The Seconde Foole
The dartes ryght cursed of EnuyeHath rayned sythe the worlde began,Whiche bryngeth man euydentlyInto the bondes of Sathan;Wherfore he is a dyscrete manThat can eschewe that euyll synneWhere body and soule is lost in.
Words in this poem
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Seconde Foole 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, The Seconde Foole, in Poetical Works, Volume I (1500–1529), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/skelton-poems/the-seconde-foole.html, id L08676.
Form and metre
The Seconde Foole is 7 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables.
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 -A--ABB enuye · beganA · euydently · sathan · manA · synneB · inB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The dartes ryght cursed of Enuye | 7 | ······· |
| Hath rayned sythe the worlde began, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Whiche bryngeth man euydently | 7 | ······· |
| Into the bondes of Sathan; | 7 | ······· |
| Wherfore he is a dyscrete man | 8 | ········ |
| That can eschewe that euyll synne | 7 | ······· |
| Where body and soule is lost in. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.