Ballade royal
Rhyme royal is a rhyming stanza form that was introduced into English poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Form
The rhyme royal stanza consists of seven lines, usually in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-b-c-c. In practice, the stanza can be constructed either as a tercet and two couplets (a-b-a, b-b, c-c) or a quatrain and a tercet (a-b-a-b, b-c-c). This allows for a good deal of variety, especially when the form is used for longer narrative poems.
History
Chaucer first used the rhyme royal stanza in his long poems Troilus and Criseyde and Parliament of Fowles. He also used it for four of the Canterbury Tales and in a number of shorter lyrics. It is believed that he adapted the form from a French ballade stanza.
James I of Scotland used rhyme royal for his Chaucerian poem The Kingis Quaire, and it is believed that the name of the stanza derives from this royal use. John Lydgate used the stanza for many of his occasional and love poems. Thomas Wyatt also used rhyme royal, most famously in his poem They flee from me that Sometime did me Seek and Shakespeare used it for The Rape of Lucrece. Edmund Spenser derived his Spenserian stanza partly by adapting rhyme royal.
The form has continued to be popular, and in the 20th century it was used by W. H. Auden in his Letter to Lord Byron.
Some Examples
Here is the opening stanza of Troilus and Criseyde:
- The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen,
- That was the king Priamus sone of Troye,
- In lovinge, how his aventures fellen
- Fro wo to wele, and after out of Ioye,
- My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye,
- Thesiphone, thou help me for tendyte
- Thise woful vers, that wepen as I wryt
and this is the first stanza of the Wyatt poem:
- They flee from me that sometime did me seek
- With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
- I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,
- That now are wild and do not remember
- That sometime they put themself in danger
- To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
- Busily seeking with a continual change.
Ballade Royal
The ballade royal is a poem form that uses rhyme royal stanzas within the discipline of a ballade. Ballade royal may use iambic pentameters or iambic tetrameters. Typically, there are four stanzas with the final stanza taking the place of the more usual envoi. The final line of each stanza is a repeated refrain. Chaucer used this form in his Ballade of Good COunsel.
External links
Referenced By
Poem | PoetrY
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