François Villon: Ballad of the Gibbet
BROTHERS and men that shall after us be,Let not your hearts be hard to us:For pitying this our miseryYe shall find God the more piteous.Look on us six that are hanging thus,And for the flesh that so much we cherishedHow it is eaten of birds and perished,And ashes and dust fill our bones’ place,Mock not at us that so feeble be,But pray God pardon us out of His grace.
Listen, we pray you, and look not in scorn,Though justly, in sooth, we are cast to die;Ye wot no man so wise is bornThat keeps his wisdom constantly.Be ye then merciful, and cryTo Mary’s Son that is piteous,That His mercy take no stain from us,Saving us out of the fiery place.We are but dead, let no soul denyTo pray God succour us of His grace.
The rain out of heaven has washed us clean,The sun has scorched us black and bare,Ravens and rooks have pecked at our eyne,And feathered their nests with our beards and hair.Round are we tossed, and here and there,This way and that, at the wild wind’s will,Never a moment my body is still;Birds they are busy about my face.Live not as we, nor fare as we fare;Pray God pardon us out of His grace.
Prince Jesus, Master of all, to theeWe pray Hell gain no mastery,That we come never anear that place;And ye men, make no mockery,Pray God pardon us out of His grace.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- pitying a.
- Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- succour v. t.
- tiono run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve; as, to succor a besieged city. [OE. socouren, OF. sucurre, soucourre, secorre, F. secourir, L. succurrere, succursum, to run under, run to the aid of, help, succor; sub under + currere to run.]
- eyne n.
- Plural of eye; obsolete, or used only in poetry.
- anear v. t.
- To near; to approach.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
François Villon: Ballad of the Gibbet 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, François Villon: Ballad of the Gibbet, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/ballad-of-the-gibbet.html, id L26889.
Form and metre
François Villon: Ballad of the Gibbet is 35 lines in 4 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AB--BCCDAD beA · usB · misery · piteous · thusB · cherishedC · perishedC · placeD · beA · graceD
- 2 ABA-B--CBC scornA · dieB · bornA · constantly · cryB · piteous · us · placeC · denyB · graceC
- 3 -A-AABBCAC clean · bareA · eyne · hairA · thereA · willB · stillB · faceC · fareA · graceC
- 4 --A-A thee · mastery · placeA · mockery · graceA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| BROTHERS and men that shall after us be, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Let not your hearts be hard to us: | 8 | ········ |
| For pitying this our misery | 9 | ·/˘˘·//˘˘ |
| Ye shall find God the more piteous. | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Look on us six that are hanging thus, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And for the flesh that so much we cherished | 10 | ········/˘ |
| How it is eaten of birds and perished, | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| And ashes and dust fill our bones’ place, | 9 | ·/˘···/·· |
| Mock not at us that so feeble be, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| But pray God pardon us out of His grace. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Listen, we pray you, and look not in scorn, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Though justly, in sooth, we are cast to die; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Ye wot no man so wise is born | 8 | ········ |
| That keeps his wisdom constantly. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Be ye then merciful, and cry | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| To Mary’s Son that is piteous, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘˘ |
| That His mercy take no stain from us, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Saving us out of the fiery place. | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| We are but dead, let no soul deny | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| To pray God succour us of His grace. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The rain out of heaven has washed us clean, | 9 | ····/···· |
| The sun has scorched us black and bare, | 8 | ········ |
| Ravens and rooks have pecked at our eyne, | 9 | /˘·····/· |
| And feathered their nests with our beards and hair. | 10 | ·/˘···/··· |
| Round are we tossed, and here and there, | 8 | ········ |
| This way and that, at the wild wind’s will, | 9 | ········· |
| Never a moment my body is still; | 9 | /·/˘·/˘·· |
| Birds they are busy about my face. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Live not as we, nor fare as we fare; | 9 | ········· |
| Pray God pardon us out of His grace. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Prince Jesus, Master of all, to thee | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| We pray Hell gain no mastery, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| That we come never anear that place; | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| And ye men, make no mockery, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Pray God pardon us out of His grace. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
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.