Bird of the bitter bright gray golden morn Scarce risen upon the dusk of dolorous years, First of us all and sweetest singer born Whose far shrill note the world of new men hears Cleave the cold shuddering shade as twilight clears; When song new-born put off the old world's attire And felt its tune on her changed lips expire, Writ foremost on the roll of them that came Fresh girt for service of the latter lyre, Villon, our sad bad glad mad brother's name! (SWINBURNE: _Ballad of François Villon, Prince of all Ballad-Makers_, st. i.) This specimen represents the ballade in ten-line stanzas. There is also an extended form of the ballade, called the _Chant Royal_, with five stanzas and envoy, the stanzas consisting of eleven verses. The usual rime-scheme is _ababccddede_, with envoy _ddede_. For admirable specimens, see Mr. Dobson's _Dance of Death_ and Mr. Gosse's _Praise of Dionysus_, in _Ballades and Rondeaus_, pp. 98, 100. Mr. White says of this form: "The chant royal in the old form is usually devoted to the unfolding of an allegory in its five stanzas, the envoy supplying the key; but this is not always observed in modern examples. Whatever be the subject, however, it must always march in stately rhythm with splendid imagery, using all the poetic adornments of sonorous, highly-wrought lines and rich embroidery of words, to clothe a theme in itself a lofty one. Unless the whole poem is constructed with intense care, the monotony of its sixty-one lines rhymed on five sounds is unbearable." (_Ballades and Rondeaus_, Introduction, p. liv.) B.--THE RONDEAU AND RONDEL _Rondel_ is the old French form of the word _rondeau_, and the terms are therefore naturally interchangeable. They have been applied to a number of different forms, all characterized by a refrain so repeated as to link together different parts of the structure. Two of these forms are particularly familiar. The first (called more commonly the _rondel_) consists of fourteen lines, with only two rimes; the first two lines constitute the refrain, and are commonly repeated as the seventh and eighth and again as the thirteenth and fourteenth. The rime-scheme varies, but is often _ABba, abAB, abbaAB_ (the capitals indicating the repeated lines of the refrain). Sometimes the form is shortened to thirteen lines, the second line of the refrain not being repeated at the close. The second principal form (called more commonly the _rondeau_) consists of thirteen lines, with two rimes, and an unrimed refrain, taken from the opening words of the first line, which follows the eighth line and is again repeated at the end. The common rime-scheme is _aabba,aab (refrain), aabba (refrain)_. Both these forms are found in early French poetry, together with many variations. The modern distinction between _rondeau_ and _rondel_ is artificial but convenient. i. _"Rondel" Type_