Swearing In Rhyme
Gleeman,’ said the lay brother, ‘I also make rhymes; I make manywhile I sit in my niche by the door, and I sorrow to hear the bards railing upon the friars. Brother, I would sleep, and therefore I makeknown to you that it is the head of the monastery, our graciousabbot, who orders all things concerning the lodging of travellers.’
‘You may sleep,’ said Cumhal, ‘I will sing a bard’s curse on the abbot. ‘And he set the tub upside down under the window, and stood upon it, and began to sing in a very loud voice. The singing awoke the abbot, so that he sat up in bed and blew a silver whistle untilthe lay brother came to him. ‘I cannot get a wink of sleep with thatnoise,’ said the abbot. ‘What is happening?’
‘It is a gleeman,’ said the lay brother, ‘who complains of the sods, of the bread, of the water in the jug, of the foot-water, and of the blanket. And now he is singing a bard’s curse upon you, O brother abbot, and upon your father and your mother, and your grandfather andyour grandmother, and upon all your relations.’
‘Is he cursing in rhyme?’
‘He is cursing in rhyme, and with two assonances in every line of his curse.’
- The Secret Rose by W.B Yeats