should | O |
| And soothe by this your dying father's fears ' | - |
| Each strictly promised with a flood of tears | P |
| Their father took them by the hand and died | Q |
| And soon the virtue of their vows was tried | Q |
| Their sire had left a large estate | R |
| Involved in lawsuits intricate | S |
| Here seized a creditor and there | T |
| A neighbour levied for a share | T |
| At first the trio nobly bore | U |
| The brunt of all this legal war | U |
| But short their friendship as 'twas rare | T |
| Whom blood had join'd and small the wonder | V |
| The force of interest drove asunder | V |
| And as is wont in such affairs | P |
| Ambition envy were co heirs | P |
| In parcelling their sire's estate | R |
| They quarrel quibble litigate | R |
| Each aiming to supplant the other | V |
| The judge by turns condemns each brother | V |
| Their creditors make new assault | W |
| Some pleading error some default | W |
| The sunder'd brothers disagree | F |
| For counsel one have counsels three | F |
| All lose their wealth and now their sorrows | X |
| Bring fresh to mind those broken arrows | X |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
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