We’ve done quite a bit of discussion on the various uses of rhyming in the Canon:
- singling out an entire body or block of content
- singling out a couplet of content (for emphasis, particularly at the end of a speech)
- content from outside the play itself–poems, songs, even entire plays that are performed within the context of the scene
- portrayal of other worldly-entities
- rhyme as answer
Now, The Two Gentlemen of Verona has MUCH less rhyme than last month’s Love’s Labor’s Lost, about half as much as our opening The Comedy of Errors, and about twice as much as The Taming of the Shrew. So… how’s it deployed?
| Scene | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I.ii | answer | Lucetta answers Julia in all cases
Lucetta isn’t confounded by anything Julia has to say |
| couplet of content | on occasion, Lucetta will complete her own couplet (fine/mine, hate/ruminate) | |
| I.iii | answer | Antonio answers Proteus
weakly: wish / wish |
| final four lines | Panthino and Proteus share an ABAB two-speech quatrain | |
| II.i | answer | Silvia answers Valentine once:
on his poem: like it? / quaintly writ |
| assorted couplets | Valentine and Speed | |
| II.ii | final couplet of scene | Proteus
come / dumb |
| II.iv | answer | Proteus answers Silvia
courtly but weak: servant / servantSilvia answers Thurio: you / Thurio Valentine answers Proteus: alone / own |
| final couplet | Proteus: will / skill | |
| II.vi | opening triple repetition | Proteus: forsworn / forsworn / forsworn |
| closing | Proteus: swift / drift | |
| I.i | opening couplet | Julia: me / thee |
| III.i | Duke / Valentine advice sequence | rhyming couplets,
including one instance of Valentine answering the Duke: her / her |
| verse | Duke reads Valentine’s poem to Silvia
ABAB CDCD EE |
|
| III.ii | answer | Duke answers both Thurio and Proteus
her / figure; hate / hate |
| IV.ii | song | Proteus to Silvia |
| IV.iv | answer | Proteus answers Julia (Sebastian):
pity her / pity her |
| V.iii | answer / final couplet | Silva answers outlaw in final couplet |
| V.iv | answer | Silvia answers Proteus twice
happy / unhappy; beloved / beloved |
| closing couplet of speeches | Valentine in speeches to Proteus
accurst / worst; free / three |
|
| closing couplet of speeches | Julia reveals herself to Proteus | |
| closing couplet of speeches | Proteus, Valentine | |
| closing couplet of PLAY | does NOT rhyme |
It’s a mess… The answers (save for Lucetta’s of Julia in Act One Scene One) are pretty weak, sometimes mere repetition.
But instead of being disappointed (like I was over yesterday’s anomaly-less use of verse versus prose), I think we’re hitting upon something here… something I’ll hit next week.