In Old French, oci oci, represented the cry of the nightingale; Godefroy gives examples from Raoul de Houdenc, Froissart, and Deschamps. Moreover, oci was also the imperative of the O.F. verb ocire, to kill; with which it is here intentionally confused. Accordingly, the nightingale retorts that oci means 'kill! kill!' with reference to the enemies of love.
135. grede, exclaim, cry out. Not used by Chaucer, though found in most dialects of Middle-English. Clanvowe may have heard it in Herefordshire, as it occurs in Langland, Layamon, Robert of
Gloucester, and in the Coventry Mysteries, and must have been known in the west. But it was once a very common word. From A.S. grǣdan.
137. to-drawe, drawn asunder; cf. Havelok, 2001; Will. of Palerne, 1564.
140. yok, yoke; cf. Ch. C. T., E 113, 1285.
142. unthryve, become unsuccessful, meet with ill luck. A very rare word; but it also occurs in the Cursor Mundi (Fairfax MS.), l. 9450, where it is said of Adam that 'his wyf made him to unthryve.'
146. The first syllable of the line is deficient. Accent What strongly. Cf. 153-8 below.
151. The sentiment that love teaches all goodness, is common at this time; see Schick's note to Lydgate's Temple of Glas, l. 450.
152. The true reading is doubtful.
153-8. Here the author produces a considerable metrical effect, by beginning all of these lines with a strong accent. There are three such consecutive lines in the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 869-71. Cf. ll. 161, 232, 242, 252, 261, 265, 268, 270, 278.