what is a fable . why is poem called a fable
Answers
A fable is a poetic story composed in verse or prose with a moral summed up at the end. Usually using animals as characters to teach a valuable lesson.
Fable is a short tale to teachs a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters.
Firstly the poem, A Fable before I give my comment. The poem:
A Fable
Securely sunning in a forest glade,
A mild, well-meaning snake
Approved the adaptations he had made
For safety’s sake.
He liked the skin he had:
Its mottled camouflage, its look of mail,
And was content that he had thought to add
A rattling tail.
The tail was not for drumming up a fight;
No, nothing of the sort.
And he would only use his poisoned bite
As last resort.
A peasant now drew near,
Collecting wood; the snake, observing this,
Expressed concern by uttering a clear
But civil hiss.
The simple churl, his nerves at once unstrung,
Mistook the other’s tone
And dashed his brains out with a deftly-flung
Pre-emptive stone.
Moral (in its last stanza)
Security, alas, can give
A threatening impression;
Too much defense-initiative
Can prompt aggression.
This poem tells the story of a snake who lays in an open forest space and takes pride in the way he has adapted to his environment so that he can provide himself with safety. The the snake does not mean to use these qualities for violence; instead, he only intends to scare away any threat. But the peasant mistakes the snake’s hiss as an attack and throws a stone at the snake, which kills the snake. This descriptive story ends with a moral.
The moral of this story (in the last stanza): “An effort at security can prove intimidating to others, but this intimidation is not always a good thing because it may have the opposite effect by provoking violence.”
This poem got a story, the main character is an animal and ends with a moral, that is why the poet named it FABLE.
Answer:
Fable" is a poem written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. A "fable" is a short tale to teach a lesson. A "prig" is someone who is self-righteous. In this tale, Emerson tells us to not judge others and try to understand that people unlike us also have qualities that we don't have. For example, the mountain may be able to carry forrests on his back but he can't crack a nut like a squirrel.
"Fable" is written as one stanza with 19 lines. The rhyme scheme is AABCBDDEEFFGHHIJKJK. As you can see, not all the lines rhyme. This is Emerson's way to put importance on a line and change the rhythm to change emotion.