minstrel: a poem I'd like help with
Heather Rose Jones
hrjones at uclink.berkeley.edu
Tue Jul 28 20:06:10 PDT 1998
On Wed, 29 Jul 1998, Fiona P. wrote:
> Anyway. There's a very long ballad in this book, which I'd love to perform
> or something, but I can't get a handle on the scansion at all. I know the
> rhyme and rhythm in this book, being from stuff composed more or less on
> the spot, is pretty strange at times (let's say utterly shonky even more
> times), but this has me totally confused. I'm hoping the good and learned
> gentles on this list will be able to separate out how it goes; or tell me
> it's written by someone with no respect for scansion and suggest I just
> paraphrase it instead ...
It looks to me that the basic format is a stress-based meter with four
stresses in the first half of the line and three in the second. In
general, there look to be zero to three unstressed syllables between the
stresses. A sprinkline of alliteration on the stressed syllables helps.
The big problem is that every once in a while you get a line that just
doesn't work at all -- there would be too many words that would have to be
unstressed to fit, and some of them are important. (In general, you'll
find that the stresses fall on words that carry the greatest burden of
meaning.) Given the very strong overall pattern, I would tend to assume
that these lines have been corrupted -- probably by the "improvement" of
later editors and copyists who were only concerned with written forms and
never bothered to try to perform the thing aloud. This gives you a certain
amount of permission to "improve" them back again.
So I'd tend to structure the main stresses as follows (first
half-line stresses marked with X, second half with Y):
X X X X Y Y Y
> The Perse' off Northombarlonde and a voew to God mayd he,
X X X X Y Y Y
> That he wold hunte in the mowntayns off Chyviat within days iij.,
X X X X Y Y Y
> In the magger of doughte' Dogles and all that ever with him be;
X X X X Y Y (omit?)Y
> The fattiste hartes in all Cheviat he sayd he wold kyll and carry them away.
X X X X Y Y
> "Be my feth," sayd the dougheti Doglas agayn, "I wyll let that hontyng yf
(problem) Y
> that I may."
X X X X Y Y Y
> The[n] the Perse' owt off Banboroww cam, with him a myghtee meany,
X X X X (omit?) Y Y
> With xvc archardes bold off blood and bone, the wear chosen owt of shyars
Y
> iij.
X X X X Y Y Y
> This begane on a Monday at morn, in Cheviat the hillys so he;
X X X X Y Y Y
> The chylde may rue that ys unborn, it was the mor pitte'.
note: make "woodes" into two syllables
X X X X Y Y Y
> The dryvars throrowe the woodes went for to reas the dear;
X X X X Y Y Y
> Bomen byckarte uppone the bent with ther browd oros cleare;
X X X X Y Y Y
> Greahondes thorowe the grevis glent for to kyll thear dear.
X X X X Y Y Y
> The begane in Chyviat the hyls above yerly on a Monnynday;
X X X X Y Y (omit) Y
> Be that it drewe to the oware off none, a hondrith fat hartes ded ther lay.
X X X X Y Y Y
> The blwe a mot uppone the bent, the semblyde on sydis shear,
X X X X Y Y Y
> To the quyrry then the Perse' went to se the bryttlynge off the deare;
X X X X Y Y Y
> He sayd, "it was the Duglas promys this day to met me hear,
X X X X Y Y Y
> But I wyste he wolde faylle verament;" a great ithg the Perse' swear.
X X X X Y Y Y
> At the laste a squyar off Northomberlonde lokyde at his hand full ny,
X X X X Y Y Y
> He was war ath the doughetie Doglas commynge, with him a myghtte' meany,
X X X X Y Y Y
> Both with spear, brylly, and brand, yt was a myghti sight to se;
X X X X Y Y Y
> Hardyar men both off hart nar hande wear not in Christianite'.
X X X X Y Y Y
> The wear xxc spear men goodm withiwte any feale;
X X (omit?) X X Y Y Y
> The wear borne along be the watter a Twyde yth bowndes of Tividale.
X X X X Y Y
> "Leave the brytlynge of the dear," he sayd, " and to your boys lock ye tyke
Y
> good hed;
X X X X Y Y Y
> For never sith ye wear on your mothars borne had ye never so mickle ned."
X X X X Y Y Y
> The dougheti Dogglas on a stede he rode all his men beforne;
X X X X Y Y Y
> His armor glytteryde as dyd a glede, a boldar barne was never born.
> I admit to stopping there more because I wanted to include that lovely
> alliteration in the last line than any sense of ending, but the only rhythm
> I can see has two rhyming, scanning lines as a beginning, and the two lines
> following follow that "sense", so it seemed as good a place as any.
Keep noticing that alliteration -- it's a very good clue where to put your
stresses. Also notice that the end-rhymes alternate between sets of two
and three -- another good clue to corruption of the original, either with
words altered or lines added or omitted without heed to the original
structure. Don't get too hung up on the unstressed syllables unless there
are so many that it becomes unperformable -- in general, they'll be less
noticable when sung than when spoken.
Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn
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