Analysis of Ballad Of The Ladies Of Yore
François Villon 1431 (Paris) – 1463
Tell me where, in what country,
Is Flora the beautiful Roman,
Archipiada or Thais
Who was first cousin to her once,
Echo who speaks when there's a sound
On a pond or a river
Whose beauty was more than human?
But where are the snows of yesteryear?
Where is the leamed Heloise
For whom they castrated Pierre Abelard
And made him a monk at Saint-Denis,
For his love he took this pain,
Likewise where is the queen
Who commanded that Buridan
Be thrown in a sack into the Seine?
But where are the snows of yesteryear?
The queen white as a lily
Who sang with a siren's voice,
Big-footed Bertha, Beatrice, Alice,
Haremburgis who held Maine
And Jeanne the good maid of Lorraine
Whom the English bumt at Rouen, where,
Where are they, sovereign Virgin?
But where are the snows of yesteryear?
Prince, don't ask me in a week
or in a year what place they are;
I can only give you this refrain:
Where are the snows of yesteryear?
Scheme | abcxxxbDcxxexbaD axxeexxD xxed |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110110 110010010 111 11110101 10111101 1011010 11011110 11101110 11011 1111001100 011011110 1111111 11101 101011 1100101010 11101110 0111010 111011 1101010010 1111 01011101 10101111 1111010 11101110 1111001 10011111 111011101 1101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 902 |
Words | 172 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 239 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 171 Views
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