The Stanza-Forms of "Sir Thopas"

Abstract

It has long been recognized that the verse form of Sir Thopas is a definite feature of the humor of that delightful burlesque, but the exact meaning of it seems to have escaped attention. Some have seen in the prevailing stanzaic form a direct imitation of the stanza found in many of the popular romances and have discovered in the variations an intention on the part of Chaucer to satirize the helplessness and awkwardness of the authors of these romances, who, it is asserted, were unable to preserve the stanza with which they began and allowed it to degenerate into other easier forms and even into mere couplets. Kolbing (Englische Studien, XI, 496 ff.) rightly rejected this theory and suggested instead that by the variation of stanza Chaucer meant no more than to exemplify the various meters found in the popular romances of his day: Ch. mit diesem Strophenwechsel nichts weiter beabsichtigt hat, als die verschiedenen metren zu charakterisiren, in welche romantische stoffe zu seiner zeit behandelt wurden.