Chaucer's Tale Of Meliboeus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEBFGHIIIJKLAMNO DDBPIQREMCSSTQUUVVWE XYCCZIYA A2B2C2IA2D2IBE2YF2IK GV K G2C2ZIE2H2 VHII2J2IK2E2 BG2DIQE2L2G2BKIIHI2E 2IIIDM2IIK2N2KQE2A2O 2P2I Q2IF2 BK2QE2F2F2F2F2M2R2F2 IF2R2BBKYBC2| 'No more of this for Godde's dignity ' | A |
| Quoth oure Hoste 'for thou makest me | B |
| So weary of thy very lewedness stupidity ignorance | C |
| That all so wisly God my soule bless surely | B |
| Mine eares ache for thy drafty speech worthless | D |
| Now such a rhyme the devil I beteche commend to | E |
| This may well be rhyme doggerel ' quoth he | B |
| 'Why so ' quoth I 'why wilt thou lette me prevent | F |
| More of my tale than any other man | G |
| Since that it is the best rhyme that I can ' know | H |
| 'By God ' quoth he 'for plainly at one word | I |
| Thy drafty rhyming is not worth a tord | I |
| Thou dost naught elles but dispendest time wastest | I |
| Sir at one word thou shalt no longer rhyme | J |
| Let see whether thou canst tellen aught in gest by way of | K |
| Or tell in prose somewhat at the least narrative | L |
| In which there be some mirth or some doctrine ' | A |
| 'Gladly ' quoth I 'by Godde's sweete pine suffering | M |
| I will you tell a little thing in prose | N |
| That oughte like you as I suppose please | O |
| Or else certes ye be too dangerous fastidious | D |
| It is a moral tale virtuous | D |
| All be it told sometimes in sundry wise although it be | B |
| By sundry folk as I shall you devise | P |
| As thus ye wot that ev'ry Evangelist | I |
| That telleth us the pain of Jesus Christ passion | Q |
| He saith not all thing as his fellow doth | R |
| But natheless their sentence is all soth true | E |
| And all accorden as in their sentence meaning | M |
| All be there in their telling difference | C |
| For some of them say more and some say less | S |
| When they his piteous passion express | S |
| I mean of Mark and Matthew Luke and John | T |
| But doubteless their sentence is all one | Q |
| Therefore lordinges all I you beseech | U |
| If that ye think I vary in my speech | U |
| As thus though that I telle somedeal more | V |
| Of proverbes than ye have heard before | V |
| Comprehended in this little treatise here | W |
| T'enforce with the effect of my mattere with which to | E |
| And though I not the same wordes say enforce | X |
| As ye have heard yet to you all I pray | Y |
| Blame me not for as in my sentence | C |
| Shall ye nowhere finde no difference | C |
| From the sentence of thilke treatise lite this little | Z |
| After the which this merry tale I write | I |
| And therefore hearken to what I shall say | Y |
| And let me tellen all my tale I pray ' | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| A young man called Meliboeus mighty and rich begat upon his | A2 |
| wife that called was Prudence a daughter which that called was | B2 |
| Sophia Upon a day befell that he for his disport went into the | C2 |
| fields him to play His wife and eke his daughter hath he left | I |
| within his house of which the doors were fast shut Three of his | A2 |
| old foes have it espied and set ladders to the walls of his house | D2 |
| and by the windows be entered and beaten his wife and | I |
| wounded his daughter with five mortal wounds in five sundry | B |
| places that is to say in her feet in her hands in her ears in her | E2 |
| nose and in her mouth and left her for dead and went away | Y |
| When Meliboeus returned was into his house and saw all this | F2 |
| mischief he like a man mad rending his clothes gan weep and | I |
| cry Prudence his wife as farforth as she durst besought him of | K |
| his weeping for to stint but not forthy notwithstanding he gan | G |
| to weep and cry ever longer the more | V |
| - | |
| This noble wife Prudence remembered her upon the sentence of | K |
| Ovid in his book that called is the 'Remedy of Love ' | - |
| where he saith He is a fool that disturbeth the mother to weep | G2 |
| in the death of her child till she have wept her fill as for a | C2 |
| certain time and then shall a man do his diligence with amiable | Z |
| words her to recomfort and pray her of her weeping for to stint | I |
| cease For which reason this noble wife Prudence suffered her | E2 |
| husband for to weep and cry as for a certain space and when | H2 |
| she saw her time she said to him in this wise 'Alas my lord ' | - |
| quoth she 'why make ye yourself for to be like a fool For | V |
