The Rape of Lucrece

“The Rape of Lucrece” is written in rhyme royal (also referred to as rime royal). This form was used by Chaucer in his long poem “Troilus and Criseyde,” so the form is sometimes called the Troilus stanza. “Troilus and Criseyde” is a Middle English romance about characters from the Trojan War, which connects to Shakespeare’s poem in several ways. Most directly, it connects to the painting of Troy that Lucrece spends many stanzas looking at and discussing. Also, Chaucer uses anachronistic elements of chivalry and courtly love in his poem about Trojans; Shakespeare does the same in his poem about Romans. Furthermore, according to The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Shakespeare’s use of rhyme royal “tested its capacities for violent action and violent reflection at once” (1193-1194).

Each (Troilus) stanza consists of seven lines with the rhyme scheme ABABBCC, and each line is written in iambic pentameter. This meter, which Shakespeare is famous for using in many plays as well as poems, is musical when read aloud: The consistency makes for an uninterrupted flow of language. The auditory beauty of the meter contrasts with the violent acts that occur in the poem, emphasizing the violence that lurks in the language of courtly love.