Poem 13, Balade [The Languishing Lover]

by: James I. Wimsatt (Editor)

from: Chaucer and the Poems of “Ch” (Revised Edition)  2009

[Ch XIII; MS #274]
Ch 5 10 15 20 25 30	13. Balade Oez les plains du martir amoureus, Tous vrays amans, et plourez tendrement! De le veoir vueilliez estre songneux Et entendre comment piteusement Fait les regrés du grief mal qui l’esprent. Se vous povés, faites li brief secours. Priés aussi a mains jointes Amours Qu’il ait merci de son leal amant, Car, par ma foy, veües ses doulours, Il vit sans joye et languist en mourant. Simple, pali, triste, las, doulereux, En souspirant faisant son testament, Disant ainsi en la fin de ses geus, “Adieu, dame, pour qui muir humblement; Mon cuer vous lay et vous en fay present; Autre rien n’ay fors que plaintes et plours; Ce sont les biens qu’en la fin de mes jours Ay pour amer et estre vray servant. Que fait mon cuer a cui Mort vient le cours? ‘Il vit sans joie et languist en mourant.’” Venez au corps, larmes cheans des yeulx, De noir vestu, priant devotement Pour l’amoureux, pour le pou eüreux, A cui Amours a esté liegement Joie, confort, deduit, esbatement. Ses plus grans biens sont plaintes et clamours.      Et se savoir voulez par aucuns tours Comment le las vit sa mort desirant, Venez le voir, car certes, sans retours, Il vit sans joie et languist en mourant.	13. [The Languishing Lover] Listen to the laments of the martyr of Love, Every true lover, and weep tenderly! Please be attentive in watching him And hearing how piteously He makes complaints for the harsh evils which burn him. If you can, render him some small aid, Pray also to Love with hands joined That he will have mercy on his loyal lover, For, by my faith, considering his sorrows, He lives without joy and languishes in dying. Unhappy, grown pale, sad, miserable, sorrowful, Making his testament while sighing, Speaking thus at the end of his pleasures, “Adieu, lady, for whom I humbly expire; I leave you my heart and make you a present of it; I have nothing except laments and tears. These are the goods that I have at the end of my days For loving and being a true servant. What does my heart say, to which Death makes its way? ‘He lives without joy and languishes in dying.’” Come to the body, tears falling from your eyes, Dressed in black, praying devotedly For the amorous, the seldom happy one, To whom Love has been absolutely Joy, comfort, delight, pleasure. His greatest goods are laments and mourning, And if you want to know in some fashion How the miserable man lives hoping for death, Come to see him, for surely, with no requital, He lives without joy and languishes in dying.	(t-note)

Go To Poem 14, Balade [A Lover's Thanksgiving]

Footnotes

THE POEMS OF "CH": NOTES

Abbreviations: A: Neuchâtel; B: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 3343; C: Barcelona text; CT: Chaucer, Canterbury Tales; LGW: Chaucer, The Legend of Good Women; P: University of Pennsylvania MS French 15.

[Ch I; MS #235] Chançon Royal

12ff Many of the personifications that appear in the “Ch” poems, such as Franchise, Esperance, Dangier, and Doulz Regart here, are closely associated with the allegory of the Roman de la Rose, which Chaucer says he translated (LGW F.329).

Textual Notes

16 conforte. P: confort a.

42 entrer. P: en tron.

48 or 49 Line missing.

52 clamerai. P: clamera.





[Ch II; MS #237] Balade

10 The burning lover is a familiar figure. Thus Damian in Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale, at the sight of May, almost “swelte and swowned,” so is he burnt by Venus’ torch (CT IV[E]1776–77).





[Ch III; MS #239] Balade

There are no notes for this poem.





[Ch IV; MS #240] Chançon Royal

32 sejour. P: ce jour.





[Ch V; MS #241] Balade

1 The story of the false judge Apius is found in Livy’s History III; Roman de la Rose, lines 5559–5628; Gower’s Confessio Amantis 7.5131–5306; and Chaucer’s Physician’s Tale. Ovid tells the story of how the impious Lycaon prepares a meal of human flesh for Jupiter in Metamorphoses I.198–243.

3 Herod the Great is perhaps best remembered for the Massacre of the Innocents episode related in Matthew 2:16–18. His son, another Herod, reluctantly had John the Baptist beheaded to fulfill a promise made to his wife’s daughter, Salome (Matthew 14:1–11, Mark 6:17–28). The former reference makes more sense in this context, although remarks by the Pardoner (CT VI[C]488–90) and the Prioress (CT VII[B²]574–75) indicate Chaucer’s familiarity with both stories. Nero’s brutal acts were familiar to medieval wordsmiths and audiences alike. Chaucer’s Monk tells the story of Nero’s death in his tale (CT VII[B²]3369–73).

