Rime Royal (or
Rhyme royal) is a
rhymingA rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
stanzaIn poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
form that was introduced into
EnglishEnglish literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was born in Poland, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, V.S....
poetry by
Geoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales...
.
Form
The rhyme royal stanza consists of seven lines, usually in
iambic pentameterIambic pentameter is one of many meters used in poetry and drama. It describes a particular rhythm that the words establish in each line. That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups of syllables are called "feet". The word "iambic" describes the type of foot that is used...
. The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-b-c-c. In practice, the stanza can be constructed either as a
terza rimaTerza rima is a rhyming verse stanza form that consists of an interlocking three line rhyme scheme. It was first used by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri.-Form:Terza rima is a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D...
and two
coupletA couplet is a pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic couplets....
s (a-b-a, b-b, c-c) or a
quatrainA Quatrain is a stanza of poetry consisting of four lines. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome continues into the 21st century where it is seen in works published in several languages.-Forms:*The heroic stanza...
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
narrativeNarrative poetry is poetry that has a plot. The poems may be short or long, and the story it relates to may be simple or complex. It is usually nondramatic, with objective regular scheme and meter. Narrative poems include epics, ballads, idylls and lays....
poems; and along with the couplet, it was the standard narrative metre in the late Middle Ages.
History
Chaucer first used the rhyme royal stanza in his long poems
Troilus and CriseydeTroilus and Criseyde is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war in the Siege of Troy. It was composed using rime royale and probably completed during the mid 1380's. Many Chaucer scholars regard it...
and
Parlement of FoulesThe "Parlement of Foules" is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer made up by approximately 700 lines. The poem is in the form of a dream vision in rhyme royal stanza and is interesting as it is the first reference to the idea that St...
. He also used it for four of the
Canterbury Tales including the
Man of Law's Tale, the
Prioress' Tale, and in a number of shorter lyrics. He may have adapted the form from a
FrenchFrench literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak other traditional non-French languages. Literature written by citizens of other nations such as...
balladeThe ballade is a verse form typically consisting of three eight-line stanzas, each with a consistent metre and a particular rhyme scheme. The last line in the stanza is a refrain, and the stanzas are followed by a four-line concluding stanza usually addressed to a prince...
stanza or from the
ItalianItalian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in Italy in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian....
Ottava rimaOttava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of mock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio....
, with the omission of the fifth line.
James I of ScotlandJames I was nominal King of Scots from 4 April 1406 until his death, although his effective reign only began in May 1424.He spent the earlier part of his reign as a prisoner in England...
used rhyme royal for his Chaucerian poem
The Kingis QuairThe Kingis Quair is a fifteenth-century poem attributed to James I of Scotland. It is semi-autobiographical in nature, describing the King's capture by the English in 1406 on his way to France and his subsequent imprisonment by Henry IV of England and his successors, Henry V and Henry VI...
, and it is believed that the name of the stanza derives from this royal use. English and Scottish poets were greatly influenced by Chaucer in the century after his death and most made use of the form in at least some of their works.
John LydgateJohn Lydgate of Bury was a monk and poet, born in Lidgate, Suffolk, England.- Early life and education :He was admitted to the Benedictine monastery of Bury St...
used the stanza for many of his occasional and love poems. The Scottish poet
Robert HenrysonRobert Henryson was a poet who flourished in Scotland in the period c. 1460–1500. Counted among the Scots makars, he lived in the royal burgh of Dunfermline and is a distinctive voice in the Northern Renaissance at a time when the culture was on a cusp between medieval and renaissance sensibilities...
consistently used the stanza throughout his two longest works, the
Morall Fabillis and
Testament of Cresseid, while the anonymous
The Flower and the Leaf is another early use of the form. In the 16th century
Thomas WyattSir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English lyrical poet. He was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent - though his family was originally from Yorkshire. His father, Henry Wyatt, had been one of Henry VII's Privy Councillors, and remained a trusted advisor when Henry VIII came to the...
used it in his poem
They flee from me that sometime did me seek,
Thomas SackvilleThomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset was an English statesman and poet, son of Richard Sackville, a cousin to Anne Boleyn. Thomas Sackville married Cicely Baker in 1555. and had seven children. He was a Member of Parliament and Lord High Treasurer. He died suddenly at the council table, in...
in the Induction to
The Mirror for Magistrates,
Alexander BarclayDr Alexander Barclay was an English/Scottish poet.-Biography:Barclay was born about 1476. His place of birth is matter of dispute, but William Bulleyn, who was a native of Ely, and probably knew him when he was in the monastery there, asserts that he was born "beyonde the cold river of Twede"...
in his
Ship of Fools and
Stephen HawesStephen Hawes , was a popular English poet during the Tudor period who is now little known. He was probably born in Suffolk owing to the commonness of the name in that area and, if his own statement of his age may be trusted, was born about 1474. He was educated at Oxford and travelled in...
in his
Pastime of Pleasure.
