On the Decay of the Order
Once (it was in days of yore)This our order flourished;Popes, whom Cardinals adore,It with honours nourished;Licences desirableThey gave, nought desiring;While our prayers, the beads we tell,Served us for our hiring.
Now this order (so time runs)Is made tributary;With the ruck of Adam's sonsWe must draw and carry;Ground by common serfdom down,By our debts confounded,Debts to market-place and townWith the Jews compounded.
Once ('twas when the simple stateOf our order lasted)All men praised us, no man's hateHarried us or wasted;Rates and taxes on our crewThere was none to levy;But the sect, douce men and true,Served God in a bevy.
Now some envious folks, who spySumptuous equipages,Horses, litters passing by,And a host of pages,Say, "Unless their purses wereQuite with wealth o'erflowing,They could never thus, I swear,Round about be going!"
Such men do not think nor ownHow with toil we bend us,Not to feed ourselves alone,But the folk who tend us:On all comers, all who come,We our substance lavish,Therefore 'tis a trifling sumFor ourselves we ravish.
On this subject, at this time,What we've said suffices:Let us leave it, lead the rhymeBack to our devices:We the miseries of this lifeBear with cheerful spirit,That Heaven's bounty after strifeWe may duly merit.
'Tis a sign that God the LordWill not let us perish,Since with scourge and rod and swordHe our souls doth cherish;He amid this vale of woesMakes us bear the burden,That true joys in heaven's reposeMay be ours for guerdon.
Words in this poem 16
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- ruck n.
- A roc. Drayton.
- serfdom n.
- The state or condition of a serf.
- douce a.
- Sweet; pleasant. [F. doux, masc., douce, fem., sweet, fr. L. duleis sweet.]
- bevy n.
- A company; an assembly or collection of persons, especially of ladies. [Perhaps orig. a drinking company, fr. OF. bevée (cf. It. beva) a drink, beverage; then, perh., a company in general, esp. of ladies; and last applied by sportsm]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- bounty n.
- Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- guerdon n.
- A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense. [OF. guerdon, guerredon, LL. widerdonum (influenced by L. donum gift, cf. Donation ), fr. OHG. widarl; widar again, against (G. wider wieder) + lon reward, G. lo]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Decay of the Order is in the public domain. This text is taken from Wine, Women, and Song Mediaeval Latin Students' songs; Now first translated into English verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #18044; 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 Addington Symonds, On the Decay of the Order, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/on-the-decay-of-the-order.html, id L11808.
Form and metre
On the Decay of the Order is 56 lines in 7 stanzas of 8 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, in 3 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 25 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABC-C- yoreA · flourishedB · adoreA · nourishedB · desirableC · desiring · tellC · hiring
- 2 ABABCDCD runsA · tributaryB · sonsA · carryB · downC · confoundedD · townC · compoundedD
- 3 A-A-BCBC stateA · lasted · hateA · wasted · crewB · levyC · trueB · bevyC
- 4 ABAB-C-C spyA · equipagesB · byA · pagesB · were · o'erflowingC · swear · goingC
- 5 ABABCDCD ownA · usB · aloneA · usB · comeC · lavishD · sumC · ravishD
- 6 ABABC-C- timeA · sufficesB · rhymeA · devicesB · lifeC · spirit · strifeC · merit
- 7 ABABCDCD lordA · perishB · swordA · cherishB · woesC · burdenD · reposeC · guerdonD
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Once (it was in days of yore) | 7 | ······· |
| This our order flourished; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Popes, whom Cardinals adore, | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| It with honours nourished; | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Licences desirable | 7 | /˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| They gave, nought desiring; | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| While our prayers, the beads we tell, | 7 | ·/····· |
| Served us for our hiring. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Now this order (so time runs) | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Is made tributary; | 6 | ··/˘·˘ |
| With the ruck of Adam's sons | 7 | ····/˘· |
| We must draw and carry; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Ground by common serfdom down, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| By our debts confounded, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Debts to market-place and town | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| With the Jews compounded. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Once ('twas when the simple state | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Of our order lasted) | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| All men praised us, no man's hate | 7 | ······· |
| Harried us or wasted; | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Rates and taxes on our crew | 7 | ··/˘·/· |
| There was none to levy; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| But the sect, douce men and true, | 7 | ······· |
| Served God in a bevy. | 7 | ·˘···/˘ |
| Now some envious folks, who spy | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sumptuous equipages, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Horses, litters passing by, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| And a host of pages, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Say, "Unless their purses were | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Quite with wealth o'erflowing, | 6 | ······ |
| They could never thus, I swear, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Round about be going!" | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Such men do not think nor own | 7 | ······· |
| How with toil we bend us, | 6 | ······ |
| Not to feed ourselves alone, | 7 | ···˘/˘/ |
| But the folk who tend us: | 6 | ······ |
| On all comers, all who come, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| We our substance lavish, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Therefore 'tis a trifling sum | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For ourselves we ravish. | 7 | ·˘˘/·/˘ |
| On this subject, at this time, | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| What we've said suffices: | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Let us leave it, lead the rhyme | 7 | ······· |
| Back to our devices: | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| We the miseries of this life | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bear with cheerful spirit, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| That Heaven's bounty after strife | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| We may duly merit. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| 'Tis a sign that God the Lord | 7 | ······· |
| Will not let us perish, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Since with scourge and rod and sword | 7 | ······· |
| He our souls doth cherish; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| He amid this vale of woes | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Makes us bear the burden, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| That true joys in heaven's repose | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| May be ours for guerdon. | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
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