The Power Of Fable (prose Fable) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B C D E F G| In the old vain and fickle city of Athens an orator seeing how the light hearted citizens were blind to certain dangers which threatened the state presented himself before the tribune and there sought by the very tyranny of his forceful eloquence to move the heart of the republic towards a sense of the common welfare | A |
| - | |
| But the people neither heard nor heeded Then the orator had recourse to more urgent arguments and stronger metaphors potent enough to touch hearts of stone He spoke in thunders that might have raised the dead but his words were carried away on the wind The beast of many heads did not deign to hear the launching of these thunderbolts It was engrossed in something quite different A fight between two urchins was what the crowd found so engaging not the orator's warnings | B |
| - | |
| What then did the speaker do He tried another plan Ceres he began made a voyage one day with an eel and a swallow After a time the three travellers were stopped by a river This the eel got over by swimming and the swallow by flying | C |
| - | |
| Well what about Ceres What did she do cried the crowd with one voice | D |
| - | |
| She did what she did retorted the speaker in anger But first she raged against you What Does it take a child's story to open your ears you who should be eager for any news of the peril that menaces you the only state in Greece that takes no heed You ask what Ceres did Why do you not ask what Philip does | E |
| - | |
| At this reproach the assembly was stirred A mere fable brought them open eared to all the orator would say | F |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| We are all Athenians in this respect I myself am even as I point this moral I should take the utmost pleasure now in hearing The Ass's Skin told to me The world is old they say so it is but nevertheless it is as greedy of amusement as a child | G |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Power Of Fable (prose Fable) poem by Jean De La Fontaine
Best Poems of Jean De La Fontaine