The Franklin's Tale Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMMNBOPQR SB TTTUMM VVVWOM XTYYXXMTZZMMXA2TTTB2 A2 MPC2XMMTTXXJXTTXXTTJ A2D2E2TJXXMMTF2TT XXJJJJJA2G2E2H2TD2JJ JA2JXXH2XJTTH2TTJA2T TI2I2H2H2JTTJXTXJF2F 2XXTJJJX J2F2F2CCCCTTXXXXXXJJ JF2'IN faith Squier thou hast thee well acquit | A |
And gentilly I praise well thy wit ' | B |
Quoth the Franklin 'considering thy youthe | C |
So feelingly thou speak'st Sir I aloue thee allow approve | D |
As to my doom there is none that is here so far as my judgment | E |
Of eloquence that shall be thy peer goes | F |
If that thou live God give thee goode chance | G |
And in virtue send thee continuance | H |
For of thy speaking I have great dainty value esteem | I |
I have a son and by the Trinity | J |
It were me lever than twenty pound worth land I would rather | K |
Though it right now were fallen in my hand | L |
He were a man of such discretion | M |
As that ye be fy on possession | M |
But if a man be virtuous withal unless | N |
I have my sone snibbed and yet shall rebuked 'snubbed ' | B |
For he to virtue listeth not t'intend does not wish to | O |
But for to play at dice and to dispend apply himself | P |
And lose all that he hath is his usage | Q |
And he had lever talke with a page | R |
Than to commune with any gentle wight | S |
There he might learen gentilless aright ' | B |
- | |
Straw for your gentillesse ' quoth our Host | T |
'What Frankelin pardie Sir well thou wost knowest | T |
That each of you must tellen at the least | T |
A tale or two or breake his behest ' promise | U |
'That know I well Sir ' quoth the Frankelin | M |
'I pray you have me not in disdain | M |
Though I to this man speak a word or two ' | - |
'Tell on thy tale withoute wordes mo' ' | - |
'Gladly Sir Host ' quoth he 'I will obey | V |
Unto your will now hearken what I say | V |
I will you not contrary in no wise disobey | V |
As far as that my wittes may suffice | W |
I pray to God that it may please you | O |
Then wot I well that it is good enow | M |
- | |
'These olde gentle Bretons in their days | X |
Of divers aventures made lays lt gt | T |
Rhymeden in their firste Breton tongue | Y |
Which layes with their instruments they sung | Y |
Or elles reade them for their pleasance | X |
And one of them have I in remembrance | X |
Which I shall say with good will as I can | M |
But Sirs because I am a borel man rude unlearned | T |
At my beginning first I you beseech | Z |
Have me excused of my rude speech | Z |
I learned never rhetoric certain | M |
Thing that I speak it must be bare and plain | M |
I slept never on the mount of Parnasso | X |
Nor learned Marcus Tullius Cicero | A2 |
Coloures know I none withoute dread doubt | T |
But such colours as growen in the mead | T |
Or elles such as men dye with or paint | T |
Colours of rhetoric be to me quaint strange | B2 |
My spirit feeleth not of such mattere | A2 |
But if you list my tale shall ye hear ' | - |
- | |
In Armoric' that called is Bretagne | M |
There was a knight that lov'd and did his pain devoted himself | P |
To serve a lady in his beste wise strove | C2 |
And many a labour many a great emprise enterprise | X |
He for his lady wrought ere she were won | M |
For she was one the fairest under sun | M |
And eke thereto come of so high kindred | T |
That well unnethes durst this knight for dread see note lt gt | T |
Tell her his woe his pain and his distress | X |
But at the last she for his worthiness | X |
And namely for his meek obeisance especially | J |
Hath such a pity caught of his penance suffering distress | X |
That privily she fell of his accord | T |
To take him for her husband and her lord | T |
Of such lordship as men have o'er their wives | X |
And for to lead the more in bliss their lives | X |
Of his free will he swore her as a knight | T |
That never in all his life he day nor night | T |
Should take upon himself no mastery | J |
Against her will nor kithe her jealousy show | A2 |
But her obey and follow her will in all | D2 |
As any lover to his lady shall | E2 |
