Arts & Sciences
Chaucers Wordes unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn
From Short Poems
Adam scriveyn, if ever it thee bifalle
Boece or Troilus to wryten newe,
Under thy lokkes thou most have the scalle,
But after my making thou wryte trewe.
So ofte a daye I mot thy werk renewe,
Hit to correcte and eek to rubbe and scrape;
And al is through thy negligence and rape.
Codex Note
Seven lines of mock-fury at Chaucer’s scribe: Adam must copy Boece and Troilus faithfully or catch the scab under his locks — one of the few glimpses of Chaucer at work. It survives only in a manuscript written by John Shirley and in Stow’s edition of 1561. Text from W. W. Skeat’s Oxford edition (1899).
Cite this poem
MLA
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “Chaucers Wordes unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/chaucer/6/.
Chicago
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “Chaucers Wordes unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/chaucer/6/.
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