The Chant Royal is a poetic

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...

 form that is a variation of the ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 form and consists of five eleven-line 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"...

s 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

Envoi

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.-Form:...

 rhyming d-d-e-d-E or a seven-line envoi c-c-d-d-e-d-E. To add to the complexity, no rhyming word was used twiceIt was introduced into French poetry

French poetry

French poetry is a category of French literature. It may include Francophone poetry composed outside France and poetry written in other languages of France.-French prosody and poetics:...

 in the 14th century by 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 d'Orléans

Charles d'Orléans may refer to one of the following:*Charles d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans son of Louis I, Duke of Orléans and Valentina Visconti;...

 and was introduced into England towards the end of the 19th century as part of a general revival of interest in French poetic forms. The complexity of the form caused William Caswell Jones to describe it as "impractical" for common use The Chant Royal was the most complicated form of poetry in Northern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 during the 14th century, though not as complex as the sestina, which was more popular in Southern France. The form was often used for stately, or heroic subjects.

An example

The Dance of Death

After Holbein

"Contra vim Mortis

Non est medicamen in hortis."

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...

He is the despots' Despot. All must bide,

Later or soon, the message of his might;

Princes and potentates their heads must hide,

Touched by the awful sigil of his right;

Beside the Kaiser he at eve doth wait

And pours a potion in his cup of state;

The stately Queen his bidding must obey;

No keen-eyed Cardinal shall him affray;

And to the Dame that wantoneth he saith--

"Let be, Sweet-heart, to junket and to play."

There is no King more terrible than Death.

The lusty Lord, rejoicing in his pride,

He draweth down; before the armed Knight

With jingling bridle-rein he still doth ride;

He crosseth the strong Captain in the fight;

The Burgher grave he beckons from debate;

He hales the Abbot by his shaven pate,

Nor for the Abbess' wailing will delay;

No bawling Mendicant shall say him nay;

E'en to the pyx the Priest he followeth,

Nor can the Leech* his chilling finger stay . . . [doctor]

There is no King more terrible than Death.

All things must bow to him. And woe betide

The Wine-bibber,--the Roisterer by night;

Him the feast-master, many bouts defied,

Him 'twixt the pledging and the cup shall smite;

Woe to the Lender at usurious rate,

The hard Rich Man, the hireling Advocate;

Woe to the Judge that selleth Law for pay;

Woe to the Thief that like a beast of prey

With creeping tread the traveller harryeth:--

These, in their sin, the sudden sword shall slay . . .

There is no King more terrible than Death.

He hath no pity, -- nor will be denied.

When the low hearth is garnished and bright,

Grimly he flingeth the dim portal wide,

And steals the Infant in the Mother's sight;

He hath no pity for the scorned of fate:--

He spares not Lazarus lying at the gate,

Nay, nor the Blind that stumbleth as he may;

Nay, the tired Ploughman,--at the sinking ray,--

In the last furrow,--feels an icy breath,

And knows a hand hath turned the team astray . . .

There is no King more terrible than Death.

He hath no pity. For the new-made Bride,

Blithe with the promise of her life's delight,

That wanders gladly by her Husband's side,

He with the clatter of his drum doth fright.

He scares the Virgin at the convent grate;

The Maid half-won, the Lover passionate;

He hath no grace for weakness and decay:

The tender Wife, the Widow bent and gray,

The feeble Sire whose footstep faltereth,--

All these he leadeth by the lonely way . . .

There is no King more terrible than Death.

ENVOI

Envoi

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.-Form:...

Youth, for whose ear and monishing of late,

I sang of Prodigals and lost estate,

Have thou thy joy of living and be gay;

But know not less that there must come a day,--

Aye, and perchance e'en now it hasteneth,--

When thine own heart shall speak to thee and say,--

There is no King more terrible than Death.