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The Digital Index of Middle English Verse
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DIMEV 786
IMEV 482
NIMEV 482
Before my death this lay of sorrow I sing
The Lay of Sorrow — 185 lines in twenty-one stanzas, generally of 9 lines each
Title(s): The Lay of Sorrow
Subjects: death, approach of
Versification: — nine-line — aabccbddb



Manuscript Witnesses:
1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Arch. Selden B. 24 (SC 3354), ff. 217-219
First Lines:
Befor my deth this lay of sorow I sing
With carefull melodye and entunyng…
Last Lines:
…Of him the quhich enheryit hath þe Rent
Of fair langage to all þe Worldis ere
Facsimiles:
Boffey, Julia, and A. S. G. Edwards, eds. Chaucer, Works. Bodleian Library MS Arch Selden B.24: Facsimile Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1995.
Editions:
Wilson, Kenneth George. “The Lay of Sorrow and The Lufaris Complaynt: An Edition.” Speculum 29 (1954): 708-26: 716-19.