The Shepheardes Calender: May Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFBBAADDBBGGCC ABB BHHDDBBAAIIJJBBDDHH AJBKKBBBBJJCCAAHHHH BBBBBLLBDBBDDHCBBBB ABBAADDAAAABBBBBBAAA ACCDDJJHHBBJJAACCCHA ABBCABABAAAABBIICCCC BAABBMMIIDDBBBBJJAAA AJJBBAANNJJBB AHHLLCCBB BHH AAAJJBBDDLL| May AEgloga Quinta Palinode Piers | A |
| - | |
| Palinode | B |
| IS not thilke the mery moneth of May | C |
| When loue lads masken in fresh aray | D |
| How falles it then we no merrier bene | E |
| Ylike as others girt in gawdy greene | F |
| Our bloncket liueryes bene all to sadde | B |
| For thilke same season when all is ycladd | B |
| With pleasaunce the grownd with grasse the Wods | A |
| With greene leaues the bushes with bloosming Buds | A |
| Yougthes folke now flocken in euery where | D |
| To gather may bus kets and smelling brere | D |
| And home they hasten the postes to dight | B |
| And all the Kirke pillours eare day light | B |
| With Hawthorne buds and swete Eglantine | G |
| And girlonds of roses and Sopps in wine | G |
| Such merimake holy Saints doth queme | C |
| But we here sytten as drownd in a dreme | C |
| - | |
| PIERS | A |
| For Younkers Palinode such follies fitte | B |
| But we tway bene men of elder witt | B |
| - | |
| PALINODE | B |
| Sicker this morrowe ne lenger agoe | H |
| I sawe a shole of shepeheardes outgoe | H |
| With singing and shouting and iolly chere | D |
| Before them yode a lusty Tabrere | D |
| That to the many a Horne pype playd | B |
| Whereto they dauncen eche one with his mayd | B |
| To see those folkes make such iouysaunce | A |
| Made my heart after the pype to daunce | A |
| Tho to the greene Wood they speeden hem all | I |
| To fetchen home May with their musicall | I |
| And home they bringen in a royall throne | J |
| Crowned as king and his Queene attone | J |
| Was Lady Flora on whom did attend | B |
| A fayre flock of Faeries and a fresh bend | B |
| Of louely Nymphes O that I were there | D |
| To helpen the Ladyes their Maybush beare | D |
| Ah Piers bene not thy teeth on edge to thinke | H |
| How great sport they gaynen with little swinck | H |
| - | |
| PIERS | A |
| Perdie so farre am I from enuie | J |
| That their fondnesse inly I pitie | B |
| Those faytours little regarden their charge | K |
| While they letting their sheepe runne at large | K |
| Passen their time that should be sparely spent | B |
| In lustihede and wanton meryment | B |
| Thilke same bene shepeheards for the Deuils stedde | B |
| That playen while their flockes be vnfedde | B |
| Well is it seene theyr sheepe bene not their owne | J |
| That letten them runne at randon alone | J |
| But they bene hyred for little pay | C |
| Of other that caren as little as they | C |
| What fallen the flocke so they han the fleece | A |
| And get all the gayne paying but a peece | A |
| I muse what account both these will make | H |
| The one for the hire which he doth take | H |
| And thother for leauing his Lords tas ke | H |
| When great Pan account of shepeherdes shall aske | H |
| - | |
| PALINODE | B |
| Sicker now I see thou speakest of spight | B |
| All for thou lackest somedele their delight | B |
| I as I am had rather be enuied | B |
| All were it of my foe then fonly pitied | B |
| And yet if neede were pitied would be | L |
| Rather then other should scorne at me | L |
| For pittied is mishappe that nas remedie | B |
| But scorned bene dedes of fond foolerie | D |
| What shoulden shepheards other things tend | B |
| Then sith their God his good does them send | B |
| Reapen the fruite thereof that is pleasure | D |
| The while they here liuen at ease and leasure | D |
| For when they bene dead their good is ygoe | H |
| They sleepen in rest well as other moe | C |
| Tho with them wends what they spent in cost | B |
| But what they left behind them is lost | B |
| Good is no good but if it be spend | B |
| God giueth good for none other end | B |
| - | |
| PIERS | A |
| Ah Palinodie thou art a worldes childe | B |
| Who touches Pitch mought needes be defilde | B |
| But shepheards as Algrind vsed to say | A |
| Mought not liue ylike as men of the laye | A |
| With them it sits to care for their heire | D |
| Enaunter their heritage doe impaire | D |
| They must prouide for meanes of maintenaunce | A |
| And to continue their wont countenaunce | A |
| But shepheard must walke another way | A |
| Sike worldly souenance he must foresay | A |
| The sonne of his loines why should he regard | B |
| To leaue enriched with that he hath spard | B |
| Should not thilke God that gaue him that good | B |
| Eke cherish his child if in his wayes he stood | B |
| For if he misliue in leudnes and lust | B |
| Little bootes all the welth and the trust | B |
| That his father left by inheritaunce | A |
| All will be soone wasted with misgouernaunce | A |
