01708--chant royal

Chant royal is a French verse form normally consisting of five stanzas of eleven 10-syllable lines rhyming ababccddede, followed by an  envoi (or half-stanza) rhyming ddede. The last line of the first stanza is repeated as a refrain at the end of the succeeding stanzas and of the envoi. The pattern is similar to that of the ballade, but even more demanding. Most chants royaux were allegories on dignified subjects. They appeared in France from the time of Eustache Deschamps (late 14th century) to that of Clement Marot (early 16th century), but very rarely in English.