Save that the name of sovereignety | T |
That would he have for shame of his degree | J |
She thanked him and with full great humbless | X |
She saide 'Sir since of your gentleness | X |
Ye proffer me to have so large a reign | M |
Ne woulde God never betwixt us twain | M |
As in my guilt were either war or strife see note lt gt | T |
Sir I will be your humble true wife | F2 |
Have here my troth till that my hearte brest ' burst | T |
Thus be they both in quiet and in rest | T |
- | |
For one thing Sires safely dare I say | X |
That friends ever each other must obey | X |
If they will longe hold in company | J |
Love will not be constrain'd by mastery | J |
When mast'ry comes the god of love anon | J |
Beateth lt gt his wings and farewell he is gone | J |
Love is a thing as any spirit free | J |
Women of kind desire liberty by nature | A2 |
And not to be constrained as a thrall slave | G2 |
And so do men if soothly I say shall | E2 |
Look who that is most patient in love | H2 |
He is at his advantage all above enjoys the highest | T |
Patience is a high virtue certain advantages of all | D2 |
For it vanquisheth as these clerkes sayn | J |
Thinges that rigour never should attain | J |
For every word men may not chide or plain | J |
Learne to suffer or so may I go prosper | A2 |
Ye shall it learn whether ye will or no | J |
For in this world certain no wight there is | X |
That he not doth or saith sometimes amiss | X |
Ire or sickness or constellation the influence of | H2 |
Wine woe or changing of complexion the planets | X |
Causeth full oft to do amiss or speaken | J |
On every wrong a man may not be wreaken revenged | T |
After the time must be temperance according to | T |
To every wight that can of governance is capable of | H2 |
And therefore hath this worthy wise knight | T |
To live in ease sufferance her behight promised | T |
And she to him full wisly gan to swear surely | J |
That never should there be default in her | A2 |
Here may men see a humble wife accord | T |
Thus hath she ta'en her servant and her lord | T |
Servant in love and lord in marriage | I2 |
Then was he both in lordship and servage | I2 |
Servage nay but in lordship all above | H2 |
Since he had both his lady and his love | H2 |
His lady certes and his wife also | J |
The which that law of love accordeth to | T |
And when he was in this prosperrity | T |
Home with his wife he went to his country | J |
Not far from Penmark lt gt where his dwelling was | X |
And there he liv'd in bliss and in solace delight | T |
Who coulde tell but he had wedded be unless | X |
The joy the ease and the prosperity | J |
That is betwixt a husband and his wife | F2 |
A year and more lasted this blissful life | F2 |
Till that this knight of whom I spake thus | X |
That of Cairrud lt gt was call'd Arviragus | X |
Shope him to go and dwell a year or twain prepared arranged | T |
In Engleland that call'd was eke Britain | J |
To seek in armes worship and honour | J |
For all his lust he set in such labour pleasure | J |
And dwelled there two years the book saith thus | X |
- | |
Now will I stint of this Arviragus cease speaking | J2 |
And speak I will of Dorigen his wife | F2 |
That lov'd her husband as her hearte's life | F2 |
For his absence weepeth she and siketh sigheth | C |
As do these noble wives when them liketh | C |
She mourneth waketh waileth fasteth plaineth | C |
Desire of his presence her so distraineth | C |
That all this wide world she set at nought | T |
Her friendes which that knew her heavy thought | T |
Comforte her in all that ever they may | X |
They preache her they tell her night and day | X |
That causeless she slays herself alas | X |
And every comfort possible in this case | X |
They do to her with all their business assiduity | X |
And all to make her leave her heaviness | X |
By process as ye knowen every one | J |
Men may so longe graven in a stone | J |
Till some figure therein imprinted be | J |
So long have they comf | F2 |
Geoffrey Chaucer
(1)
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