The Prioress-s Tale [from Chaucer] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB CDCDE FG GHII CJCJJKK KCKCCLM C NKOKKFF PCQCCCC CGCMLKC RCSCCFF F CMCTFF F F CMCTMCC F CKCKKFF F FFFFFC F FCFCCG C CCCC K KKFF UKUKKF CFCFFCC C C CC F CQCVKCK F CCCCCWN F CCCCCCC F FFFFF F CCCCCXX CXCXXCC YFYFFMT RL'Call up him who left half told | A |
The story of Cambuscan bold ' | B |
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I | - |
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'O LORD our Lord how wondrously ' quoth she | C |
'Thy name in this large world is spread abroad | D |
For not alone by men of dignity | C |
Thy worship is performed and precious laud | D |
But by the mouths of children gracious God | E |
Thy goodness is set forth they when they lie | - |
Upon the breast thy name do glorify | - |
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II | - |
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'Wherefore in praise the worthiest that I may | F |
Jesu of thee and the white Lily flower | G |
Which did thee bear and is a Maid for aye | - |
To tell a story I will use my power | G |
Not that I may increase her honour's dower | H |
For she herself is honour and the root | I |
Of goodness next her Son our soul's best boot | I |
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III | - |
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'O Mother Maid O Maid and Mother free | C |
O bush unburnt burning in Moses' sight | J |
That down didst ravish from the Deity | C |
Through humbleness the spirit that did alight | J |
Upon thy heart whence through that glory's might | J |
Conceived was the Father's sapience | K |
Help me to tell it in thy reverence | K |
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IV | - |
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'Lady thy goodness thy magnificence | K |
Thy virtue and thy great humility | C |
Surpass all science and all utterance | K |
For sometimes Lady ere men pray to thee | C |
Thou goest before in thy benignity | C |
The light to us vouchsafing of thy prayer | L |
To be our guide unto thy Son so dear | M |
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V | C |
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'My knowledge is so weak O blissful Queen | N |
To tell abroad thy mighty worthiness | K |
That I the weight of it may not sustain | O |
But as a child of twelvemonths old or less | K |
That laboureth his language to express | K |
Even so fare I and therefore I thee pray | F |
Guide thou my song which I of thee shall say | F |
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VI | - |
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'There was in Asia in a mighty town | P |
'Mong Christian folk a street where Jews might be | C |
Assigned to them and given them for their own | Q |
By a great Lord for gain and usury | C |
Hateful to Christ and to his company | C |
And through this street who list might ride and wend | C |
Free was it and unbarred at either end | C |
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VII | - |
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'A little school of Christian people stood | C |
Down at the farther end in which there were | G |
A nest of children come of Christian blood | C |
That learned in that school from year to year | M |
Such sort of doctrine as men used there | L |
That is to say to sing and read also | K |
As little children in their childhood do | C |
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VIII | - |
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'Among these children was a Widow's son | R |
A little scholar scarcely seven years old | C |
Who day by day unto this school hath gone | S |
And eke when he the image did behold | C |
Of Jesu's Mother as he had been told | C |
This Child was wont to kneel adown and say | F |
'Ave Marie ' as he goeth by the way | F |
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IX | F |
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'This Widow thus her little Son hath taught | C |
Our blissful Lady Jesu's Mother dear | M |
To worship aye and he forgat it not | C |
For simple infant hath a ready ear | T |
Sweet is the holiness of youth and hence | F |
Calling to mind this matter when I may | F |
Saint Nicholas in my presence standeth aye | - |
For he so young to Christ did reverence | F |
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X | F |
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'This little Child while in the school he sate | C |
His Primer conning with an earnest cheer | M |
The whilst the rest their anthem book repeat | C |
The 'Alma Redemptoris' did he hear | T |
And as he durst he drew him near and near | M |
And hearkened to the words and to the note | C |
Till the first verse he learned it all by rote | C |
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XI | F |
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'This Latin knew he nothing what it said | C |
For he too tender was of age to know | K |
But to his comrade he repaired and prayed | C |
That he the meaning of this song would show | K |
And unto him declare why men sing so | K |
This oftentimes that he might be at ease | F |
This child did him beseech on his bare knees | F |
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XII | F |
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'His Schoolfellow who elder was than he | F |
Answered him thus 'This song I have heard say | F |
Was fashioned for our blissful Lady free | F |
Her to salute and also her to pray | F |
To be our help upon our dying day | F |
If there is more in this I know it not | C |
Song do I learn small grammar I have got ' | - |
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XIII | F |
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''And is this song fashioned in reverence | F |
Of Jesu's Mother ' said this Innocent | C |