The seven-line stanza began to go out of fashion during the Elizabethan era but it was still used by John Davys in
Orchestra and by
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
in
The Rape of LucreceThe Rape of Lucrece is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, Venus and Adonis , Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, the Earl of Southampton, in which he promised to write a "graver work"...
.
Edmund SpenserEdmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem celebrating, through fantastical allegory, the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy.-Life:Edmund Spenser was born in London around 1552...
wrote his
Hymn of Heavenly Beauty using rhyme royal but he also derived his own
Spenserian stanzaThe Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene. Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single 'Alexandrine' line in iambic hexameter. The rhyme scheme of these lines is...
with the rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-b-c-b-c-c partly by adapting rhyme royal. Like many stanzaic forms, rhyme royal fell out of fashion during the Restoration, and has never been widely used since. However, William Wordsworth employed rhyme royal (slightly modified by an alexandrine in the seventh line) in "
Resolution and IndependenceResolution and Independence is a lyric poem by the English romantic poet William Wordsworth, composed in 1802 and published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes...
," and notable twentieth-century poems in the stanza are
W. H. AudenWystan Hugh Auden who signed his works W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or...
's
Letter to Lord Byron (as well as some of the stanzas in
The Shield of Achilles) and W. B. Yeats's
A Bronze Head.
Some examples
The three examples below are each from a different century. The first, composed in the 14th century, is from Chaucer and if, as some scholars believe, it is one of his earliest poems, then it is possibly the first manifestation of the form in English. The second example is from 15th century Scotland where the stanza was very widely taken up and developed. The last, from Thomas Wyatt, is a 16th century illustration of the form (modernised).
- Opening stanza of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
Troilus and Criseyde is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war in the Siege of Troy. It was composed using rime royale and probably completed during the mid 1380's. Many Chaucer scholars regard it...
:
- 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
Tisiphone is the name of two figures in Greek mythology.-Erinyes:Tisiphone was one of the Erinyes or Furies, and sister of Alecto and Megaera. She was the one who punished crimes of murder: parricide, fratricide and homicide...
, thou help me for tendyteThe term Composition, in written language, refers to the skill or art of creating written works or pieces of literature. This can be in the form of poetry, drama, essays or prose.In fiction writing, composition includes, but is not limited to,...
- Thise woful vers, that wepen as I wryt
- Example from Henryson's Testament of Cresseid, in a stanza which describes the god Saturn
Saturn was a major Roman god of agriculture and harvest. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength; he held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right. His mother's name was Helen, or Hel...
hailing from an extremely cold realm:
- His face fronsit
A wrinkle is a fold, ridge or crease in the skin. Skin wrinkles typically appear as a result of aging processes such as glycation or, temporarily, as the result of prolonged immersion in water. Wrinkling in the skin is caused by habitual facial expressions, aging, sun damage, smoking, poor...
, his lyreComplexion refers to the natural color, texture, and appearance of the skin, especially that of the face. The word is derived from the Late Latin complexi, which initially referred in general terms to a combination of things, and later in physiological terms, to the balance of humors.The four...
was lyke the leidLead is a main-group element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals. Lead has a bluish-white color when freshly cut, but tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air...
,
- His teith chatterit and cheverit with the chin,
- His ene drowpit
Sagging is a form of the verb to sag 'to drop, to droop'; used as a substantivated adjective, it may mean:*Sagging , a fashion trend for wearing pants below the waist to expose one's boxers, practiced by males...
, how sonkin in his heid,
- Out of his nois the meldrop
In vertebrates, mucus is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is a viscous colloid containing antiseptic enzymes and immunoglobulins that serves to protect epithelial cells in the respiratory,...
fast can rin,
- With lippis bla
Paleness of color is the property of being a light or pastel version of another color of the same hue. The paler color has higher luminance, and lower chrominance .The color can also mean a white color of the skin ....
and cheikis leine and thin;
- The ice-schoklis that fra his hair doun hang
- Was wonder greit and as ane speir
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft, such as obsidian, iron or bronze...
als langLength is the long dimension of any object. Not to be confused with Depth which is the property of the object that appears to go away from the observer. The length of a thing is the distance between its ends, its linear extent as measured from end to end...
.
- Opening to Thomas Wyatt's rhyme royal 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.
External links