|
John Skelton’s poetry is not only worth reading for it contents, but also for his particular rhyme-scheme Skeltonics. Looking at the features of Skeltonics, it becomes apparent that the basics of the rhyme-pattern are distinguished by “short lines and long stretches of monorhyme, called leashes” (Kaplan 1309). Each line has two to five stresses; however, three stresses within one line are most common. Skelton did not use his rhyme-pattern for all of his works. First of all, it was a later invention and, secondly it served solely for his satirical pieces. Another feature of Skeltonics is the use of Latin and French. Skelton tends to use scraps of the two languages within his mainly English works (Kaplan 1309; “Skeltonics” Oxford Reference). In addition, the most apparent feature of skeltonic verse is the abundance of alliteration in each line.
Scholars have argued about the origin of Skeltonics because it is believed that Skelton was influenced by earlier sources. Due to the phrases of Latin that appear in Skelton’s works, it is widely considered that Skelton must have been informed by “various medieval translations, including Latin verse, Latin rhyming prose, and the Catholic liturgy, among others” (Kaplan 1309). The sixteenth-century critics Philip Sidney and George Puttenham, however, considered Skeltonics merely a variant of doggerel (Edwards).
Skeltonics is a unique rhyme-pattern, almost exclusively devised and used by Skelton himself. Only two other examples exist in which poets besides Skelton used Skeltonics in their works. Two Franciscan friars, William Roy and Jerome Barlow, used Skelton’s rhyme-pattern in the year before Skelton’s death. In their anti-Catholic satirical work, they attacked Cardinal Wolsey, “causing Wolsey to order all copies bought up and destroyed” (Test 135). It is rather surprising that the Skeltonic verse was used against Cardinal Wolsey since it was Wolsey who appointed Skelton as Catholic priest. R. Kaplan, however, argues “his attacks on the Protestant Church made his poetry easily assimilable to the Protestant cause, and several Protestant satires were written in Skeltonics” (1309). Besides these two friars, Skeltonics have not been used by other writers although Coleridge and Auden showed a liking to the verse. Robert Graves wrote the following praise of John Skelton:
What could be dafter
Than John Skelton’s laughter?
What sound more tenderly
Than his pretty poesy?
But angrily, wittily,
Tenderly, prettily,
Laughingly, learnedly,
Sadly, madly,
Helter-skelter John
Rhymes serenely on,
As English poets should.
Old John, you do me good!
|
