Ballad of Villon’s Appeal
GARNIER, how like you my appeal ?Did I wisely, or did I ill?Each beast looks to his own skin's weal :If any bind him, to keep or kill,He does himself free to the best of his skill.When then, sans reason, to me was sungThis pleasant psalm of a sentence, stillWas it a time to hold my tongue?
Were I of Capet's race somedele(Whose kin were butchers on Montmartre hill)They had not bound me with iron and steelNor forced me to swizzle more than my fill :(You know the trick of it, will or nill ?)But, when of malice prepense and wrong,They doomed me to swallow this bitter pill,Was it a time to hold my tongue ?
Think you that under my cap I feelNot reason nor ableness thereuntil,Sufficient to say, 'I do appeal' ?Enough was left me (as warrant I will)To keep me from holding my clapper still,When jargon, that meant 'You shall be hung,They read to me from the notary's bill :Was it a time to hold my tongue?
Prince, had I had the pip in my bill,Long before this I should have swung,A scarecrow hard by Montfaucon mill !Was it a time to hold my tongue?
Words in this poem
- sans prep.
- Without; deprived or destitute of. Rarely used as an English word. [F., from L. sine without.]
- swizzle v. t.
- To drink; to swill. Halliwell.
- nill v. t.
- Not to will; to refuse; to reject. [AS. nilan, nyllan; ne not + willan to will. See No, and Will.]
- prepense v. t.
- To weigh or consider beforehand; to premeditate. [Pref. pre + F. penser to think. See Pansy.]
- ableness n.
- Ability of body or mind; force; vigor.
- clapper n.
- A rabbit burrow. [F. clapier.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- scarecrow n.
- Anything set up to frighten crows or other birds from cornfields; hence, anything terifying without danger.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballad of Villon’s Appeal 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 Villon’s Appeal, in The Poems of Master François Villon of Paris (1892), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/villon-poems/ballad-of-villon-s-appeal.html, id L27069.
Form and metre
Ballad of Villon’s Appeal is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
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 ABABBCBC appealA · illB · wealA · killB · skillB · sungC · stillB · tongueC
- 2 -A-AA-A- somedele · hillA · steel · fillA · nillA · wrong · pillA · tongue
- 3 A-ABBCBC feelA · thereuntil · appealA · willB · stillB · hungC · billB · tongueC
- 4 ABAB billA · swungB · millA · tongueB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| GARNIER, how like you my appeal ? | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Did I wisely, or did I ill? | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Each beast looks to his own skin's weal : | 8 | ········ |
| If any bind him, to keep or kill, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| He does himself free to the best of his skill. | 11 | ··˘/······· |
| When then, sans reason, to me was sung | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| This pleasant psalm of a sentence, still | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Was it a time to hold my tongue? | 8 | ········ |
| Were I of Capet's race somedele | 10 | ·········· |
| (Whose kin were butchers on Montmartre hill) | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| They had not bound me with iron and steel | 9 | ······/·· |
| Nor forced me to swizzle more than my fill : | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| (You know the trick of it, will or nill ?) | 9 | ········· |
| But, when of malice prepense and wrong, | 9 | ···/˘˘/·· |
| They doomed me to swallow this bitter pill, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Was it a time to hold my tongue ? | 8 | ········ |
| Think you that under my cap I feel | 9 | ········· |
| Not reason nor ableness thereuntil, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘··· |
| Sufficient to say, 'I do appeal' ? | 9 | ˘/˘····˘/ |
| Enough was left me (as warrant I will) | 10 | ˘/····/˘·· |
| To keep me from holding my clapper still, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| When jargon, that meant 'You shall be hung, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| They read to me from the notary's bill : | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Was it a time to hold my tongue? | 8 | ········ |
| Prince, had I had the pip in my bill, | 9 | ········· |
| Long before this I should have swung, | 8 | ········ |
| A scarecrow hard by Montfaucon mill ! | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Was it a time to hold my tongue? | 8 | ········ |
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