Analysis of The Monk's Tale
Geoffrey Chaucer 1343 (London) – 1400 (London)
WHEN ended was my tale of Melibee,
And of Prudence and her benignity,
Our Hoste said, 'As I am faithful man,
And by the precious corpus Madrian,
I had lever* than a barrel of ale, *rather
That goode lefe* my wife had heard this tale; *dear
For she is no thing of such patience
As was this Meliboeus' wife Prudence.
By Godde's bones! when I beat my knaves
She bringeth me the greate clubbed staves,
And crieth, 'Slay the dogges every one,
And break of them both back and ev'ry bone.'
And if that any neighebour of mine
Will not in church unto my wife incline,
Or be so hardy to her to trespace,* *offend
When she comes home she rampeth* in my face, *springs
And crieth, 'False coward, wreak* thy wife *avenge
By corpus Domini, I will have thy knife,
And thou shalt have my distaff, and go spin.'
From day till night right thus she will begin.
'Alas! ' she saith, 'that ever I was shape* *destined
To wed a milksop, or a coward ape,
That will be overlad* with every wight! *imposed on
Thou darest not stand by thy wife's right.'
'This is my life, *but if* that I will fight; *unless
And out at door anon I must me dight,* *betake myself
Or elles I am lost, but if that I
Be, like a wilde lion, fool-hardy.
I wot well she will do* me slay some day *make
Some neighebour and thenne *go my way; * *take to flight*
For I am perilous with knife in hand,
Albeit that I dare not her withstand;
For she is big in armes, by my faith!
That shall he find, that her misdoth or saith.
But let us pass away from this mattere.
My lord the Monk,' quoth he, 'be merry of cheer,
For ye shall tell a tale truely.
Lo, Rochester stands here faste by.
Ride forth, mine owen lord, break not our game.
But by my troth I cannot tell your name;
Whether shall I call you my lord Dan John,
Or Dan Thomas, or elles Dan Albon?
Of what house be ye, by your father's kin?
I vow to God, thou hast a full fair skin;
It is a gentle pasture where thou go'st;
Thou art not like a penant* or a ghost. *penitent
Upon my faith thou art some officer,
Some worthy sexton, or some cellarer.
For by my father's soul, *as to my dome,* *in my judgement*
Thou art a master when thou art at home;
No poore cloisterer, nor no novice,
But a governor, both wily and wise,
And therewithal, of brawnes* and of bones, *sinews
A right well-faring person for the nonce.
I pray to God give him confusion
That first thee brought into religion.
Thou would'st have been a treade-fowl* aright; *cock
Hadst thou as greate leave, as thou hast might,
To perform all thy lust in engendrure,* *generation, begettting
Thou hadst begotten many a creature.
Alas! why wearest thou so wide a cope?
God give me sorrow, but, an* I were pope, *if
Not only thou, but every mighty man,
Though he were shorn full high upon his pan,* *crown
Should have a wife; for all this world is lorn; * *undone, ruined
Religion hath ta'en up all the corn
Of treading, and we borel* men be shrimps: *lay
Of feeble trees there come wretched imps.* *shoots
This maketh that our heires be so slender
And feeble, that they may not well engender.
This maketh that our wives will assay
Religious folk, for they may better pay
Of Venus' payementes than may we:
God wot, no lusheburghes paye ye.
But be not wroth, my lord, though that I play;
Full oft in game a sooth have I heard say.'
This worthy Monk took all in patience,
And said, 'I will do all my diligence,
As far as *souneth unto honesty,* *agrees with good manners*
To telle you a tale, or two or three.
And if you list to hearken hitherward,
I will you say the life of Saint Edward;
Or elles first tragedies I will tell,
Of which I have an hundred in my cell.
Tragedy *is to say* a certain story, *means*
As olde bookes maken us memory,
Of him that stood in great prosperity,
And is y-fallen out of high degree
In misery, and endeth wretchedly.
And they be versified commonly
Of six feet, which men call hexametron;
In prose eke* be indited many a one, *also
And eke in metre, in many a sundry wise.
Lo, this declaring ought enough suffice.
Now hearken, if ye like for to hear. <
Scheme | ABCCDEFFGGHXIIBXXXJJBXKB XXXBLBBBMMDENAOOKCJJBBDDBXXPFXHHXBLDXXCXBXNXDDQRQQNR FFXQBBNNXQBQNNCXPXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 0110001 1011111101 01010101 111010101110 1111111111 111111110 1111110 11111111 1110111 011011001 011111011 01110111 1101101101 11110101101 1111110111 0111011101 11010011111 011111011 1111111101 011111011110 110110101 111111001011 11111111 111111111101 011111111011 111111111 110110110 11111111111 1101111111 1111001101 0101111001 111101111 111110111 111101111 11011111011 1111011 1101111 11110111101 1111110111 1011111111 11101111 1111111101 1111110111 11010101111 111101101100 0111111100 11010111 11110111110110 1101011111 1111110 1010011001 01110111 0111010101 111111010 111101010 1111101111 111111111 101111010101 1101010010 011111101 11110111011 11011100101 11011101111 11011111110110 0101111101 11001101111 1101111011 1111011110 01011111010 111101110 0101111101 1101111 111111 1111111111 1101011111 110111010 0111111100 111110100011110 111011111 0111111 1111011110 111100111 1111110011 100111010101 11111100 1111010100 0111011101 010001100 0111100 1111111 0111010100110 010100100101 1101010101 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,424 |
Words | 785 |
Sentences | 35 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 24, 52, 19 |
Lines Amount | 95 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,017 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 385 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 06, 2023
- 3:56 min read
- 190 Views
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"The Monk's Tale" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14660/the-monk%27s-tale>.
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