SOURCE: "The Rhyme Schemes of the Jeu de Saint Nicolas as an Indication of Staging," in Australian Journal of French Studies, Vol. I, No. 3, September-December, 1964, pp. 226-56.

In the following excerpt, Marshall uses the various rhyme schemes employed in Jeu de Saint Nicolas as a basis for analyzing the play's meaning, structure, and stage layout.

The literary merits of the Jeu de St. Nicolas have been only slowly recognized, due for the most part to three interrelated stumbling-blocks to appreciation of the play—the difficuties of the language, the apparent disunity arising from the juxtaposition of seemingly incompatible elements and the obscurity of the overall purpose of the work. Language difficulties have been eroded away in the studies of a large number of scholars, to the point where the finer nuances of the text can be understood without impediment. Recent critics, notably Vincent,¹ Foulon², and Henry³ have all...