¶ Certayne notes of Instruction
concerning the making of verse or
ryme in English, written at the request
of Master Edouardo Donati.
SIgnor Edouardo, since promise is debt, and you (by
the lawe of friendship) do burden me with a promise that I shoulde lende you instructions
towards the making of English verse or ryme, I will assaye to discharge the same,
though not so perfectly as I would, yet as readily as I may: and therwithall I pray
you consider that Quot homines, tot Sententiæ, especially in Poetrie,
wherein (neverthelesse) I dare not challenge any degree, and yet will I at your request
adventure to set downe my simple skill in such simple manner as I have used, referring
the same hereafter to the correction of the Laureate. And you shall have it
in these few poynts followyng.
THe first and most necessarie poynt that ever I founde meete
to be considered in making of a delectable poeme is this, to grounde it upon some
fine invention. For it is not inough to roll in pleasant woordes, nor yet to thunder
in Rym, Ram, Ruff, by letter (quoth my master Chaucer) nor yet to abounde
in apt vocables, or epythetes, unlesse the Invention have in it also aliquid salis.
By this aliquid salis, I meane some good and fine devise, strewing the quicke
capacitie of a writer: and where I say some good and fine invention, I meane that
I would have it both fine and good. For many inventions are so superfine, that they
are Vix good. And againe many Inventions are good, and yet not finely
handled. And for a general forwarning: what Theame soever you do take in hande, if
you do handle it but tanquam in oratione perpetua, and never studie for some
depth of devise in ye Invention, & some figures also in the handlyng thereof:
it will appeare to the skilfull Reader but a tale of a tubbe. To deliver unto you
generall examples it were almoste unpossible, sithence the occasions of Inventions
are (as it were) infinite: neverthelesse take in worth mine opinion, and perceyve
my furder meanyng in these few poynts. If I should undertake to wryte in prayse
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of a gentlewoman, I would neither praise hir christal eye, nor hir cherrie lippe,
&c. For these things are trita & obvia. But I would either finde some
supernaturall cause wherby my penne might walke in the superlative degree, or els
I would undertake to aunswere for any imperfection that shee hash, and thereupon
rayse the prayse of hir commendacion. Likewise if I should disclose my pretence in
love, I would eyther make a straunge discourse of some intollerable passion, or finde
occasion to pleade by the example of some historie, or discover my disquiet in shadowes
per Allegoriam, or use the covertest meane that I could to avoyde the uncomely
customes of common writers. Thus much I adventure to deliver unto you (my freend)
upon the rule of Invention, which of all other rules is most to be marked, and hardest
to be prescribed in certayne and infallible rules, neverthelesse to conclude therein,
I would have you stand most upon the excellencie of your Invention, & sticke
not to studie deepely for some fine devise. For that beyng founde, pleasant woordes
will follow well inough and fast mough.
2 Your Invention being once devised, take heede that neither pleasure
of rime, nor varietie of devise, do carie you from it: for as to use obscure &
darke phrases in a pleasant Sonet, is nothing delectable, so to entermingle merie
jests in a serious matter is an Indecorum.
3 I will next advise you that you hold the just measure wherwith you
begin your verse, I will not denie but this may seeme a preposterous ordre: but bycause
I covet rather to satisfie you particularly, than to undertake a generall tradition,
I wil not somuch stand upon the manner as the matter of my precepts. I say then,
remember to holde the same measure wherwith you begin, whether it be in a verse of
sixe syllables, eight, ten, twelve, &c. and though this precept might seeme ridiculous
unto you, since every yong scholler can conceive that he ought to continue in tine
same measure wherwith he beginneth, yet do I see and read many mens Poems now adayes,
whiche beginning with the measure of xii. in the first line, & xiiii. in the
second (which is the common kinde of verse) they wil yet (by that time they have
passed over a few verses) fal into xiiii. & fourtene, & sic de similibus,
the which is either forgetfulnes or carelesnes.