| sooth it appertaineth not to a wise man to make such a sorrow | H |
| Your daughter with the grace of God shall warish be cured | I |
| and escape And all although were it so that she right now | I2 |
| were dead ye ought not for her death yourself to destroy | J2 |
| Seneca saith 'The wise man shall not take too great discomfort | I |
| for the death of his children but certes he should suffer it in | K2 |
| patience as well as he abideth the death of his own proper | E2 |
| person '' | - |
| - | |
| Meliboeus answered anon and said 'What man ' quoth he | B |
| 'should of his weeping stint that hath so great a cause to weep | G2 |
| Jesus Christ our Lord himself wept for the death of Lazarus | D |
| his friend ' Prudence answered 'Certes well I wot | I |
| attempered moderate weeping is nothing defended forbidden | Q |
| to him that sorrowful is among folk in sorrow but it is rather | E2 |
| granted him to weep The Apostle Paul unto the Romans | L2 |
| writeth 'Man shall rejoice with them that make joy and weep | G2 |
| with such folk as weep ' But though temperate weeping be | B |
| granted outrageous weeping certes is defended Measure of | K |
| weeping should be conserved after the lore doctrine that | I |
| teacheth us Seneca 'When that thy friend is dead ' quoth he 'let | I |
| not thine eyes too moist be of tears nor too much dry although | H |
| the tears come to thine eyes let them not fall And when thou | I2 |
| hast forgone lost thy friend do diligence to get again another | E2 |
| friend and this is more wisdom than to weep for thy friend | I |
| which that thou hast lorn lost for therein is no boot | I |
| advantage And therefore if ye govern you by sapience put | I |
| away sorrow out of your heart Remember you that Jesus | D |
| Sirach saith 'A man that is joyous and glad in heart it him | M2 |
| conserveth flourishing in his age but soothly a sorrowful heart | I |
| maketh his bones dry ' He said eke thus 'that sorrow in heart | I |
| slayth full many a man ' Solomon saith 'that right as moths in | K2 |
| the sheep's fleece annoy do injury to the clothes and the small | N2 |
| worms to the tree right so annoyeth sorrow to the heart of | K |
| man ' Wherefore us ought as well in the death of our children | Q |
| as in the loss of our goods temporal have patience Remember | E2 |
| you upon the patient Job when he had lost his children and his | A2 |
| temporal substance and in his body endured and received full | O2 |
| many a grievous tribulation yet said he thus 'Our Lord hath | P2 |
| given it to me our Lord hath bereft it me right as our Lord | I |
| would right so be it done blessed be the name of our Lord '' | - |
| - | |
| To these foresaid things answered Meliboeus unto his wife | Q2 |
| Prudence 'All thy words ' quoth he 'be true and thereto | I |
| also profitable but truly mine heart is troubled with this | F2 |
| sorrow so grievously that I know not what to do ' 'Let call ' | - |
| quoth Prudence 'thy true friends all and thy lineage which be | B |
| wise and tell to them your case and hearken what they say in | K2 |
| counselling and govern you after their sentence opinion | Q |
| Solomon saith 'Work all things by counsel and thou shall never | E2 |
| repent '' Then by counsel of his wife Prudence this Meliboeus | F2 |
| let call sent for a great congregation of folk as surgeons | F2 |
| physicians old folk and young and some of his old enemies | F2 |
| reconciled as by their semblance to his love and to his grace | F2 |
| and therewithal there come some of his neighbours that did him | M2 |
| reverence more for dread than for love as happeneth oft There | R2 |
| come also full many subtle flatterers and wise advocates | F2 |
| learned in the law And when these folk together assembled | I |
| were this Meliboeus in sorrowful wise showed them his case | F2 |
| and by the manner of his speech it seemed that in heart he bare | R2 |
| a cruel ire ready to do vengeance upon his foes and suddenly | B |
| desired that the war should begin but nevertheless yet asked he | B |
| their counsel in this matter A surgeon by licence and assent of | K |
| such as were wise up rose and to Meliboeus said as ye may | Y |
| hear 'Sir ' quoth he 'as to us surgeons appertaineth that we | B |
| do to every wight the | C2 |
Geoffrey Chaucer
(1)
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Chaucer's Tale Of Meliboeus is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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