Drede
Than I assured hym my fydelyte,His counseyle secrete neuer to dyscure,Yf he coude fynde in herte to truste me;Els I prayed hym, with all my besy cure,To kepe it hymselfe, for than he myghte be sureThat noo man erthly coude hym bewreye,Whyles of his mynde it were lockte with the keye.
By God, quod he, this and thus it is;And of his mynde he shewed me all and some.Farewell, quod he, we wyll talke more of this:Soo he departed there he wolde be come.I dare not speke, I promysed to be dome:But, as I stode musynge in my mynde,Haruy Hafter came lepynge, lyghte as lynde.
Vpon his breste he bare a versynge boxe;His throte was clere, and lustely coude fayne;Me thoughte, his gowne was all furred wyth foxe;And euer he sange, Sythe I am no thynge playne.To kepe him frome pykynge it was a grete payne:He gased on me with his gotyshe berde;Whan I loked on hym, my purse was half aferde.
Words in this poem
- quod v.
- Quoth; said. See Quoth.
- hafter n.
- A caviler; a wrangler. Baret.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Drede 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, Drede, in Poetical Works, Volume I (1500–1529), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/skelton-poems/drede-3.html, id L08635.
Form and metre
Drede is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 -ABAABB fydelyte · dyscureA · meB · cureA · sureA · bewreyeB · keyeB
- 2 -A-AABB is · someA · this · comeA · domeA · myndeB · lyndeB
- 3 ABABBCC boxeA · fayneB · foxeA · playneB · payneB · berdeC · aferdeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Than I assured hym my fydelyte, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| His counseyle secrete neuer to dyscure, | 11 | ····˘//˘··· |
| Yf he coude fynde in herte to truste me; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Els I prayed hym, with all my besy cure, | 10 | ·········· |
| To kepe it hymselfe, for than he myghte be sure | 11 | ··········· |
| That noo man erthly coude hym bewreye, | 9 | ········· |
| Whyles of his mynde it were lockte with the keye. | 10 | ·········· |
| By God, quod he, this and thus it is; | 9 | ········· |
| And of his mynde he shewed me all and some. | 10 | ·········· |
| Farewell, quod he, we wyll talke more of this: | 10 | ·/········ |
| Soo he departed there he wolde be come. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| I dare not speke, I promysed to be dome: | 10 | ·········· |
| But, as I stode musynge in my mynde, | 9 | ········· |
| Haruy Hafter came lepynge, lyghte as lynde. | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Vpon his breste he bare a versynge boxe; | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| His throte was clere, and lustely coude fayne; | 10 | ·········· |
| Me thoughte, his gowne was all furred wyth foxe; | 10 | ·······˘·· |
| And euer he sange, Sythe I am no thynge playne. | 10 | ·········· |
| To kepe him frome pykynge it was a grete payne: | 11 | ··········· |
| He gased on me with his gotyshe berde; | 10 | ··˘······· |
| Whan I loked on hym, my purse was half aferde. | 11 | ··········· |
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.