La Male Regle Literary Elements

Poem

The setting of the poem is during the time of Thomas Hoccleve. The persona was ill and advanced in age.

The persona is a sickly man who is melancholy. The persona regrets his bad decisions in his youth that led to his illness and poverty.

The tone is regretful and nostalgic for the time when the persona was a youth, healthy and wealthy. The mood is melancholy.

The protagonist in the poem is not clear. The antagonist is ill health.

The major conflict in the poem is the persona’s ill health that has made him melancholy.

There is no climax in the poem

N/A

The persona says regarding his bad decisions, That I ever immersed myself in such foolishness.’ Foolishness is an understatement for his bad decisions that are excessive consumption and extravagance that led to his ruin.

Literary allusion. The persona alludes to Ulysses. The persona says , When Ulysses sailed back and forth
Past mermaids, this was his strategy:
The ears of all the men in his company
He had blocked with wax, so that they
Should not hear their song, in case their harmony
Might have bring them to such deadly sleep,'

The description of the young girls in the tavern that the persona frequented. They are described as , ‘‘I dare not admit how the lively company
Of Venus’s pleasing dear young girls,
Who were so nice and shapely and pretty
And so charming in behavior and manner,
And who could feed all a world with a smile,
And were very nicely decked out in their clothes.’

It is paradoxical for a lord to fire a truthful servant that has been put in charge of his (the lord’s) estate.

The persona draws a parallel between the person who has good health and one who is ill. The healthy person is joyful and full of life whereas the ill person is distressed and bitter.

N/A

The persona personifies good health. He does so by pleading with good health to return to him.