A Ballad of Gentleness
Geoffrey Chaucer 1343 (London) – 1400 (London)
The firste stock-father of gentleness,
What man desireth gentle for to be,
Must follow his trace, and all his wittes dress,
Virtue to love, and vices for to flee;
For unto virtue longeth dignity,
And not the reverse, safely dare I deem,
All wear he mitre, crown, or diademe.
This firste stock was full of righteousness,
True of his word, sober, pious, and free,
Clean of his ghost, and loved business,
Against the vice of sloth, in honesty;
And, but his heir love virtue as did he,
He is not gentle, though he riche seem,
All wear he mitre, crown, or diademe.
Vice may well be heir to old richess,
But there may no man, as men may well see,
Bequeath his heir his virtuous nobless;
That is appropried to no degree,
But to the first Father in majesty,
Which makes his heire him that doth him queme,
All wear he mitre, crown, or diademe.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 654 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | abxbbcC ababbcC ababbcC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 822 |
Words | 157 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7 |
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"A Ballad of Gentleness" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/14606/a-ballad-of-gentleness>.
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