A Lawde and Prayse Made for Our Souereigne Lord the Kyng
The Rose both White and RedeIn one Rose now dothe grow;Thus thorow every stedeThereof the fame dothe blow:Grace the sede did sow:England, now gaddir flowris,Exclude now all dolowrs.
Noble Henry the eight,Thy loving souereine lorde,Of kingis line moost streight,His titille dothe recorde:In whome dothe wele acordeAlexis yonge of age,Adrastus wise and sage.
Astrea, Justice hight,That from the starry skyShall now com and do right,This hunderd yere scantlyA man kowd not aspyThat Right dwelt vs among,And that was the more wrong:
Right shall the foxis chare,The wolvis, the beris also,That wrowght have moche care,And browght Englond in wo:They shall wirry no mo,Nor wrote the RosaryBy extort trechery:
Of this our noble kingThe law they shall not breke;They shall com to rekening;No man for them wil speke:The pepil durst not crekeTheire grevis to complaine,They browght them in soche paine:
Therfor no more they shallThe commouns ouerbace,That wont wer ouer allBoth lorde and knight to face;For now the yeris of graceAnd welthe ar com agayne,That maketh England faine.
Adonis of freshe colour,Of yowthe the godely flour,Our prince of high honour,Our paves, our succour,Our king, our emperour,Our Priamus of Troy,Our welth, our worldly joy;
Vpon vs he doth reigne,That makith our hartis glad,As king moost soueraineThat ever Englond had;Demure, sober, and sad,And Martis lusty knight;God save him in his right!
Words in this poem
- rede v. t.
- To advise or counsel. [See Read, v. t.]
- thorow a.
- Thorough. Hakluyt.
- wele n.
- Prosperity; happiness; well-being; weal. [See Weal prosperity.]
- hight v. t.
- To be called or named. [OE. heiten, highten, haten, hoten; also hight, hatte, hette, is called, was called, AS. hatan to call, name, be called, to command, promise; also hatte is calle]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- 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,]
- scantly adv.
- In a scant manner; not fully or sufficiently; narrowly; penuriously.
- chare v. t.
- To perform; to do; to finish. Nores. [See 3d Char.]
- moche n.
- A bale of raw silk. [F.]
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- rosary n.
- A bed of roses, or place where roses grow. [LL. rosarium a string of beads, L. rosarium a place planted with roses, rosa a rose: cf. F. rosaire. See Rose.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- 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.]
- demure v. i.
- To look demurely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Lawde and Prayse Made for Our Souereigne Lord the Kyng is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 1 (of 2), Project Gutenberg ebook #59997; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Skelton, A Lawde and Prayse Made for Our Souereigne Lord the Kyng, in Poetical Works, Volume I (1500–1529), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/skelton-poems/a-lawde-and-prayse-made-for-our-souereigne-lord-the-kyng.html, id L08608.
Form and metre
A Lawde and Prayse Made for Our Souereigne Lord the Kyng is 56 lines in 8 stanzas of 7 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABBCC, in 2 of the 8 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABB-- redeA · growB · stedeA · blowB · sowB · flowris · dolowrs
- 2 ABABBCC eightA · lordeB · streightA · recordeB · acordeB · ageC · sageC
- 3 A-A---- hightA · sky · rightA · scantly · aspy · among · wrong
- 4 A-ABB-- chareA · also · careA · woB · moB · rosary · trechery
- 5 ABABBCC kingA · brekeB · rekeningA · spekeB · crekeB · complaineC · paineC
- 6 -A-AABB shall · ouerbaceA · all · faceA · graceA · agayneB · faineB
- 7 -----AA colour · flour · honour · succour · emperour · troyA · joyA
- 8 -A-AABB reigne · gladA · soueraine · hadA · sadA · knightB · rightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Rose both White and Rede | 6 | ······ |
| In one Rose now dothe grow; | 6 | ······ |
| Thus thorow every stede | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| Thereof the fame dothe blow: | 6 | ······ |
| Grace the sede did sow: | 5 | ····· |
| England, now gaddir flowris, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Exclude now all dolowrs. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Noble Henry the eight, | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| Thy loving souereine lorde, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of kingis line moost streight, | 6 | ······ |
| His titille dothe recorde: | 7 | ······· |
| In whome dothe wele acorde | 7 | ······· |
| Alexis yonge of age, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Adrastus wise and sage. | 6 | ······ |
| Astrea, Justice hight, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| That from the starry sky | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Shall now com and do right, | 6 | ······ |
| This hunderd yere scantly | 6 | ····/˘ |
| A man kowd not aspy | 6 | ······ |
| That Right dwelt vs among, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And that was the more wrong: | 6 | ······ |
| Right shall the foxis chare, | 6 | ······ |
| The wolvis, the beris also, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That wrowght have moche care, | 5 | ····· |
| And browght Englond in wo: | 6 | ······ |
| They shall wirry no mo, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor wrote the Rosary | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| By extort trechery: | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| Of this our noble king | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| The law they shall not breke; | 6 | ······ |
| They shall com to rekening; | 7 | ······· |
| No man for them wil speke: | 6 | ······ |
| The pepil durst not creke | 6 | ······ |
| Theire grevis to complaine, | 6 | ······ |
| They browght them in soche paine: | 6 | ······ |
| Therfor no more they shall | 6 | ······ |
| The commouns ouerbace, | 5 | ····· |
| That wont wer ouer all | 5 | ····· |
| Both lorde and knight to face; | 6 | ······ |
| For now the yeris of grace | 7 | ······· |
| And welthe ar com agayne, | 6 | ······ |
| That maketh England faine. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Adonis of freshe colour, | 7 | ˘/˘··/˘ |
| Of yowthe the godely flour, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Our prince of high honour, | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Our paves, our succour, | 7 | /˘·/˘/˘ |
| Our king, our emperour, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| Our Priamus of Troy, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Our welth, our worldly joy; | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Vpon vs he doth reigne, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| That makith our hartis glad, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| As king moost soueraine | 5 | ····· |
| That ever Englond had; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Demure, sober, and sad, | 6 | ˘//˘·· |
| And Martis lusty knight; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| God save him in his right! | 6 | ······ |
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.