The Use of Knowledge by Jean de La Fontaine

Name: The Use of Knowledge
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

A rich but ignorant citizen boasts that wealth is superior to wisdom, mocking a poor scholar for gaining neither comfort nor possessions from his reading. He argues that lavish spending benefits the state by supporting trades and workers, while learned men who make books contribute little and may become public burdens. The scholar does not answer, though he could easily do so. When war destroys their city, both men flee. The wealthy man, reduced to poverty, is scorned and wanders miserably, but the scholar is supported by public care wherever he goes. The fable concludes that fools may despise the studious, but wisdom is never lost.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Moral Allegory · 503 words

First lines

Between two citizens / A controversy grew. / The one was poor, but much he knew: / The other, rich, with little sense, / Claim'd that, in point of excellence, / The merely wise should bow the knee / To all such money'd men as he. / The merely fools, he should have said; / For why should wealth hold up its head, / When merit from its side hath fled? / 'My friend,' quoth Bloated-purse, / To his reverse, / 'You think yourself considerable. / Pray, tell me, do you keep a table? / What comes of this incessant reading, / In point of lodging, clothing, feeding? / It gives one, true, the highest chamber, / One coat for June and for December, / His shadow for his sole attendant, / And hunger always in th' ascendant. / What profits he his country, too, / Who scarcely ever spends a sou -- / Will, haply, be a public charge? / Who profits more the state at large, / Than he whose luxuries dispense / Among the people wealth immense? / We set the streams of life a-flowing; / We set all sorts of trades a-going. / The spinner, weaver, sewer, vender, / And many a wearer, fair and tender, / All live and flourish on the spender -- / As do, indeed, the reverend rooks / Who waste their time in making books. ' / These words, so full of impudence, / Received their proper recompense. / The man of letters held his peace, / Though much he might have said with ease. / A war avenged him soon and well; / In it their common city fell. / Both fled abroad; the ignorant, / By fortune thus brought down to want, / Was treated everywhere with scorn, / And roamed about, a wretch forlorn; / Whereas the scholar, everywhere, / Was nourish'd by the public care.

Open reader

Similar titles

Genres

Fable — The poem presents a brief fictional dispute between representative figures—the wealthy fool and the poor scholar—and ends with an explicit moral affirming the value of wisdom.
Didactic Poetry — Its central purpose is instruction: it argues that learning and intellectual merit remain valuable even when wealth and social circumstances change.
Moral Allegory — The two citizens function allegorically as opposing social and ethical types, embodying ignorant wealth and learned poverty rather than individualized characters.
Satire — La Fontaine ridicules the rich man's vanity, materialism, contempt for scholarship, and self-serving claim that luxury makes him socially superior.

What this Textopian page supports

The Use of Knowledge is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1678 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1678 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Didactic Poetry, Moral Allegory, Satire, Social Commentary
Length: 503 words
Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

Good citation fit

Work identity for The Use of Knowledge by Jean de La Fontaine
Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
Readability and classroom-planning context
Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph