A Paraphrase by Chaucer
Syn that you, Chloe, to your moder sticken,Maketh all ye yonge bacheloures full sicken;Like as a lyttel deere you been y-hidingWhenas come lovers with theyre pityse chiding,Sothly it ben faire to give up your moderFor to beare swete company with some oder;Your moder ben well enow so farre shee goeth,But that ben not farre enow, God knoweth;Wherefore it ben sayed that foolysh ladyesThat marrye not shall leade an aype in Hayde;But all that do with gode men wed full quicklyeWhen that they be on dead go to ye seints full sickerly.
Words in this poem
- sicken v. t.
- To make sick; to disease.
- enow
- A form of Enough.
- farre n.
- A young pig, or a litter of pigs. [See Farrow.]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- 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,]
- sickerly adv.
- Surely; securely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Paraphrase by Chaucer is in the public domain. This text is taken from Hoosier Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #36150; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, A Paraphrase by Chaucer, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/a-paraphrase-by-chaucer.html, id L11606.
Form and metre
A Paraphrase by Chaucer is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.9 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AABBCCDD---- stickenA · sickenA · hidingB · chidingB · moderC · oderC · goethD · knowethD · ladyes · hayde · quicklye · sickerly
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Syn that you, Chloe, to your moder sticken, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Maketh all ye yonge bacheloures full sicken; | 11 | ·····/˘˘·/˘ |
| Like as a lyttel deere you been y-hiding | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Whenas come lovers with theyre pityse chiding, | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Sothly it ben faire to give up your moder | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| For to beare swete company with some oder; | 11 | ····/˘˘··/˘ |
| Your moder ben well enow so farre shee goeth, | 11 | ·/˘··˘/···· |
| But that ben not farre enow, God knoweth; | 10 | ·····˘/·/˘ |
| Wherefore it ben sayed that foolysh ladyes | 11 | /˘···/···/˘ |
| That marrye not shall leade an aype in Hayde; | 10 | ·········· |
| But all that do with gode men wed full quicklye | 11 | ··········· |
| When that they be on dead go to ye seints full sickerly. | 14 | ·············· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.