Canterbury tales pilgrim

[wazzup]

hey....we're reading Canterbury tales in my english class.... and our teacher wants us to come up with our own pilgrim and describe the pilgim in a poetic way .. i have tried copying chaucers format of description by first talking good about the pilgrim and then making a sarcastic comment about him... was wondering if this sounds alright:

There was a farmer who toiled hard,
He worked all day long,
And sowed seeds singing a jolly good song;
And then came spring in may,
And he was all gay;
He then went to the market and sold his crop,
And earned a whole lot,
Strangely so, he was as thin as a rake,
since he spent his money on sake,
He didn’t spare his kith or kin by committing sin;
To beg pardon for his sins, he would bribe the priest
And buy temporary peace;
and so, content he was in his frame of thought,
that he never feared his downfall due to a drought.

any comments to help improve my poem would be appreciated.. thanks

[mono]

Well done, wazzup. I rarely show around the 'Personal Poetry' forum, but, being a fan of Chaucer, the 'Canterbury Tales Pilgrim' post caught my eye. Your poem looks very well in content, but if you intend on rhyming, I would maintain consistency and, perhaps, show symmetry in syllables. Good luck, and keep up the good work.

[trismegistus]

You've got the sense of it right, but IMO you need to make the rhythm much more even. Remember that Chaucer used the meter of the poem to suggest the feel of riding, in keeping with the idea of pilgrimage. Pick up and maintain a steady iambic meter for best effect.

I'm not sure about the sake reference; the rest of the poem feels Western.

Finally, don't feel the need to make each line contain a single thought. Chaucer didn't and the poems work better because he often runs a single statement over a pair or more of lines. (e.g. from the Knight's Tale: "But by the cause that they sholde ryse / Erly, for to seen the grete fight, / Unto hir reste wente they at night.")

Good luck!

[wazzup]

thanks guys for ur opinions.. appreciate it

Remember that Chaucer used the meter of the poem to suggest the feel of riding, in keeping with the idea of pilgrimage. Pick up and maintain a steady iambic meter for best effect.

well i know that chaucer made some kinda new "seven-line iambic meteR" but could u care to explain what do u mean by meter of the poem... does it refer to the rhythm?

[Falling_Embers]

meter merely refers to the measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by accentual rhythm, syllabic quantity, or the number of syllables in a line. As well as the rhythmic pattern of a stanza, determined by the kind and number of lines.

[wazzup]

i see thanks...