The True Knight
For knighthood is not in the feats of warre,As for to fight in quarrel right or wrong,But in a cause which truth can not defarre:He ought himself for to make sure and strong,Justice to keep mixt with mercý among:And no quarrell a knight ought to takeBut for a truth, or for the common’s sake.
Words in this poem
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- quarrell n.
- An arrow for a crossbow; -- so named because it commonly had a square head. [OE. quarel, OF. quarrel, F. carreau, LL. quadrellus, from L. quadrus square. See Quadrate, and cf. Quadrel, Quarry an arrow, Carrel.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The True Knight is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Stephen Hawes, The True Knight, in Poems (1523), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-stephen-hawes/the-true-knight.html, id L15951.
Form and metre
The True Knight is 7 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables.
See 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 ABAB-CC warreA · wrongB · defarreA · strongB · among · takeC · sakeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For knighthood is not in the feats of warre, | 10 | ·/········ |
| As for to fight in quarrel right or wrong, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But in a cause which truth can not defarre: | 10 | ·········· |
| He ought himself for to make sure and strong, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Justice to keep mixt with mercý among: | 9 | /˘······· |
| And no quarrell a knight ought to take | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| But for a truth, or for the common’s sake. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
Notes from the edition 1
Quiller-Couch's glosses on the hard words, from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900, chosen and edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch (Oxford, 1900; Project Gutenberg #66619)
- _32._ defarre] undo.
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