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4 And in your verses remembre to place every worde in his natural Emphasis
or sound, that is to say in such wise, and with such length or shortnesse, elevation
or depression of sillables, as it is conmonly pronounced or used: to expresse the
same we have three maner of accents, gravis, le[v]is, & circumflexa, the
whiche I would english thus, the long accent, the short accent, & that whiche
is indifferent: the grave accent is marked
| / |
| \ |
| ~ |
No wight in this world, that wealth can attayne,
|
\ |
/ |
\ |
\ |
/ |
\ |
/ |
\ |
\ |
/ |
|
Un |
lesse |
he |
be |
leve, |
that |
all |
is |
but |
vayne. |
Also our father Chaucer hath used the same libertie in feete and measures that the Latinists do use: and who so ever do peruse and well consider his workes, he shall finde that although his lines are not alwayes of one selfe same number of Syllables, yet beyng redde by one that hath understanding, the longest verse and that wlnich hath most Syllables in it, will fall (to the eare) correspondent unto that whiche hath fewest sillables in it: and like wise that whiche hath in it fewest syllables, shalbe
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founde yet to consist of woordes that have suche naturall sounde, as may seeme equall
in length to a verse which hath many moe sillables of lighter accentes. And surely
I can lament that wee are fallen into suche a playne and simple manner of wryting,
that there is none other foote used but one: wherby our Poemes may justly be called
Rithmes, and cannot by any right challenge the name of a Verse. But since it is so,
let us take the forde as we finde it, and lette me set downe unto you suche rules
or precepts that even in this playne foote of two syllables you wreste no woorde
from his natural and usuall sounde, I do not meane hereby that you may use none other
wordes but of twoo sillables, for therein you may use discretion according to occasion
of matter: but my meaning is, that all the wordes in your verse be so placed as the
first sillable may sound short or be depressed, the second long or elevate, the third
shorte, the fourth long, the fifth shorte, &c. For example of my meaning in this
point marke these two verses:
I understand your meanyng by your eye.
|
\ |
/ |
\ |
/ |
\ |
/ |
\ |
/ |
\ |
/ |
|
Your |
mean |
ing |
I |
un |
der |
stand |
by |
your |
eye. |
In these two verses there seemeth no difference at all, since the one hath the
very selfe same woordes that the other hath, and yet the latter verse is neyther
true nor pleasant, & the first verse may passe the musters. The fault of the
latter verse is that this worde understand is therein so placed as the grave
accent falleth upon der, and therby maketh der, in this worde understand
to be elevated: which is contrarie to the naturall or usual pronunciation: for we
say understand, and not understand.
5 Here by the way I thinke it not amisse to forewarne you that you thrust
as few wordes of many sillables into your verse as may be: and hereunto I might alledge
many reasons: first the most auncient English wordes are of one sillable, so that
the more monasyllables that you use, the truer Englishman you shall seeme, and the
lesse you shall smell of the Inkehorne.
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Also wordes of many syllables do cloye a verse and make it unpleasant, whereas woordes
of one syllable will more easily fall to be shorte or long as occasion requireth,
or wilbe adapted to become circumflexe or of an indifferent sounde.
6 I would exhorte you also to beware of rime without reason: my meaning
is hereby that your rime leade you not from your firste Invention, for many wryters
when they have layed the platforme of their invention, are yet drawen sometimes (by
ryme) to forget it or at least to alter it, as when tlney cannot readily finde out
a worde whiche maye rime to the first (and yet continue their determinate Invention)
they do then eyther botche it up with a worde that will ryme (howe small reason soever
it carie with it) or els they alter their first worde and so percase decline or trouble
their former Invention: But do you alwayes hold your first determined Invention,
and do rather searche the bottome of your braynes for apte wordes, than chaunge good
reason for rumbling rime.
7 To help you a little with ryme (which is also a plaine yong schollers
lesson) worke thus, when you have set downe your first verse, take the last worde
thereof and coumpt over all the wordes of the selfe same sounde by order of the Alphabete:
As for example, the laste woorde of your firste line is care, to ryme therwith
you have bare, clare, dare, fare, gare, hare, and share, mare, snare, rare, stare,
& ware, &c. Of all these take that which best may serve your purpose,
carying reason with rime: and if none of them will serve so, then alter the laste
worde of your former verse, but yet do not willingly alter the meanyng of your invention.
