211. The metre now becomes extremely artificial. The first stanza is
introductory. Its nine lines are rimed _a a b a a b b a b_, with only two
rimes. I set back lines 3, 6, 7, 9, to show the arrangement more clearly.
The next four stanzas are in the same metre. The construction is obscure,
but is cleared up by l. 350, which is its echo, and again by ll. 270-1.
_Swerd_ is the nom. case, and _thirleth_ is its verb; 'the sword of sorrow,
whetted with false complaisance, so pierces my heart, (now) bare of bliss
and black in hue, with the (keen) point of (tender) recollection.'
Chaucer's 'with ... remembrance' is precisely Dante's 'Per la puntura della
rimembranza'; Purg. xii. 20.