Discord by Jean de La Fontaine

Name: Discord
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

Discord, expelled from the sky after provoking a quarrel among the gods and a lawsuit over an apple, is welcomed by mankind along with her brother Whether-or-no and her mother Thine-and-mine. She chooses to plague this hemisphere rather than the antipodes, whose simple, informal way of life offers little opportunity for her influence. Renown travels through the land reporting every dispute, allowing Discord to arrive before Peace and turn any small anger into open conflict. Tired of searching everywhere for her mistress, Renown decides that Discord needs a fixed home where those seeking her can find her. Since suitable places are scarce, Hymen’s inn is assigned to her, and she is well pleased with the lodging.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Satire, Allegory · 457 words

First lines

The goddess Discord, having made, on high, / Among the gods a general grapple, / And thence a lawsuit, for an apple, / Was turn'd out, bag and baggage, from the sky. / The animal call'd man, with open arms, / Received the goddess of such naughty charms, -- / Herself and Whether-or-no, her brother, / With Thine-and-mine, her stingy mother. / In this, the lower universe, / Our hemisphere she chose to curse: / For reasons good she did not please / To visit our antipodes -- / Folks rude and savage like the beasts, / Who, wedding-free from forms and priests, / In simple tent or leafy bower, / Make little work for such a power. / That she might know exactly where / Her direful aid was in demand, / Renown flew courier through the land, / Reporting each dispute with care; / Then she, outrunning Peace, was quickly there; / And if she found a spark of ire, / Was sure to blow it to a fire. / At length, Renown got out of patience / At random hurrying o'er the nations, / And, not without good reason, thought / A goddess, like her mistress, ought / To have some fix'd and certain home, / To which her customers might come; / For now they often search'd in vain. / With due location, it was plain / She might accomplish vastly more, / And more in season than before. / To find, howe'er, the right facilities, / Was harder, then, than now it is; / For then there were no nunneries.

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Genres

Fable — The poem personifies Discord, Renown, Peace, and Hymen in an allegorical narrative that delivers a moral observation about human quarrels, especially marital conflict.
Satire — La Fontaine humorously criticizes litigiousness, possessiveness, social conflict, and the tendency of discord to flourish in marriage.
Allegory — Abstract forces are presented as characters whose actions symbolize the origins, spread, and preferred dwelling place of human dissension.
Mythological Poetry — The work draws on the classical figure of the goddess Discord and her connection with the apple that provoked divine dispute.

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Discord is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1678 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1678 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Satire, Allegory, Mythological Poetry, Didactic Poetry
Length: 457 words
Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)

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