8 You may use the same Figures or Tropes in verse which are used in prose,
and in my judgement they serve more aptly, and have greater grace in verse than they
have in prose: but yet therein remembre this old adage, Ne quid nimis, as
many wryters which do not know the use of any other figure than that whiche is expressed
in repeticion of sundrie wordes beginning all with one letter, the whiche (beyng
modestly used) lendeth good grace to a verse: but they do so hunte a letter to death,
that they make it Crambé, and Crambe his positum mors est: therfore
Ne quid nimis.
9 Also asmuche as may be, eschew straunge words, or obsoleta &
inusitata, unlesse the Theame do give just occasion:
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marie in some places a straunge worde doth drawe attentive reading, but yet I woulde
have you therein to use discretion.
10 And asmuch as you may, frame your stile to perspicuity and
to be sensible: for the haughty obscure verse doth not much delight, and the verse
that is to easie is like a tale of a rosted horse: but let your Poeme be such as
may both delight and draw attentive readyng, and therewithal may deliver such matter
as be worth the marking.
11 You shall do very well to use your verse after thenglishe phrase,
and not after the maner of other languages: The Latinists do commonly set the adjective
after the Substantive: As for example Femina pulchra, ædes altæ, &c.
but if we should say in English a woman fayre, a house high, &c. it would have
but small grace: for we say a good man, and not a man good, &c. And yet I will
not altogether forbidde it you, for in some places, it may be borne, but not so hardly
as some use it which wryte thus:
Now let us go to Temple ours,
I will go visit mother myne &c.
Surely I smile at the simplicitie of such devisers which might aswell have sayde
it in playne Englishe phrase, and yet have better pleased all eares, than they satisfie
their owne fancies by suche superfinesse. Therefore even as I have advised
you to place all wordes in their naturall or most common and usuall pronunciation,
so would I wishe you to frame all sentences in their mother phrase and proper Idióma,
and yet sometimes (as I have sayd before) the contrarie may be borne, but that is
rather where rime enforceth, or per licentiam Poëticam, than it is otherwise
lawfull or commendable.
12 This poeticall licence is a shrewde fellow, and covereth many faults
in a verse, it maketh wordes longer, shorter, of mo sillables, of fewer, newer, older,
truer, falser, and to conclude it turkeneth all things at pleasure, for example,
ydone for done, adowne for downe, orecome for overcome, tane
for taken, power for powre, heaven for heavn, thewes for good
partes or good qualities, and a numbre of other whiche were but tedious and needelesse
to rehearse, since your owne judgement and readyng will soone make you espie such
advauntages.
13 There are also certayne pauses or restes in a verse
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whiche may be called Ceasures, whereof I woulde be lothe to stande long, since
it is at discretion of the wryter, and they have bene first devised (as should seeme)
by the Musicians: but yet thus much I will adventure to wryte, that in mine opinion
in a verse of eight sillables, the pause will stand best in the middest, in a verse
of tenne it will best be placed at the ende of the first foure sillables: in a verse
of twelve, in the midst, in verses of twelve, in the firste and fouretene in the
seconde, wee place the pause commonly in the midst of the first, and at the ende
of the first eight sillables in the second. In Rithme royall, it is at the wryters
discretion, and forceth not where the pause be untill the ende of the line.
14 And here bycause I have named Rithme royall, I will tell you also
mine opinion aswell of that as of the names which other rymes have commonly borne
heretofore. Rythme royall is a verse of tenne sillables, and seven such verses make
a staffe, whereof the first and thirde lines do aunswer (acrosse) in like terminations
and rime, the second, fourth, and fifth, do likewise answere eche other in terminations,
and the two last do combine and shut up the Sentence: this hath bene called Rithme
royall, & surely it is a royall kinde of verse, serving best for grave discourses.
