Lesson 34

1. Describe the form called rime royal: meter, rhyme scheme, stanza form.

- Rime royal is a stanza with seven lines of iambic pentameter rhyming ababbcc. Complaint to His Purse is in this form until the Envoy to Henry IV. I actually don’t quite understand that part.

2. What is the structure of the poem? How do the imagery and argument of each stanza develop and intensify the appeal?

- I do not know the structure of this poem, although I tried to figure it out. The imager and argument of each stanza help to develop and intensify the appeal. I’m not quite sure what the argument of each stanza is though; I don’t understand this. But I found imagery so I’ll try to explain that as well as I can. In the first stanza, the line that creates the most imagery is “Me were as life be laid upon my beere” (5). A beere, or bier, is the frame or stand on which a corpse or coffin is laid before burial. This creates the imagery of a funeral, evoking a feeling of sadness and pity. In the second stanza, the narrator says, “Or see youre colour, lik the sonne bright, / That of yelownesse hadde never peere” (10-11). These lines create the imagery of a person who is bright and happy, like the glowing color of the sun. In the third stanza, the imagery is found in line 18 when the narrator says, “Sith that ye wol nat be my tresorere; / For I am shave as neigh as any frère.” In this line, the imagery of a “treasure” (gold or silver) emerges while we here next that the man is broke. All in all, this is a very hard poem to understand, especially because of the language. In reading the back of the book, it seems I’m not understanding in the way I should be.

3. In exploring the extended metaphor of the poem, consider how diction accounts for the humor of Chaucer’s parody.

- In the first line of the poem, it is clear that the narrator’s purse is being compared to a lady’s love. The narrator says, “To you, my purs, and to noon other wight.” In this poem, diction accounts for the humor of Chaucer’s parody. Throughout the whole poem, it is silly how he talks about the lady. She is always seen as great and the words almost seem like something that would be said in a soap opera. In lines 10-11 the narrator says, “Or see youre colour, lik the sonne bright, / That of yelownesse hadde never peere.” He talks about the lady glowing beautifully like the sun. Again, he raises her up by saying, “Quenne of confort and of good compaignye” (13). In this line, he is calling her a queen. When the narrator says, “Ye purs, that been to me my lives light / And saviour, as in this world down here…” (15-16), he is talking about his purse. But, in talking about his purse, he is also talking about this beautiful lady and saying that she gives him his life’s light. Oh, how sweet!

4. How does the envoy continue the tone of the poem even as it addresses a specific person?

- The envoy continues the tone of the poem, even as it addresses a specific person. I will not re-type the whole stanza, but the narrator also talks very highly and kindly to Henry IV. He says, “mownen alle oure harmes amende” (25), trying to be nice and tell Henry IV that everything will be fine, and any harms should be forgiven.