4–5 For Dido’s vain pleas to Aeneas compare Aeneid IV.305–92.

19 la fontaine Helie. For the mountain Helicon, where Pegasus’ hoof created the fountain of the Muses (the Hypocrene), see Ovid, Metamorphoses V.250–63.

25–28 Medea’s story is a favorite of medieval writers. Jason’s infidelity to her is the subject of many medieval retellings, including Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women, where Medea’s revenge is omitted as in Ovid’s Heroides, to make her a martyr to love. Gower’s Confessio Amantis, the longest of the English retellings, presents her as a sympathetic victim of Jason’s perjury (5.3247–4222).

Textual Notes

3 d’Erode. P: de Rode.

18–19 Lines reversed in P.

31 ne fu. P: me fu.

33 fis. P: fus.





[Ch VI; MS #242] Balade

1–2 The daughters of Apollo and Clymene are the Heliades, sisters of Phaeton, but they are five in number. There may be a confusion here with the three Graces, who were the daughters of Jupiter and Eurynome; Eurynome’s daughter Leucothoë was also loved by Phoebus. The character of the Graces, attendants of Venus, might help the sense of the poem, but the uncertainty of the husband’s identity (line 8) leaves the final meaning a puzzle.

4 In Greek mythology Damia is equated with Demeter, the Roman Ceres, goddess of the fields.

11 Palinurus was the helmsman of one of Aeneas’ ships who is sacrificed to Neptune by Aeneas’ mother, Venus (Aeneid V.814–71). In the underworld, Palinurus tells Aeneas how he died (Aeneid VI.337–83). This final meeting is depicted in Chaucer’s House of Fame (line 443).

23 Eolus was the ruler of the winds who is frequently represented as blowing two horns. Compare Chaucer’s House of Fame, lines 1571–83.

Textual Notes

11 Palanurus. P: Palamirus.

13 creée. P: cree.

24 fondera. P: forgera.

28 qui. P: que.





[Ch VII; MS #244] Balade

2 King Acrisius of Argos locked his childless daughter, Danaë, in a bronze tower or cave after hearing he would be killed by her son. Zeus, however, comes to her variously as a sunbeam, rain, or a shower of gold and impregnates her with Perseus.

5–6 Argus. Juno appointed the hundred-eyed Argus to guard Io, Jupiter’s mistress whom he had turned into a cow to protect her from Juno’s anger. References to a guard with a hundred eyes were proverbial. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath prides herself on her ability to fool even the hundred-eyed Argus (CT III[D]358–61). See also Gower’s Confessio Amantis 4.3317–61; and Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale (CT I[A]1390), Merchant’s Tale (CT IV[E]2111), and Troilus and Crisyede 4.1459.

13 Tantalus offered the gods a stew made from the body of his son, Pelops, to test their divinity. His punishment involved standing in shallow water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reached for a piece of fruit, the branches withdrew and whenever he went to drink, the water receded. In Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess, the Man in Black asserts that he has “more sorowe than Tantale” (line 709).





[Ch VIII; MS #245] Balade

1–14 Thisbe, Ariadne, Dido, and Phyllis are all subjects of individual tales in Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women. Many of the other women named here appear as references in other Chaucerian works.

Textual Notes

17 jours. P: tours.

24 Fisses. P: Eusses.





[Ch IX; MS #249] Chanson Royal

31 This line is a syllable short and does not make sense as it stands. The translation represents a guess as to the intended meaning.

Textual Notes

17 flenchist. P: flechist.





[Ch X; MS #260] Rondel

There are no notes for this poem.





[Ch XI; MS #263] Chançon Royal

1–9 This list of seven nonpareils includes two from the Old Testament (Esther and Judith) and five from Greek myth.

Textual Notes

40 Mon. P: A mon.

43 avient. P: venant.

59 que. P: qua.





[Ch XII; P #273] Balade

1 si. P: se.

12 Bel . . . bon. P: bonne.

13 que onques. P: conques.





[Ch XIII; P #274] Balade

16 fors que. P: forques.





[Ch XIV; MS #275] Balade

1–24 In each stanza the endings of the first six lines are echoed at the end of the following hemistich (confort/ressort). This is “rime batellée.”

Textual Notes

11 Mais. P: Et.
et fort. P: effort.

12 Et. P: De.

15 je. P: ou.





[Ch XV; P #276] Balade

19 qu’a souhait. P: quassouhait.