There is also another kinde called Ballade, and thereof are sundrie sortes: for a
man may write ballade in a staffe of sixe lines, every line conteyning eighte or
sixe sillables, whereof the firste and third, second and fourth do rime acrosse,
and the fifth and sixth do rime togither in conclusion. You may write also your ballad
of tenne sillables rimyng as before is declared, but these two were wont to be most
commonly used in ballade, which propre name was (I thinke) derived of this worde
in Italian Ballare, whiche signifieth to daunce. And in deed those kinds of
rimes serve beste for daunces or light matters. Then have you also a rondlette, the
which doth alwayes end with one self same foote or repeticion, and was thereof (in
my judgement) called a rondelet. This may consist of such measure as best liketh
the wryter, then have you Sonnets, some thinke that all Poemes (being short) may
be called Sonets, as in deede it is a diminutive worde derived of Sonare,
but yet I can beste allowe to call those Sonets whiche are of fouretene lynes, every
line conteyning tenne syllables. The firste twelve do ryme in staves of foure lines
by
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crosse meetre, and the last twoo ryming togither do conclude the whole. There are
Dyzaynes, & Syxaines which are of ten lines, and of sixe lines, commonly used
by the French, which some English writers do also terme by the name of Sonettes.
Then is there an old kinde of Rithme called Verlayes, derived (as I have redde) of
this worde Verd whiche betokeneth Greene, and Laye which betokeneth
a Song, as if you would say greene Songes: but I muste tell you by the way, that
I never redde any verse which I saw by aucthoritie called Verlay, but one,
and that was a long discourse in verses of tenne sillables, whereof the foure first
did ryme acrosse, and the fifth did aunswere to the firste and thirde, breaking off
there, and so going on to another termination. Of this I could shewe example of imitation
in mine own verses written to ye right honorable ye Lord Grey of Wilton
upon my journey into Holland, &c. There are also certaine Poemes devised
of tenne syllables, whereof the first aunswereth in termination with the fourth,
and the second and thirde answere eche other: these are more used by other nations
than by us, neyther can I tell readily what name to give them. And the commonest
sort of verse which we use now adayes (viz. the long verse of twelve and fourtene
sillables) I know not certainly howe to name it, unlesse I should say that it doth
consist of Poulters measure, which giveth xii. for one dozen and xiiii. for another.
But let this suffise (if it be not to much) for the sundrie sortes of verses which
we use now adayes.
15 In all these sortes of verses when soever you undertake to write,
avoyde prolixitie and tediousnesse, & ever as neare as you can, do finish the
sentence and meaning at the end of every staffe where you wright staves, & at
the end of every two lines where you write by cooples or poulters measure: for I
see many writers which draw their sentences in length, & make an ende at latter
Lammas: for commonly before they end, the Reader hath forgotten where he begon. But
do you (if you wil follow my advise) eschue prolixitie and knit up your sentences
as compendiously as you may, since brevitie (so that it be not drowned in obscuritie)
is most commendable.
16 I had forgotten a notable kinde of ryme, called ryding rime, and that
is suche as our Mayster and Father Chaucer used in his Canterburie tales,
and in divers other delectable
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and light enterprises: but though it come to my remembrance somewhat out of order,
it shall not yet come altogether out of time, for I will nowe tell you a conceipt
whiche I had before forgotten to wryte: you may see (by the way) that I horde a preposterous
order in my traditions, but as I sayde before I wryte moved by good wil, and not
to shewe my skill. Then to returne too my matter, as this riding rime serveth most
aptly to wryte a merie tale, so Rythme royall is fittest for a grave discourse. Ballades
are beste of matters of love, and rondlettes moste apt for the beating or handlylng
of an adage or common proverbe: Sonets serve as well in matters of love as of discourse:
Dizaymes and Sixames for shorte Fantazies: Verlayes for an effectuall proposition,
although by the name you might otherwise judge of Verlayes, and the long verse of
twelve and fouretene sillables, although it be now adayes used in all Theames, yet
in my judgement it would serve best for Psalmes and Himpnes.
I woulde stande longer in these traditions, were it not that I doubt mine owne ignoraunce,
but as I sayde before, I know that I write to my freende, and affying my selfe thereupon,
I make an ende.
FINIS.
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