''The Fall of Princes'' is a long poem by English poet
John Lydgate
John Lydgate of Bury () was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill, Suffolk, England.
Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, at a conservative count, to about 145,000 lines. He explored and estab ...
. It is based on
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...
's work ''
De Casibus Virorum Illustrium
''De casibus virorum illustrium'' (''On the Fates of Famous Men'') is a work of 56 biographies in Latin prose composed by the Florentine poet Giovanni Boccaccio of Certaldo in the form of moral stories of the falls of famous people, similar to ...
'', which Lydgate knew in a French translation by Laurent de Premierfait, entitled ''Des Cas des nobles hommes et femmes''. Lydgate's poem was written in the years 1431-38. It is composed of nine books and some 36 thousand lines. It is made up of
rhyme royal
Rhyme royal (or rime royal) is a rhyme, rhyming stanza form that was introduced to English literature, English poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer. The form enjoyed significant success in the fifteenth century and into the sixteenth century. It has had a mo ...
stanzas:
Out of her swoone when she did abbraide,
Knowing no mean but death in her distrèsse,
To her brothèr full piteously she said,
"Cause of my sorrowe, roote of my heavinesse,
That whilom were the sourse of my gladnèsse,
When both our joyes by wille were so disposed,
Under one key our hearts to be enclosed.—Falls of Princes, Book I, at Luminarium.
/ref>
The poem tells about lives and tragic deaths of many historical and legendary persons. A sixteenth-century poem ''
The Mirror for Magistrates'' by various authors is a sequel to ''The Fall of Princes''.
References
External links
* scans of the version edited by Dr. Henry Bergen, published 1923-1927 for the
Early English Text Society
The Early English Text Society (EETS) is a text publication society founded in 1864 which is dedicated to the editing and publication of early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes contain editions of ...
:
Part I (Introduction and Books I and II)Part II (Books III-V)Part III (Books VI-IX)Part IV (Bibliographic Introduction, Notes, and Glossary)e-text versionof the EETS edition (poem text only, without Dr. Bergen's introduction or notes)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fall Of Princes
Middle English poems
Poetry based on works by Giovanni Boccaccio