'Now certes I will use my diligence | F |
To con it all ere Christmas tide be spent | C |
Although I for my Primer shall be shent | C |
And shall be beaten three times in an hour | G |
Our Lady I will praise with all my power ' | - |
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XIV | - |
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'His Schoolfellow whom he had so besought | C |
As they went homeward taught him privily | - |
And then he sang it well and fearlessly | - |
From word to word according to the note | C |
Twice in a day it passed through his throat | C |
Homeward and schoolward whensoe'er he went | C |
On Jesu's Mother fixed was his intent | C |
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XV | - |
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'Through all the Jewry this before said I | - |
This little Child as he came to and fro | K |
Full merrily then would he sing and cry | - |
O 'Alma Redemptoris ' high and low | K |
The sweetness of Christ's Mother pierced so | K |
His heart that her to praise to her to pray | F |
He cannot stop his singing by the way | F |
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XVI | - |
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'The Serpent Satan our first foe that hath | U |
His wasp's nest in Jew's heart upswelled 'O woe | K |
O Hebrew people ' said he in his wrath | U |
'Is it an honest thing Shall this be so | K |
That such a Boy where'er he lists shall go | K |
In your despite and sing his hymns and saws | F |
Which is against the reverence of our laws ' | - |
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XVII | - |
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'From that day forward have the Jews conspired | C |
Out of the world this Innocent to chase | F |
And to this end a Homicide they hired | C |
That in an alley had a privy place | F |
And as the Child 'gan to the school to pace | F |
This cruel Jew him seized and held him fast | C |
And cut his throat and in a pit him cast | C |
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XVIII | - |
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'I say that him into a pit they threw | C |
A loathsome pit whence noisome scents exhale | - |
O cursed folk away ye Herods new | C |
What may your ill intentions you avail | - |
Murder will out certes it will not fail | - |
Know that the honour of high God may spread | C |
The blood cries out on your accursed deed | C |
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XIX | F |
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'O Martyr 'stablished in virginity | C |
Now may'st thou sing for aye before the throne | Q |
Following the Lamb celestial ' quoth she | C |
'Of which the great Evangelist Saint John | V |
In Patmos wrote who saith of them that go | K |
Before the Lamb singing continually | C |
That never fleshly woman they did know | K |
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XX | F |
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'Now this poor widow waiteth all that night | C |
After her little Child and he came not | C |
For which by earliest glimpse of morning light | C |
With face all pale with dread and busy thought | C |
She at the School and elsewhere him hath sought | C |
Until thus far she learned that he had been | W |
In the Jews' street and there he last was seen | N |
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XXI | F |
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'With Mother's pity in her breast enclosed | C |
She goeth as she were half out of her mind | C |
To every place wherein she hath supposed | C |
By likelihood her little Son to find | C |
And ever on Christ's Mother meek and kind | C |
She cried till to the Jewry she was brought | C |
And him among the accursed Jews she sought | C |
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XXII | F |
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'She asketh and she piteously doth pray | F |
To every Jew that dwelleth in that place | F |
To tell her if her child had passed that way | F |
They all said Nay but Jesu of his grace | F |
Gave to her thought that in a little space | F |
She for her Son in that same spot did cry | - |
Where he was cast into a pit hard by | - |
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XXIII | F |
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'O thou great God that dost perform thy laud | C |
By mouths of Innocents lo here thy might | C |
This gem of chastity this emerald | C |
And eke of martyrdom this ruby bright | C |
There where with mangled throat he lay upright | C |
The 'Alma Redemptoris' 'gan to sing | X |
So loud that with his voice the place did ring | X |
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XXIV | - |
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'The Christian folk that through the Jewry went | C |
Come to the spot in wonder at the thing | X |
And hastily they for the Provost sent | C |
Immediately he came not tarrying | X |
And praiseth Christ that is our heavenly King | X |
And eke his Mother honour of Mankind | C |
Which done he bade that they the Jews should bind | C |
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XXV | - |
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'This Child with piteous lamentation then | Y |
Was taken up singing his song alway | F |
And with procession great and pomp of men | Y |
To the next Abbey him they bare away | F |
His Mother swooning by the body lay | F |
And scarcely could the people that were near | M |
Remove this second Rachel from the bier | T |
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XXVI | - |
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'Torment and shameful death to every one | R |
This Provost doth for those bad Jews prepare | L |
William Wordsworth
(1)
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