Ballad of Poor Chimneysweeps
MEN talk of those the fields that till ;Of those that sift out chaff from corn;Of him that has, will he or nill,A wife that scoldeth night and morn,—As folk hard driven and forlorn:Of men that often use the sea;Of monks that of poor convents be;Of those behind the ass that go:But, when all things consider we,Poor chimneysweeps have toil eno'
To govern boys and girls with skill,God wot, 's no labour lightly borne:Nor to serve ladies at Love's will ;Or do knight suit at sound of horn,Helmet and harness always worn,And follow arms courageously:To joust and tilt with spears, perdie,And quintain play, is hard, I know:But, when all things consider we,Poor chimneysweeps have toil eno'.
God wot, they suffer little illBy whom wheat's reaped and meadows shorn ;Or those that thresh grain for the millOr plead the Parliament beforne ;To borrow money's little scorn ;Tinkers and carters have to dreeBut little hardship, seemeth me;Nor does Lent irk us much, I trow :But, when all things consider we,Poor chimneysweeps have toil eno'.
Words in this poem
- nill v. t.
- Not to will; to refuse; to reject. [AS. nilan, nyllan; ne not + willan to will. See No, and Will.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- 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.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- courageously adv.
- In a courageous manner.
- quintain n.
- An object to be tilted at; -- called also quintel. [F. quintaine, LL. quintana; cf. W. chwintan a kind of hymeneal game.]
- thresh v. t.
- To beat out grain from, as straw or husks; to beat the straw or husk of (grain) with a flail; to beat off, as the kernels of grain; as, to thrash wheat, rye, or oats; to thrash over the old straw. [OE. , , to beat, AS. , ; akin to D. dorschen, OD. derschen, G. dreschen, OHG. dreskan, Icel. , Sw. tröska, Dan. tærske, Goth. , Lith. traszketi to rattle, Russ.]
- parliament n.
- A parleying; a discussion; a conference. [OE. parlement, F. parlement, fr. parler to speak; cf. LL. parlamentum, parliamentum. See Parley.]
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- dree v. i.
- To be able to do or endure.
- trow v. i.
- To believe; to trust; to think or suppose. [OE. trowen, AS.treówan to trust, believe, fr. treów trust, treówe true, faithful. See True.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballad of Poor Chimneysweeps 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 Poor Chimneysweeps, in The Poems of Master François Villon of Paris (1892), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/villon-poems/ballad-of-poor-chimneysweeps.html, id L27072.
Form and metre
Ballad of Poor Chimneysweeps is 30 lines in 3 stanzas of 10 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABABBCC-C- tillA · cornB · nillA · mornB · forlornB · seaC · beC · go · weC · eno
- 2 ABABB----- skillA · borneB · willA · hornB · wornB · courageously · perdie · know · we · eno
- 3 ABABBCC-C- illA · shornB · millA · beforneB · scornB · dreeC · meC · trow · weC · eno
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 |
|---|---|---|
| MEN talk of those the fields that till ; | 8 | ········ |
| Of those that sift out chaff from corn; | 8 | ········ |
| Of him that has, will he or nill, | 8 | ········ |
| A wife that scoldeth night and morn,— | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As folk hard driven and forlorn: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Of men that often use the sea; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of monks that of poor convents be; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of those behind the ass that go: | 8 | ········ |
| But, when all things consider we, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Poor chimneysweeps have toil eno' | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To govern boys and girls with skill, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| God wot, 's no labour lightly borne: | 9 | ····/·/˘· |
| Nor to serve ladies at Love's will ; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or do knight suit at sound of horn, | 8 | ········ |
| Helmet and harness always worn, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| And follow arms courageously: | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| To joust and tilt with spears, perdie, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And quintain play, is hard, I know: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But, when all things consider we, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Poor chimneysweeps have toil eno'. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| God wot, they suffer little ill | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| By whom wheat's reaped and meadows shorn ; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Or those that thresh grain for the mill | 8 | ········ |
| Or plead the Parliament beforne ; | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| To borrow money's little scorn ; | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| Tinkers and carters have to dree | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| But little hardship, seemeth me; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Nor does Lent irk us much, I trow : | 8 | ········ |
| But, when all things consider we, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Poor chimneysweeps have toil eno'. | 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.