1. Describe the form called rime royal: meter, rhyme scheme, stanza form.
Answer:
Rime royal consists of seven lines, usually in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is usually ababbcc. It can either be constructed either as a tercet and two couplets (ababbcc) or a quartrain and a terect abab-bcc.
(Thank you wikipedia), cause I didn’t know anything about it except the ababbcc rhyme.
2. What is the structure of the poem? How do imagery and argument of each stanza develop and intensify the appeal?
Answer:
The poem consists of twenty-six lines in four stanzas of seven lines each, except in the last one that has five. The speaker is complaining about his lack of money throughout the poem. In the first stanza the speaker is addressing his lady dear. He is asking her for more money (perhaps for food? hevy=heavy?), and if he doesn’t get it, he will die. The second stanza confuses me, I don’t know if he is praising his lady, or if he is speaking of how wonderful gold is. He is addressing his lady in line 14, but the rest of the lines seem to be describing gold. In the third stanza the speaker is flattering his lady, calling her his savior and the light of his life. He wants to leave town with her, as she has money (he calls her his treasurer). The speaker in this stanza also compares himself to friar or monk, infering (and confriming) to the fact that he is very poor, and has little to his name. The last stanza is addressed to the king himself, that the king should make amends and give the people more money.
3. In exploring the extended metaphor of the poem, consider how diction accounts for the humor of Chaucer’s parody.
Answer:
Well I just realized this, after answering the other questions, but I think the extended metaphor is that his purse is his lady dear? It would make sense, as the lady is light, and that would explain my confusion when he called the lady yellow-colored. He calls his purse his savior, his queen, his light, his treasurer. Diction creates humor as it is very amusing that he is comparing his purse to his lady, and calling an inanimate object all these titles that are used for amazing people.
4. How does the envoy(the shorter final stanza of a poem) continue the tone of the poem even as it addresses a specfic person?
Answer:
The speaker is still complaining about the lightness of his purse. By complaining to the king he might have his problem fixed. The king may be able to make amends. In other words he might be able to fix the problems of the people. It keeps the tone, as this stanza like all the rest have flattery, and have the speaker still complaining about his lack of money.
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