A Thracian slave who lived in the 6th century BC named Aesop is associated with the first ever set of fables. In fact, his work has taken its place as some of the most admired in Ancient Greek History. Similarly, Phaedrus was another Thracian slave after he gaining liberty, he completed five books of fables in verse, written in Latin; which some of these were adapted from the fables attributed to Aesop. In 1956, Frenchman Pierre Pithou published the first edition of these fables. Due to these two people and countless others, Jean de la Fontaine was inspired to write 12 books of fables in Verse Libres. Moreover, La Fontaine was a poet well known, especially, for his fables. It is worth mentioning that La Fontaine wrote in classical Vers Libre.
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Furthermore, Aesop leaves the morals of his fables upto the reader, meaning that he does not manipulate his audience into thinking what he wants us to think, but rather, he lets the readers take from it, as they will. As opposed to Phaedrus, who incorporates morals either before or after his verse fables? Thus, as La Fontaine took inspiration from these two authors, he combines of both of their techniques; at times incorporating his morals somewhere in his fables and other times, he leaves the audience to decide for themselves.
In La Cigale et La Fourmi, La Fontaine personifies insects to illustrate his message. The ant spends most of the harvest season working and collecting grain, whereas the cicada sings, does not think for the winter and lives by the saying; Carpe Diem. La Fontaine ends his fable with a harsh note to say that the cicada will not survive, as he did not work and so does not have shelter nor food. La Fontaine …show more content…
A crow and a fox take place in this fable. Foxes are popular throughout many of La Fontaine's fables; he often portrays them as the cunning, sneaky, and intelligent. In the same way, this is a fable about the success of the fox and the failure of the naive crow. Throughout the fable the fox flatters the crow even though the crow is a lower class animal- ‘Maitre Corbeau’, (line 1, Le Corbeau et Le Renard) he calls the crow ‘Monsieur du Corbeau’ (line 5), to be on the crow’s kind side as he wants the cheese. The crow in reality may be in a lower class than the fox, but morally the crow is above the fox as the fox is being immoral and consequently putting himself in a position below the crow. Equally, in this fable, the moral of the story is harsh; people will suffer if they listen to flatterers. ‘Apprenez que tout flatteur, Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute.’ (Lines 14-15). This again suggests a negative view of the world because the moral of the story makes us believe that some people only praise and compliment others for their own sake. For instance, the fox flatters the crow so much that this results in him singing and dropping the cheese. As the crow sings, the fox reveals his cunning side and steals the cheese. The last line of the fable reveals that the crow has learned his lesson and he won’t be caught out again, however; ‘...mais un peu tard…’ (Line 18). In contrast, even though the crow lost his
Furthermore, Aesop leaves the morals of his fables upto the reader, meaning that he does not manipulate his audience into thinking what he wants us to think, but rather, he lets the readers take from it, as they will. As opposed to Phaedrus, who incorporates morals either before or after his verse fables? Thus, as La Fontaine took inspiration from these two authors, he combines of both of their techniques; at times incorporating his morals somewhere in his fables and other times, he leaves the audience to decide for themselves.
In La Cigale et La Fourmi, La Fontaine personifies insects to illustrate his message. The ant spends most of the harvest season working and collecting grain, whereas the cicada sings, does not think for the winter and lives by the saying; Carpe Diem. La Fontaine ends his fable with a harsh note to say that the cicada will not survive, as he did not work and so does not have shelter nor food. La Fontaine …show more content…
A crow and a fox take place in this fable. Foxes are popular throughout many of La Fontaine's fables; he often portrays them as the cunning, sneaky, and intelligent. In the same way, this is a fable about the success of the fox and the failure of the naive crow. Throughout the fable the fox flatters the crow even though the crow is a lower class animal- ‘Maitre Corbeau’, (line 1, Le Corbeau et Le Renard) he calls the crow ‘Monsieur du Corbeau’ (line 5), to be on the crow’s kind side as he wants the cheese. The crow in reality may be in a lower class than the fox, but morally the crow is above the fox as the fox is being immoral and consequently putting himself in a position below the crow. Equally, in this fable, the moral of the story is harsh; people will suffer if they listen to flatterers. ‘Apprenez que tout flatteur, Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute.’ (Lines 14-15). This again suggests a negative view of the world because the moral of the story makes us believe that some people only praise and compliment others for their own sake. For instance, the fox flatters the crow so much that this results in him singing and dropping the cheese. As the crow sings, the fox reveals his cunning side and steals the cheese. The last line of the fable reveals that the crow has learned his lesson and he won’t be caught out again, however; ‘...mais un peu tard…’ (Line 18). In contrast, even though the crow lost his