Laureati Skeltonidis in Despectu Malignantium Distichon
Quamvis insanis, quamvis marcescis inanis,Invide, cantamus: hæc loca plena jocis.Bien men souuient.
Ebria, squalida, sordida fœmina, prodiga verbis,Huc currat, properet, veniat! Sua gesta libellusIste volutabit: Pæan sua plectra sonandoMateriam risus cantabit carmine rauco.
Words in this poem
- carmine n.
- A rich red or crimson color with a shade of purple. [F. carmin (cf. Sp. carmin, It. carminio), contr. from LL. carmesinus purple color. See Crimson.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Laureati Skeltonidis in Despectu Malignantium Distichon 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, Laureati Skeltonidis in Despectu Malignantium Distichon, in Poetical Works, Volume I (1500–1529), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/skelton-poems/laureati-skeltonidis-in-despectu-malignantium-distichon.html, id L08648.
Form and metre
Laureati Skeltonidis in Despectu Malignantium Distichon is 7 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.7 syllables.
See other poems in trochaic hexameter.
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 AA- inanisA · jocisA · souuient
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 trochaic hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Quamvis insanis, quamvis marcescis inanis, | 13 | ············· |
| Invide, cantamus: hæc loca plena jocis. | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| Bien men souuient. | 3 | ··· |
| Ebria, squalida, sordida fœmina, prodiga verbis, | 16 | ················ |
| Huc currat, properet, veniat! Sua gesta libellus | 14 | ·············· |
| Iste volutabit: Pæan sua plectra sonando | 12 | ············ |
| Materiam risus cantabit carmine rauco. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
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.