Ballad of Ladies’ Love, No. 1
WELL enough favoured and with substance stillSome little stored, chance brought me 'neath love's spellAnd day and night, until I had my will,I pined in languor unendurable :I loved a damsel more than I can tell ;But, with good luck and rose-nobles a score,I had what men of maids have had before.Then, in myself considering, I did say :'Love sets by pleasant speech but little store;The wealthy gallant always gains the day'
So chanced it that, whilst coin my purse did fill,The world went merry as a marriage bellAnd I was all in all with her, until,Without word said, my wanton's loose eyes fellUpon a graybeard, rich but foul as hell:A man more hideous never woman bore.But what of that? He had his will and more:And I, confounded, stricken with dismay,Upon this text went glosing passing sore :'The wealthy gallant always gains the day.'
Now she did wrong; for never had she illOr spite of me: I cherished her so wellThat, had she asked me for the moon, my skillI had essayed to storm heaven's citadel.Yet, of sheer vice, her body did she sellUnto the service of that satyr hoar:The which I seeing, of my clerkly loreI made and sent to her a piteous lay :And she: 'Lack-gold undid thee:' words but four.The wealthy gallant always gains the day.
Fair Prince, more skilled than any one of yoreIn pleasant speech, look thou have coin galoreWithin thy pouch: as Meung that clerk so gayAnd wise, hath told us, in the amorous warThe wealthy gallant always gains the day.
Words in this poem
- favoured a.
- Countenanced; aided; regarded with kidness; as, a favored friend.
- damsel n.
- A young person, either male or female, of noble or gentle extraction; as, Damsel Pepin; Damsel Richard, Prince of Wales. [OE. damosel, damesel, damisel, damsel, fr. OF. damoisele, damisele, gentlewoman, F. demoiselle young lady; cf. OF. damoisel young nobleman, F. damoiseau; fr. LL]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- satyr n.
- A sylvan deity or demigod, represented as part man and part goat, and characterized by riotous merriment and lasciviousness. [L. satyrus, Gr. satyre.]
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- clerkly adv.
- In a scholarly manner.
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- galore n.
- Plenty; abundance; in abundance. [Scot. gelore, gilore, galore, fr. Gael. gu leòr, enough; gu- to, also an adverbial prefix + leòr, leòir, enough; or fr. Ir. goleor, the same word.]
- clerk n.
- A clergyman or ecclesiastic. [Either OF. clerc, fr. L. clericus a priest, or AS. clerc, cleric, clerk, priest, fr. L. clericus, fr. Gr. Clergy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballad of Ladies’ Love, No. 1 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Master François Villon of Paris, now first done into English verse, in the original forms, with a biographical and critical introduction, by John Payne, Internet Archive, the John Payne translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: François Villon, Ballad of Ladies’ Love, No. 1, in The Poems of Master François Villon of Paris (1892), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/villon-poems/ballad-of-ladies-love-no-1.html, id L27081.
Form and metre
Ballad of Ladies’ Love, No. 1 is 35 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See 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 ABABBCCDCD stillA · spellB · willA · unendurableB · tellB · scoreC · beforeC · sayD · storeC · dayD
- 2 ABABBCCDCD fillA · bellB · untilA · fellB · hellB · boreC · moreC · dismayD · soreC · dayD
- 3 ABABBCCDCD illA · wellB · skillA · citadelB · sellB · hoarC · loreC · layD · fourC · dayD
- 4 AABAB yoreA · galoreA · gayB · warA · dayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WELL enough favoured and with substance still | 10 | ·˘//˘··/˘· |
| Some little stored, chance brought me 'neath love's spell | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And day and night, until I had my will, | 10 | ·········· |
| I pined in languor unendurable : | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I loved a damsel more than I can tell ; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But, with good luck and rose-nobles a score, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| I had what men of maids have had before. | 10 | ·········· |
| Then, in myself considering, I did say : | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| 'Love sets by pleasant speech but little store; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The wealthy gallant always gains the day' | 10 | ·/˘/˘/···· |
| So chanced it that, whilst coin my purse did fill, | 10 | ·········· |
| The world went merry as a marriage bell | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And I was all in all with her, until, | 10 | ·········· |
| Without word said, my wanton's loose eyes fell | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Upon a graybeard, rich but foul as hell: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A man more hideous never woman bore. | 10 | ···/˘˘//˘· |
| But what of that? He had his will and more: | 10 | ·········· |
| And I, confounded, stricken with dismay, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Upon this text went glosing passing sore : | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| 'The wealthy gallant always gains the day.' | 10 | ·/˘/˘/···· |
| Now she did wrong; for never had she ill | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Or spite of me: I cherished her so well | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That, had she asked me for the moon, my skill | 10 | ·········· |
| I had essayed to storm heaven's citadel. | 11 | ··˘/··/˘/˘· |
| Yet, of sheer vice, her body did she sell | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Unto the service of that satyr hoar: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The which I seeing, of my clerkly lore | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I made and sent to her a piteous lay : | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| And she: 'Lack-gold undid thee:' words but four. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| The wealthy gallant always gains the day. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/···· |
| Fair Prince, more skilled than any one of yore | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| In pleasant speech, look thou have coin galore | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Within thy pouch: as Meung that clerk so gay | 10 | ·········· |
| And wise, hath told us, in the amorous war | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The wealthy gallant always gains the day. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/···· |
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.