Envoi
Encyclopedia
In poetry
, an envoi is a short stanza
at the end of a poem used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem.
consists of five eleven-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme
a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d-e-d-E and a five-line envoi rhyming d-d-e-d-E.
s and troubadour
s; they developed as addresses to the poet's beloved or to a friend or patron. As such, the envoi can be viewed as standing apart from the poem itself and expresses the poet's hope that the poem may bring them some benefit (the beloved's favours, increased patronage, and so on).
, which employed a refrain
at first but evolved to include an envoi and the chant royal, which used an envoi from the beginning.
The main exponents of these forms were Christine de Pizan
and Charles d'Orléans
. In the work of these poets, the nature of the envoi changed significantly. They occasionally retained the invocation of the Prince or to abstract entities such as Hope or Love as a cypher
for an authority figure the protagonists(s) of the poem could appeal to, or, in the some poems by d'Orléans, to address actual royalty. However, more frequently in the works of these poets the envoi served as a commentary on the preceding stanzas, either reinforcing or ironically undercutting the message of the poem.
Jean Froissart
, in his adaptation of the troubadour pastourelle
genre
to the chant royal form also employed the envoi. His use, however, is less innovative than that of de Pizan or d'Orléans. Froissart's envoi are invariably addressed to the Prince and are used to summarise the content of the preceding stanzas.
Since the 14th century, the envoi has been seen as an integral part of a number of traditional poetic forms, including, in addition to the ballade and chant royal, the virelai nouveau
and the sestina. In English, poems with envoi have been written by poets as diverse as Austin Dobson
, Algernon Charles Swinburne
and Ezra Pound
. G K Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc went through a period of adding envoi to their humorous and satirical poems.
A Ballade of Suicide
G. K. Chesterton
- G. K. Chesterton
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, an envoi is a short stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
at the end of a poem used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem.
Form
The envoi is relatively fluid in form, depending on the overall form of the poem and the needs and wishes of the poet. In general, envois have fewer lines than the main stanzas of the poem. They also repeat the rhyme words or sounds used in the main body of the poem. For example, the chant royalChant royal
The Chant Royal is a poetic form that is a variation of the ballad form and consists of five eleven-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d-e-d-E and a five-line envoi rhyming d-d-e-d-E or a seven-line envoi c-c-d-d-e-d-E...
consists of five eleven-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme
Rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme between lines of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme. In other words, it is the pattern of end rhymes or lines...
a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d-e-d-E and a five-line envoi rhyming d-d-e-d-E.
Early Use
The envoi first appears in the songs of the medieval trouvèreTrouvère
Trouvère , sometimes spelled trouveur , is the Northern French form of the word trobador . It refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadours but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France...
s and troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
s; they developed as addresses to the poet's beloved or to a friend or patron. As such, the envoi can be viewed as standing apart from the poem itself and expresses the poet's hope that the poem may bring them some benefit (the beloved's favours, increased patronage, and so on).
Development
In the 14th century French poetry was tending to move away from song and towards written text. The two main forms used in this new literary poetry were the balladeBallade
The ballade is a form of French poetry. It was one of the three formes fixes and one of the verse forms in France most commonly set to music between the late 13th and the 15th centuries....
, which employed a refrain
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
at first but evolved to include an envoi and the chant royal, which used an envoi from the beginning.
The main exponents of these forms were Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan was a Venetian-born late medieval author who challenged misogyny and stereotypes prevalent in the male-dominated medieval culture. As a poet, she was well known and highly regarded in her own day; she completed 41 works during her 30 year career , and can be regarded as...
and Charles d'Orléans
Charles, duc d'Orléans
Charles of Valois was Duke of Orléans from 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis I, Duke of Orléans, on the orders of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy...
. In the work of these poets, the nature of the envoi changed significantly. They occasionally retained the invocation of the Prince or to abstract entities such as Hope or Love as a cypher
Cypher
Not to be confused with CipherCypher may refer to:* A royal cypher or monogram-like glyph-Art and entertainment:* Cypher , a Goa trance music group* Cypher , an Australian instrumental band* Cypher , a 2002 film...
for an authority figure the protagonists(s) of the poem could appeal to, or, in the some poems by d'Orléans, to address actual royalty. However, more frequently in the works of these poets the envoi served as a commentary on the preceding stanzas, either reinforcing or ironically undercutting the message of the poem.
Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart , often referred to in English as John Froissart, was one of the most important chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France...
, in his adaptation of the troubadour pastourelle
Pastourelle
The pastourelle is a typically Old French lyric form concerning the romance of a shepherdess. In most of the early pastourelles, the poet knight meets a shepherdess who bests him in a wit battle and who displays general coyness. The narrator usually has sexual relations, either consensual or...
genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
to the chant royal form also employed the envoi. His use, however, is less innovative than that of de Pizan or d'Orléans. Froissart's envoi are invariably addressed to the Prince and are used to summarise the content of the preceding stanzas.
Since the 14th century, the envoi has been seen as an integral part of a number of traditional poetic forms, including, in addition to the ballade and chant royal, the virelai nouveau
Virelai nouveau
The virelai nouveau is a poetic form that is both rare and difficult to use. Its chief characteristic is the use of a double refrain and the fact that is uses two rhymes only. The poem opens with a couplet and these two lines are used as the refrain in alternating stanzas. The poem ends with an...
and the sestina. In English, poems with envoi have been written by poets as diverse as Austin Dobson
Henry Austin Dobson
Henry Austin Dobson , commonly Austin Dobson, was an English poet and essayist.-Life:He was born at Plymouth, the eldest son of George Clarisse Dobson, a civil engineer, of French descent. When he was about eight, the family moved to Holyhead, and his first school was at Beaumaris in Anglesey...
, Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He invented the roundel form, wrote several novels, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica...
and Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
. G K Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc went through a period of adding envoi to their humorous and satirical poems.
Two Examples
- On a Fan
- That Belonged to the Marquise De Pompadour
- Austin Dobson (1840-1921)
- CHICKEN-SKIN, delicate, white,
- Painted by Carlo Vanloo,
- Loves in a riot of light,
- Roses and vaporous blue;
- Hark to the dainty frou-frou!
- Picture above, if you can,
- Eyes that could melt as the dew,–
- This was the Pompadour's fan!
- See how they rise at the sight,
- Thronging the œil de Bœuf through,
- Courtiers as butterflies bright,
- Beauties that Fragonard drew,
- Talon-rouge, falbala, queue,
- Cardinal, Duke, –to a man,
- Eager to sigh or to sue,–
- This was the Pompadour's fan!
- Ah, but things more than polite
- Hung on this toy, voyez-vous!
- Matters of state and of might,
- Things that great ministers do;
- Things that, may be, overthrew
- Those in whose brains they began;
- Here was the sign and the cue,–
- This was the Pompadour's fan!
- ENVOI
- Where are the secrets it knew?
- Weavings of plot and of plan?
- –But where is the Pompadour, too?
- This was the Pompadour's Fan!
A Ballade of Suicide
A Ballade of Suicide
A Ballade of Suicide is a ballade by G. K. Chesterton.-External links:* : more works by G. K. Chesterton...
G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
- The gallows in my garden, people say,
- Is new and neat and adequately tall;
- I tie the noose on in a knowing way
- As one that knots his necktie for a ball;
- But just as all the neighbours--on the wall--
- Are drawing a long breath to shout "Hurray!"
- The strangest whim has seized me. . . . After all
- I think I will not hang myself to-day.
- To-morrow is the time I get my pay--
- My uncle's sword is hanging in the hall--
- I see a little cloud all pink and grey--
- Perhaps the rector's mother will not call--
- I fancy that I heard from Mr. Gall
- That mushrooms could be cooked another way--
- I never read the works of Juvenal--
- I think I will not hang myself to-day.
- The world will have another washing-day;
- The decadents decay; the pedants pall;
- And H.G. Wells has found that children play,
- And Bernard Shaw discovered that they squall,
- Rationalists are growing rational--
- And through thick woods one finds a stream astray
- So secret that the very sky seems small--
- I think I will not hang myself to-day.
- ENVOI
- Prince, I can hear the trumpet of Germinal,
- The tumbrils toiling up the terrible way;
- Even to-day your royal head may fall,
- I think I will not hang myself to-day.
- G. K. Chesterton