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Rhyme royal

rhyme_royal · form · validated

Seven-line stanzas of iambic pentameter rhyming ABABBCC.

Provenance

  • Source: Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde (c. 1385)
  • Attribution: primary — a named author, work and year this catalogue stands behind
  • Checkability: self — decidable from the text and its parameters alone
  • Attested: codified — formulated as a rule by a tradition rather than declared by an author

Details

  • Kind: restrictive
  • Languages: en
  • Requires: tokens, phonemes, stress, syllables.heuristic
  • Deterministic: yes

Prompt hint

Write seven-line stanzas of iambic pentameter rhyming ABABBCC.

Parameters

Name Type Default Description
feminine_ending boolean False Whether a line may close on one extra unstressed syllable (a feminine or klingende ending) as well as on the bare metre.
unknown_rhyme string undecidable What a line ending absent from the pronouncing dictionary means: leave the pair unscored (undecidable), let it satisfy the scheme (free), or fail it (strict).

Examples

ababbcc

en — this text satisfies the procedure.

the cat can see the moon above the tree
the dog will run across the field today
a bird can fly around the house at three
the sun will set behind the hill in may
the birds will sing before the break of day
the fox will hide beneath the fallen stone
the owl will call across the dark alone

Source: constructed example; the form of Chaucer's Troilus

wrong-scheme

en — this text does not satisfy the procedure.

the cat can see the moon above the tree
a bird can fly around the house at three
the cat can see the moon above the tree
a bird can fly around the house at three

Source: constructed counterexample

unknown-word-mid-line

en — this text satisfies the procedure.

blorf cat can see the moon above the tree
the dog will run across the field today
a bird can fly around the house at three
the sun will set behind the hill in may
the birds will sing before the break of day
the fox will hide beneath the fallen stone
the owl will call across the dark alone

Source: constructed example; an invented word reaches the stress fallback

ababbcc

de — this text satisfies the procedure.

der Wandrer zieht durch jenes weite Land
der Wind bewegt die Blätter in der Nacht
das Feuer brennt und wärmt die kalte Hand
der Regen fällt und niemand hat gelacht
die Glocke schlägt und alles ist vollbracht
ein Vogel singt am Morgen auf dem Baum
ein Kind erwacht und ruft nach seinem Traum

Source: constructed example

chaucer-troilus-rhyme-royal

en — this text does not satisfy the procedure.

The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen,
That was the kyng Priamus sone of Troye,
In lovynge, how his aventures fellen
Fro wo to wele, and after out of joie,
My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye.
Thesiphone, thow help me for t'endite
Thise woful vers, that wepen as I write.

Source: Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, Book I, lines 1-7 (c. 1385), following the Riverside Chaucer / Windeatt base of Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 61 (ADR 0040 D5 — transcribed as edited, not modernised). Rejected: Middle English "ye" (thee/you) does not rhyme with "joie" under this package's model (does_not_rhyme, ADR 0040 D3), and three lines carry Middle English spelling ("Priamus", "lovynge", "t'endite") the pronouncing dictionary does not hold, reading 9 or 11 syllables instead of 10 (wrong_line_length). Measured on this HEAD: score 0.8974, 4 violations.