CAROL (CAROLE) The carol is a medieval
verse form commonly associated with religious, espe-
cially Christmas, songs, but also connected to dancing.
They are distinguished by having a REFRAIN or BURDEN,
which opens the piece and is repeated after every
STANZA. The verse form varies with respect to line
length and meter, but is consistent within a single
poem. The STANZA lines—commonly four—generally
share a single rhyme, run abcb, or fall aaab[b], with the
second b belonging to the refrain. In structure, the
carol is related to the BALLAD, the RONDEAU, and the
VIRELAI, also designed for performance and reliant upon
refrains.
Roughly 500 medieval English carols survive, most
from the 15th century, though the form existed earlier
both in England and France. In Middle English con-
texts, the term carol is often connected directly to
dance. In SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, for
instance, the term appears fi ve times, each time con-
nected to dancing. The association with Christmas may
be traced to John Audelay, a monk who wrote a num-
ber of lyrics explicitly labeled “carals” and devoted to
Christmas. This has led to some scholarly debate as to
which texts are truly carols. For instance, “The CHERRY
TREE CAROL” is about Christmas and dependent on its
refrain, but its legendary theme connects it with the
ballad tradition as well. Similarly, “The AGINCOURT
CAROL” is not about Christmas—rather, it celebrates
Henry V’s victory over the French in 1415—but fol-
lows the other parameters of the genre. The form
decreased in popularity after the 15th century, though
another carol, “The Holly and the Ivy,” has often been
attributed to King HENRY VIII.
See also “BRING US IN GOOD ALE,” MIDDLE ENGLISH
LYRICS AND BALLADS.
FURTHER READING
Gray, Douglas. “Fifteenth-Century Lyrics and Carols.” In
Nation, Court, and Culture: New Essays in Fifteenth-Century
Poetry, edited by Helen Cooney, 168–183. Dublin: Four
Courts, 2001.
Greene, Richard L., ed. The Early English Carols. 2nd ed.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977.
Keyte, Hugh, and Andrew Parrot. The New Oxford Book of
Carols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Carol E. Harding and Michelle M. Sauer
CARPE DIEM Latin for “seize the day,” the
phrase is taken from the Roman poet Horace’s Odes.
Carpe diem became one of the standard motifs in the
early modern era, particularly in erotic verse. In such
poems, the speaker urges a woman, usually a virgin, to
enjoy life’s immediate pleasures (sex) instead of wast-
ing time. The lyric “COME AWAY, COME SWEET LOVE” is
one such example. It was also popular in the PASTORAL
tradition—for example, in CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE’s
“The PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE” and ROBERT
HENRYSON’s ROBENE AND MAKYNE, both of which feature
seductions. Finally, some poets used the carpe diem
tradition to focus on mortality and the fl eeting sense of
earthly beauty (e.g., The FAERIE QUEENE: “Gather there-
fore the Rose, whilst yet is prime,” 2.12.74–75).CASKET LETTERS (OVERVIEW) SON-
NETS MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (before 1568)
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS is one of the most iconographic
fi gures in Scottish culture. Only recently, however, has
Mary’s poetry been seriously considered on a literary
basis rather than as historical documents. At the heart
of Mary’s poetry lie the 11 SONNETs and SESTET, origi-
nally composed in French, Mary’s fi rst language, and
printed in the so-called Casket Letters, allegedly addressed
to James Hepburn, the earl of Bothwell. Critics have
been divided over the sonnets’ authenticity. In 1571,
they were printed in a work of anti-Marian propaganda
(Detectioun of the duings [doings] of Marie Quene of
Scotts), where they are presented as evidence of Mary’s
involvement in the murder of her second husband,
Henry Darnley. Her critics claimed she penned the let-
ters and sonnets before being imprisoned. The sonnets’
discovery sealed her downfall, leading to 19 years’
imprisonment and her execution in 1587.
Critics are also divided over the question of whether
the sonnets should be read as separate items, as a SON-
NET SEQUENCE, or as one continuous poem. The choice
is rendered more diffi cult as the original Casket Letters
do not survive; therefore, the resulting arrangement
may be the work of Mary’s persecutors. Despite this,
the majority of scholars tend towards reading them as
a sequence.
Mary’s sonnets, like any other contrived poetic
sequence, constitute a “fi ction,” though just what kind104 CAROL