| But through this and other their miscreaunce | A |
| They maken many a wrong cheuisaunce | A |
| Heaping vp waues of welth and woe | C |
| The floddes whereof shall them ouerflowe | C |
| Sike mens follie I cannot compare | D |
| Better then to the Apes folish care | D |
| That is so enamoured of her young one | J |
| And yet God wote such cause hath she none | J |
| That with her hard hold and straight embracing | H |
| She stoppeth the breath of her youngling | H |
| So often times when as good is meant | B |
| Euil ensueth of wrong entent | B |
| The time was once and may againe retorne | J |
| For ought may happen that hath bene beforne | J |
| When shepeheards had none inheritaunce | A |
| Ne of land nor fee in sufferaunce | A |
| But what might arise of the bare sheepe | C |
| Were it more or lesse which they did keepe | C |
| Well ywis was it with shepheards thoe | C |
| Nought hauing nought feared they to forgoe | H |
| For Pan himselfe was their inheritaunce | A |
| And little them serued for their mayntenaunce | A |
| The shepheards God so wel them guided | B |
| That of nought they were vnprouided | B |
| Butter enough honye milke and whay | C |
| And their flockes fleeces them to araye | A |
| But tract of time and long prosperitie | B |
| That nource of vice this of insolencie | A |
| Lulled the shepheards in suc securitie | B |
| That not content with loyal obeysaunce | A |
| Some gan to gape for greedie gouernaunce | A |
| And match them selfe with mighty potentates | A |
| Louers of Lordship and troublers of states | A |
| Tho gan shepheards swaines to looke a loft | B |
| And leaue to liue hard and learne to ligge soft | B |
| Tho vnder colour of shepeheards somewhile | I |
| There crept in Wolues ful of fraude and guile | I |
| That often deuoured their owne sheepe | C |
| And often the shepheards that did hem keepe | C |
| This was the first sourse of shepheards sorowe | C |
| That now nill be quitt with baile nor borrowe | C |
| - | |
| PALINODE | B |
| Three things to beare bene very burdenous | A |
| But the fourth to forbeare is outragious | A |
| Wemen that of Loues longing once lust | B |
| Hardly forbearen but haue it they must | B |
| So when choler is inflamed with rage | M |
| Wanting reuenge is hard to asswage | M |
| And who can counsell a thristie soule | I |
| With patience to forbeare the offred bowle | I |
| But of all burdens that a man can beare | D |
| Moste is a fooles talke to beare and to heare | D |
| I wene the Geaunt has not such a weight | B |
| That beares on his shoulders the heauens height | B |
| Thou findest faulte where nys to be found | B |
| And buildest strong warke vpon a weake ground | B |
| Thou raylest on right withouten reason | J |
| And blamest hem much for small encheason | J |
| How shoulden shepheardes liue if not so | A |
| What should they pynen in payne and woe | A |
| Nay sayd I thereto by my deare borrowe | A |
| If I may rest I nill liue in sorrowe | A |
| Sorrowe ne neede be hastened on | J |
| For he will come without calling anone | J |
| While times enduren of tranqullitie | B |
| Vsen we freely our felicitie | B |
| For when approchen the stormie stowres | A |
| We mought with our shoulders beare of the sharpe showres | A |
| And sooth to sayne nought seemeth sike strife | N |
| That shepheardes so witen ech others life | N |
| And layen her faults the world beforne | J |
| The while their foes done eache of hem scorne | J |
| Let none mislike of that may not be mended | B |
| So conteck soone by concord mought be ended | B |
| - | |
| PIERS | A |
| Shepheard I list none accordaunce make | H |
| With shepheard that does the right way forsake | H |
| And of the twaine if choice were to me | L |
| Had leuer my foe then my freend he be | L |
| For what concord han light and darke sam | C |
| Or what peace has the Lion with the Lambe | C |
| Such faitors when their false harts bene hidde | B |
| Will doe as did the Foxe by the Kidde | B |
| - | |
| PALINODE | B |
| Now Piers of felowship tell vs that saying | H |
| For the Ladde can keepe both our flocks from straying | H |
| - | |
| PIERS | A |
| THilke same Kidde as I can well deuise | A |
| Was too very foolish and vnwise | A |
| For on a tyme in Sommer season | J |
| The Gate her dame that had good reason | J |
| Yode forth abroade vnto the greene wood | B |
| To brouze or play or what shee thought good | B |
| But for she had a motherly care | D |
| Of her young sonne and wit to beware | D |
| Shee set her youngling before her knee | L |
| That was both fresh and louely t | L |
Edmund Spenser
(1)
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About The Shepheardes Calender: May
The Shepheardes Calender: May is a poem by Edmund Spenser. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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