The Shipman’s Tale: Prologue
Our Host upon his stirrups stood anon,And saide; “Good men, hearken every one,This was a thrifty tale for the nones.Sir Parish Priest,” quoth he, “for Godde’s bones,Tell us a tale, as was thy forword yore:I see well that ye learned men in loreCan muche good, by Godde’s dignity.”The Parson him answer’d, “Ben’dicite!What ails the man, so sinfully to swear?”Our Host answer’d, “O Jankin, be ye there?Now, good men,” quoth our Host, “hearken to me.I smell a Lollard in the wind,” quoth he.“Abide, for Godde’s digne passion,For we shall have a predication:This Lollard here will preachen us somewhat.”“Nay, by my father’s soul, that shall he not,Saide the Shipman; “Here shall he not preach,He shall no gospel glose here nor teach.We all believe in the great God,” quoth he.“He woulde sowe some difficulty,Or springe cockle in our cleane corn.And therefore, Host, I warne thee beforn,My jolly body shall a tale tell,And I shall clinke you so merry a bell,That I shall waken all this company;But it shall not be of philosophy,Nor of physic, nor termes quaint of law;There is but little Latin in my maw.”
Words in this poem
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- godde v. t.
- To treat as a god; to idolize.
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- digne a.
- Worthy; honorable; deserving. [F., fr. L. dignus. See Design.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- predication n.
- The act of predicating, or of affirming one thing of another; affirmation; assertion. [L. praedicatio: cf. F. prédication.]
- shipman n.
- A seaman, or sailor. Chaucer. R. Browning.
- springe v. t.
- To sprinkle; to scatter. [OE. sprengen. See Sprinkle.]
- cockle n.
- A bivalve mollusk, with radiating ribs, of the genus Cardium, especially C. edule, used in Europe for food; -- sometimes applied to similar shells of other genera. [OE. cockes cockles, AS. s sea cockles, prob, from Celtic; cf. W. cocs cockles, Gael. cochull husk. Perh. influenced by EF. coquille shell, a dim. from the root ]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- termes n.
- A genus of Pseudoneuroptera including the white ants, or termites. See Termite. [L. termes, tarmes, -itis, a woodworm. Cf. Termite.]
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Shipman’s Tale: Prologue is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Canterbury Tales, Project Gutenberg ebook #2383; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Shipman’s Tale: Prologue, in The Canterbury Tales (1400), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2383, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/canterbury-tales/the-shipman-s-tale-prologue.html, id L15867.
Form and metre
The Shipman’s Tale: Prologue is 28 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ----AA--BBCCDD--EEC-FFGG--HH anon · one · nones · bones · yoreA · loreA · dignity · ben'dicite · swearB · thereB · meC · heC · passionD · predicationD · somewhat · not · preachE · teachE · heC · difficulty · cornF · befornF · tellG · bellG · company · philosophy · lawH · mawH
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Our Host upon his stirrups stood anon, | 10 | /····/˘·˘/ |
| And saide; “Good men, hearken every one, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| This was a thrifty tale for the nones. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Sir Parish Priest,” quoth he, “for Godde’s bones, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Tell us a tale, as was thy forword yore: | 10 | ·········· |
| I see well that ye learned men in lore | 10 | ······˘··· |
| Can muche good, by Godde’s dignity.” | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| The Parson him answer’d, “Ben’dicite! | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| What ails the man, so sinfully to swear?” | 10 | ·········· |
| Our Host answer’d, “O Jankin, be ye there? | 10 | /·/˘······ |
| Now, good men,” quoth our Host, “hearken to me. | 10 | ····/·/˘·· |
| I smell a Lollard in the wind,” quoth he. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| “Abide, for Godde’s digne passion, | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| For we shall have a predication: | 9 | ········· |
| This Lollard here will preachen us somewhat.” | 10 | ·/˘·····// |
| “Nay, by my father’s soul, that shall he not, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Saide the Shipman; “Here shall he not preach, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| He shall no gospel glose here nor teach. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| We all believe in the great God,” quoth he. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| “He woulde sowe some difficulty, | 9 | ·····/˘·˘ |
| Or springe cockle in our cleane corn. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| And therefore, Host, I warne thee beforn, | 9 | ········· |
| My jolly body shall a tale tell, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| And I shall clinke you so merry a bell, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| That I shall waken all this company; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| But it shall not be of philosophy, | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Nor of physic, nor termes quaint of law; | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| There is but little Latin in my maw.” | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 1
Glosses from the Purves edition of 1870, printed beside the lines (Project Gutenberg #2383).
- discreet, profitable · forword yore:: promise formerly · know · worthy · comment upon · belly
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