Ballad of Villon’s Request to the Duc de Bourbon
GRACIOUS my lord and prince of mickle dread,Flower of the Lily, Royal progeny,François Villon, whom dule and teen have ledTo the blind strokes of Fate to bend the knee,Sues by this humble writing unto thee,That thou wilt of thy grace to him make loan.Before all courts his debit he will own:Doubt not but he thy right will satisfy,With interest thereunder due and grown:Nothing but waiting shalt thou lose thereby.
Of no prince has thy creature borrowéd,Save of thyself, a single penny fee :The six poor crowns were wholly spent in bread,That whiles thy favour did advance to me.All shall be paid together, I agree,And that right soon, ere many days be flown;For if in Patay wood are acorns knownOr chestnuts thereabouts folk sell and buy,In season thou shalt have again thine own:Nothing but waiting shalt thou lose thereby.
If I could sell my youth and lustiheadUnto the Lombards, usurers that be,Lack-gold has brought me to such piteous stead,I do believe I should the venture dree.In purse or belt no money can I see:I wonder what it is, by God His throne!For unto me, save it be wood or stone,No cross at all appears, —I do not lie :But, if the true cross once to me be shown,Nothing but waiting shalt thou lose thereby.
Prince of the Lys, that lov'st good deeds alone,Think'st thou it has not cost me many a groanThat I can not to my intent draw nigh ?Give ear, if it so please thee, to my moan:Nothing but waiting shalt thou lose thereby.
Words in this poem
- mickle a.
- Much; great. [Old Eng. & Scot.] [OE. mikel, muchel, mochel, mukel, AS. micel, mycel; akin to OS. mikil, OHG. mihil, mihhil, Icel. mikill, mykill, Goth. mikils, L. magnus, Gr. mahat. sq. root103]
- teen n.
- Grief; sorrow; affiction; pain. Chaucer. [OE. tene, AS. teóna reproach, wrong, fr. teón to accuse; akin to G. zeihen, Goth. gateihan to tell, announce, L. dicere to say. See Token.]
- debit n.
- A debt; an entry on the debtor (Dr.) side of an account; -- mostly used adjectively; as, the debit side of an account. [L. debitum what is due, debt, from debere to owe: cf. F. débit. See Debt.]
- thereunder adv.
- Under that or this.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- 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.]
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- 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,]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- thereabouts adv.
- Near that place. [The latter spelling is less proper, but more commonly used.]
- 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.]
- dree v. i.
- To be able to do or endure.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballad of Villon’s Request to the Duc de Bourbon 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 Request to the Duc de Bourbon, 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-request-to-the-duc-de-bourbon.html, id L27077.
Form and metre
Ballad of Villon’s Request to the Duc de Bourbon is 35 lines in 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 A-ABBCCDCD dreadA · progeny · ledA · kneeB · theeB · loanC · ownC · satisfyD · grownC · therebyD
- 2 -A-AABBCBC borrowéd · feeA · bread · meA · agreeA · flownB · knownB · buyC · ownB · therebyC
- 3 ABABBCCDCD lustiheadA · beB · steadA · dreeB · seeB · throneC · stoneC · lieD · shownC · therebyD
- 4 AABAB aloneA · groanA · nighB · moanA · therebyB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| GRACIOUS my lord and prince of mickle dread, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Flower of the Lily, Royal progeny, | 11 | /˘··/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| François Villon, whom dule and teen have led | 10 | ·········· |
| To the blind strokes of Fate to bend the knee, | 10 | ·········· |
| Sues by this humble writing unto thee, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| That thou wilt of thy grace to him make loan. | 10 | ·········· |
| Before all courts his debit he will own: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Doubt not but he thy right will satisfy, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With interest thereunder due and grown: | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| Nothing but waiting shalt thou lose thereby. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Of no prince has thy creature borrowéd, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Save of thyself, a single penny fee : | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| The six poor crowns were wholly spent in bread, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That whiles thy favour did advance to me. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| All shall be paid together, I agree, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| And that right soon, ere many days be flown; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For if in Patay wood are acorns known | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or chestnuts thereabouts folk sell and buy, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| In season thou shalt have again thine own: | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Nothing but waiting shalt thou lose thereby. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| If I could sell my youth and lustihead | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Unto the Lombards, usurers that be, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Lack-gold has brought me to such piteous stead, | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| I do believe I should the venture dree. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| In purse or belt no money can I see: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I wonder what it is, by God His throne! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| For unto me, save it be wood or stone, | 10 | ·········· |
| No cross at all appears, —I do not lie : | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| But, if the true cross once to me be shown, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nothing but waiting shalt thou lose thereby. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Prince of the Lys, that lov'st good deeds alone, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Think'st thou it has not cost me many a groan | 10 | ·······/·· |
| That I can not to my intent draw nigh ? | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Give ear, if it so please thee, to my moan: | 10 | ·········· |
| Nothing but waiting shalt thou lose thereby. | 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.