1522 - Skelton, John - Why come ye not to Court
Allusion | |
---|---|
Date | c. 1522 |
Author | Skelton, John |
Title | Why come ye nat to Courte? |
Mentions | Good even, good Robin Hood (proverb) |
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-29. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-07.
Allusion
He is set so hye
In his ierarchy
Of frantycke frenesy
And follyshe fantasy,
That in the Chambre of Sterres
All maters there he marres,
Clappyng his rod on the borde.
No man dare speke a worde,
For he hathe all the sayenge
Without any renayenge.
He rolleth in his recordes,
He sayth, 'How saye ye, my lordes?
Is nat my reason good?'
Good evyn, good Robyn Hode!
Some say 'yes', and some
Syt styll as they were dom
Thus thwartyng over thom,
He ruleth all the roste.[1]
Source notes
Scattergood[2] has this note to l. 289: "Proverbial".
IRHB comments
John Skelton's Why come ye nat to Courte? was written c. 1522. This passage, citing the proverbial expression "Good even, good Robin Hood", is one of Skelton's satirical attacks on Cardinal Wolsey. Philip Henderson explains the saying as a "proverbial expression for civility extorted by fear"[3]. If Greg Walker is not formally incorrect in observing that Wolsey is here "compared to Robin Hood",[4] it is important to note that the two are only seen as similar in that they induce a fear in people which quells opposition.
Editions
- Skelton, John; Stow, John, ed. Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton (London, 1568), allusion: sigs. L7r-L8v.
- Skelton, John; Dyce, Alexander, ed. The Poetical Works of John Skelton (London, 1843), vol. II, pp. 26-67. Allusion: vol. II, pp. 32-33, notes pp. 355-56.
- Skelton, John; Henderson, Philip, ed. The Complete Poems of John Skelton, Laureate (London & Toronto, 1948), pp. 308-45; allusion: pp. 313-14, and see 314 n. Modernized spelling edition.
- Skelton, John; Stow, John, ed. Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate. Nowe collected and newly published (Menston, 1970), allusion: sigs. L7r-L8v. Facsimile of 1568 ed.
- Skelton, John; Scattergood, John, ed. The Complete English Poems. John Skelton (New Haven & London, 1983), pp. ?-?
Lists
- Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 314-19.
- Sussex, Lucy, compil. 'References to Robin Hood up to 1600', in: Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 262-88, see p. 271.
Discussion
Background
Also see
- Good even, good Robin Hood
- 1515 - Skelton, John - Magnificence
- 1521 - Skelton, John - Speke, Parrot.
Notes
- ↑ Skelton, John; Scattergood, John, ed. The Complete English Poems. John Skelton (New Haven & London, 1983), p. 283 (ll. 184-201).
- ↑ Skelton, John (1983), p. 485
- ↑ Skelton, John; Henderson, Philip, ed. The Complete Poems of John Skelton, Laureate (London & Toronto, 1948), p. 314 n. 1
- ↑ Walker, Greg; Fletcher, Anthony, ser. ed.; Guy, John, ser. ed.; Morrill, John, ser. ed. John Skelton and the Politics of the 1520s (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History, vol. [6]) (Cambridge; New York; New Rochelle; Melbourne; Sydney, 1988), p. 125.