Anonymous: A Lady of High Degree
WILL ye that I should singOf the love of a goodly thing,Was no vilein’s may?’Tis sung of a knight so free,Under the olive tree,Singing this lay.
Her weed was of samite fine,Her mantle of white ermine,Green silk her hose;Her shoon with silver gay,Her sandals flowers of May,Laced small and close.
Her belt was of fresh spring buds,Set with gold clasps and studs,Fine linen her shift;Her purse it was of love,Her chain was the flower thereof,And Love’s gift.
Upon a mule she rode,The selle was of brent gold,The bits of silver made;Three red rose trees there wereThat overshadowed her,For a sun shade.
She riding on a day,Knights met her by the way,They did her grace;‘Fair lady, whence be ye?’‘France it is my countrie,I come of a high race.
‘My sire is the nightingale,That sings, making his wail,In the wild wood, clear;The mermaid is mother to me,That sings in the salt sea,In the ocean mere.’
‘Ye come of a right good race,And are born of a high place,And of high degree;Would to God that ye wereGiven unto me, being fair,My lady and love to be.’
Words in this poem
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- samite a.
- A species of silk stuff, or taffeta, generally interwoven with gold. [OF. samit, LL. samitum, examitum, from LGr. Six, and cf. Dimity.]
- laced a.
- Fastened with a lace or laces; decorated with narrow strips or braid. See Lace, v. t.
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- brent n.
- A brant. See Brant. [Cf. Brant.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- mermaid n.
- A fabled marine creature, typically represented as having the upper part like that of a woman, and the lower like a fish; a sea nymph, sea woman, or woman fish. [AS. mere lake, sea. See Mere lake, and maid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Anonymous: A Lady of High Degree is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Anonymous: A Lady of High Degree, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/a-lady-of-high-degree.html, id L26919.
Form and metre
Anonymous: A Lady of High Degree is 42 lines in 7 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AABCCB singA · thingA · mayB · freeC · treeC · layB
- 2 AABCCB fineA · ermineA · hoseB · gayC · mayC · closeB
- 3 AABCCB budsA · studsA · shiftB · loveC · thereofC · giftB
- 4 AABCCB rodeA · goldA · madeB · wereC · herC · shadeB
- 5 AABCCB dayA · wayA · graceB · yeC · countrieC · raceB
- 6 AABCCB nightingaleA · wailA · clearB · meC · seaC · mereB
- 7 AAB--B raceA · placeA · degreeB · were · fair · beB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WILL ye that I should sing | 6 | ······ |
| Of the love of a goodly thing, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Was no vilein’s may? | 5 | ····· |
| ’Tis sung of a knight so free, | 7 | ······· |
| Under the olive tree, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Singing this lay. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Her weed was of samite fine, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Her mantle of white ermine, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Green silk her hose; | 4 | ···· |
| Her shoon with silver gay, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Her sandals flowers of May, | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| Laced small and close. | 5 | ·˘··· |
| Her belt was of fresh spring buds, | 7 | ······· |
| Set with gold clasps and studs, | 6 | ······ |
| Fine linen her shift; | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Her purse it was of love, | 6 | ······ |
| Her chain was the flower thereof, | 7 | ····/·· |
| And Love’s gift. | 3 | ··· |
| Upon a mule she rode, | 6 | ······ |
| The selle was of brent gold, | 6 | ······ |
| The bits of silver made; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Three red rose trees there were | 6 | ······ |
| That overshadowed her, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| For a sun shade. | 4 | ···· |
| She riding on a day, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Knights met her by the way, | 6 | ······ |
| They did her grace; | 4 | ···· |
| ‘Fair lady, whence be ye?’ | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| ‘France it is my countrie, | 6 | ······ |
| I come of a high race. | 6 | ······ |
| ‘My sire is the nightingale, | 7 | ·/··/˘˘ |
| That sings, making his wail, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| In the wild wood, clear; | 5 | ····· |
| The mermaid is mother to me, | 8 | ·/··/˘·· |
| That sings in the salt sea, | 6 | ······ |
| In the ocean mere.’ | 5 | ··/˘· |
| ‘Ye come of a right good race, | 7 | ······· |
| And are born of a high place, | 7 | ······· |
| And of high degree; | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Would to God that ye were | 6 | ······ |
| Given unto me, being fair, | 6 | /···/· |
| My lady and love to be.’ | 7 | ·/˘···· |
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.