Analysis of The Ballad Of The Proverbs
François Villon 1431 (Paris) – 1463
So rough the goat will scratch, it cannot sleep.
So often goes the pot to the well that it breaks.
So long you heat iron, it will glow;
so heavily you hammer it, it shatters.
So good is the man as his praise;
so far he will go, and he's forgotten;
so bad he behaves, and he's despised.
So loud you cry Christmas, it comes.
So glib you talk, you end up in contradictions.
So good is your credit as the favors you got.
So much you promise that you will back out.
So doggedly you beg that your wish is granted;
so high climbs the price when you want a thing;
so much you want it that you pay the price;
so familiar it gets to you, you want it no more.
So loud you cry Christmas, it comes.
So, you love a dog. Then feed it!
So long a song will run that people learn it.
So long you keep the fruit, it will rot.
So hot the struggle for a spot that it is won;
so cool you keep your act that your spirit freezes;
so hurriedly you act that you run into bad luck;
so tight you embrace that your catch slips away.
So loud you cry Christmas, it comes.
So you scoff and laugh, and the fun is gone.
So you crave and spend, and lose your shirt.
So candid you are, no blow can be too low.
So good as a gift should a promise be.
So, if you love God, you obey the Church.
So, when you give much, you borrow much.
So, shifting winds turn to storm.
So loud you cry Christmas, it comes.
Prince, so long as a fool persists, he grows wiser;
so, round the world he goes, but return he will,
so humbled and beaten back into servility.
So loud you cry Christmas, it is here.
Scheme | xxaxxbcD xexxxxxD ffebxxxD xxaxxxxD xxcx |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111101 110101101111 111110111 11001101110 11101111 1111101010 111010101 11111011 11111110010 111110101011 1111011111 110011111110 1110111101 1111111101 1010111111111 11111011 11101111 11011111011 111101111 110101011111 111111111010 1100111110111 11101111101 11111011 1110100111 111010111 11011111111 1110110101 1111110101 11111111 1101111 11111011 111101011110 11011110111 1100101011 111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,523 |
Words | 319 |
Sentences | 27 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 234 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 64 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 1:36 min read
- 45 Views
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"The Ballad Of The Proverbs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13677/the-ballad-of-the-proverbs>.
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