Geoffrey Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales

But this receyveth of your goodlihede,

Thinking that I have caught in remembraunce

Your beautè hool, your stedfast governaunce.

29. Soueraigne; floure. 31. receyvith; goodelyhede. 32. Thynkyng. 33. hole; stidefast.

Al hoolly youres, withouten otheres part!

Wherefore? y-wis, that I ne can ne may

My service chaungen; thus of al suche art

The lerninge I desyre for ever and ay.

5

And evermore, whyl that I live may,

In trouthe I wol your servant stille abyde,

Although my wo encresè day by day,

Til that to me be come the dethes tyde.

From MS. Harl. 7578, fol. 15. At the bottom of fol. 14, back, is the last line of Chaucer's Complaint to Pity, beneath which is written 'Balade.' But the present poem is really a Complaint, like the preceding one. Rejected readings of the MS. are here given. There is no title in the MS. except 'Balade.'

1. holly; others parte. 2. I wisse. 3. By ( surely an error for My); arte. 4. lernynge; desire; euer ( and u for v often ). 5. while; leue. 6. trought ( sic ); youre; abide. 7. be ( for by).

Seint Valentyne! to you I rénovele

10

My woful lyf, as I can, compleyninge;

But, as me thinketh, to you a quarele

Right greet I have, whan I, rememberinge

Bitwene, how kinde, ayeins the yeres springe,

Upon your day, doth ech foul chese his make;

15

And you list not in swich comfórt me bringe,

That to her grace my lady shulde me take.

9. valentine; Renouele. 10. compleynynge. 12. grete; whanne; remembringe. 13. Bytwene howe kende. 14. Vppon youre; doith eche foule. 15. lyste; suche comforte.

Wherfor unto you, Cupide, I beseche,

Furth with Venús, noble lusty goddesse,

Sith ye may best my sorowe lesse and eche;

20

And I, your man, oppressed with distresse,

Can not crye 'help!' but to your gentilnesse:

So voucheth sauf, sith I, your man, wol dye,

My ladies herte in pitè folde and presse,

That of my peyne I finde remedye.

21. cry helpe; vnto ( for to); gentelnesse. 22. safe. 24. peine; fynde I may ( for I finde); remydie.

25

To your conning, my hertes right princesse,

My mortal fo, whiche I best love and serve,

I recommaunde my boistous lewednesse.

And, for I can not altherbest deserve

Your grace, I preye, as he that wol nat swerve,

30

That I may fare the better for my trouthe;

Sith I am youres, til deth my herte kerve,

On me, your man, now mercy have and routhe.

25. konnyngge; princes. 26. foo. 27. leudenesse. 29. prey; swerue. 30. trouth. 31. herte wol kerue ( I omit wol). 32. haue; routh.

Of gretter cause may no wight him compleyne

Than I; for love hath set me in swich caas

That lasse Ioye and more encrees of peyne

Ne hath no man; wherfore I crye 'allas!'

5

A thousand tyme, whan I have tyme and space.

For she, that is my verray sorowes grounde,

Wol with her grace no wyse my sorowes sounde.

From MS. Harl. 7578, fol. 15, back. No title but 'Balade'; but it is really a Complaint. Rejected readings of the MS. are here given.

2. y ( for I); hath me sette in swiche. 3. encrese. 5. whenne; haue. 6. sheo; werry ( for verray). 7. Wolle; wise; (sounde means heal).

And that, shulde be my sorowes hertes leche,

Is me ageins, and maketh me swich werre,

10

That shortly, [in] al maner thought and speche,

Whether it be that I be nigh or ferre,

I misse the grace of you, my lode-sterre,

Which causeth me on you thus for to crye;

And al is it for lakke of remedye.

9. Ys; swide ( miswritten for swiche). 10. I supply in; alle manere. 11. Whethr e . 12. mys; loode-. 13. Whiche. 14. alle; remydie.

15

My soverain Ioye thus is my mortal fo;

She that shulde causen al my lustinesse

List in no wyse of my sorowes saye 'ho!'

But let me thus darraine, in hevinesse,

With woful thoughtes and my grete distresse,

20

The which she might right wele, [at] every tyde,

If that her liste, out of my herte gyde.

15. souu er aine; foo. 16. alle; lustynesse. 17. Liste; wise; say hoo. 18. lete; heuinesse. 19. wooful; grette. 20. sheo; I supply at; eu ery . 21. oute; guyde.

But it is so, that her list, in no wyse,

Have pitè on my woful besinesse;

And I ne can do no maner servyse

25

That may me torne out of my hevinesse;

So woldè god, that she now wolde impresse

Right in her herte my trouthe and eek good wille;

And let me not, for lakke of mercy, spille.

22. liste; wise. 23. Haue pitee. 24. kanne; manere seruice. 25. be ( for me); oute; heuynesse. 26. sheo nowe. 27. herre ( for her); trough ( sic ); eke. 28. lette; lake.

Now wele I woot why thus I smerte sore;

30

For couthe I wele, as othere folkes, feyne,

Than neded me to live in peyne no more,

But, whan I were from you, unteye my reyne,

And, for the tyme, drawe in another cheyne.

But woldè god that alle swich were y-knowe,

35

And duely punisshed of hye and lowe.

29. woote; why that I thus smerte so sore ( two syllables too much ). 30. couth; sayne ( for feyne). 31. Thanne nedes; lyue. 32. whenne; vnteye. 33. into ( for in); a-nothre. 35. punisshede both of high ( I omit both).

Swich lyf defye I, bothe in thoughte and worde,

For yet me were wel lever for to sterve

Than in my herte for to make an horde

Of any falshood; for, til deth to-kerve

40

My herte and body, shal I never swerve

From you, that best may be my fynal cure,

But, at your liste, abyde myn aventure;

36. Swiche; defie. 37. yette; sterue. 38. Thanne; hoorde. 39. falshode; til deth the kerue (but see note on p. xxxii). 40. neuere swerue. 41. youre (for my). 42. atte youre; abide.

And preye to you, noble seint Valentyne,

My ladies herte that ye wolde enbrace,

45

And make her pitè to me more enclyne

That I may stonden in her noble grace

In hasty tyme, whyl I have lyves space:

For yit wiste I never noon, of my lyve,

So litel hony in so fayre hyve.

43. prey; sainte valentine. 45. pitee. 46. here. 47. whiles; haue lyues. 48. yitte; neuere none; lyfe. 49. hiue.

XXIV.—I take the title from l. 25; cf. Troil. i. 287.

The metre exhibits the nine-line stanza, as in Anelida, 211-9; but the same rimes recur in all three stanzas. The six-line Envoy, with the rime-formula a b a b a a , is unique in Chaucer. There are nineteen lines ending in -aunce , twelve in -esse , and two in -ede .

1. Note how ll. 1 and 2 are re-echoed in ll. 32, 33. For a similar effect, see Anelida, 211, 350.

8. ful chose , fully chosen; parallel to ful drive in C. T., F 1230.

14. souvenance , remembrance; not found elswhere in Chaucer.

16. humblely is trisyllabic; see Leg. 156, Troil. ii. 1719, v. 1354.

20. lo emphasises swich ; cf. lo, this , T. v. 54; lo, which , T. iv. 1231.

22. allegeaunce , alleviation ; the verb allegge is in the Glossary.

26. outrance , extreme violence, great hurt; see Godefroy.

27. unbuxumnesse , unsubmissiveness; cf. buxumnesse , Truth, 15.

XXV.—I take the title from l. 26; cf. Compl. to his Lady, 41, 64.