Amour 18
Some, when in ryme they of their Loues doe tell,With flames and lightning their exordiums paynt:Some inuocate the Gods, some spirits of Hell,And heauen, and earth doe with their woes acquaint.Elizia is too hie a seate for mee:I wyll not come in Stixe or Phlegiton;The Muses nice, the Furies cruell be,I lyke not Limbo, nor blacke Acheron,Spightful Erinnis frights mee with her lookes,My manhood dares not with foule Ate mell:I quake to looke on Hecats charming bookes,I styll feare bugbeares in Apollos cell.I passe not for Minerua nor Astræa.But euer call vpon diuine Idea.
Words in this poem
- acquaint v. t.
- To furnish or give experimental knowledge of; to make (one) to know; to make familiar; -- followed by with. [OE. aqueinten, acointen, OF. acointier, LL. adcognitare, fr. L. ad + cognitus, p. p. of cognoscere to know; con- + noscere to know. See Quaint, Know.]
- cruell a.
- Disposed to give pain to others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless. [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis, fr. crudus. See Crude.]
- limbo n.
- An extramundane region where certain classes of souls were supposed to await the judgment. [L. limbus border, edge in limbo on the border. Cf. Limb border.]
- acheron n.
- A river in the Nether World or infernal regions; also, the infernal regions themselves. By some of the English poets it was supposed to be a flaming lake or gulf.
- mell v. i.
- To mix; to meddle. [F. mêler, OF. meller, mester. See Meddle.]
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 18 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Minor Poems of Michael Drayton, Project Gutenberg ebook #17873; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Michael Drayton, Amour 18, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-18.html, id L20559.
Form and metre
Amour 18 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEAEA-- tellA · payntB · hellA · acquaintB · meeC · phlegitonD · beC · acheronD · lookesE · mellA · bookesE · cellA · astræa · idea
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Some, when in ryme they of their Loues doe tell, | 10 | ·········· |
| With flames and lightning their exordiums paynt: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Some inuocate the Gods, some spirits of Hell, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| And heauen, and earth doe with their woes acquaint. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Elizia is too hie a seate for mee: | 10 | ·········· |
| I wyll not come in Stixe or Phlegiton; | 10 | ·········· |
| The Muses nice, the Furies cruell be, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| I lyke not Limbo, nor blacke Acheron, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Spightful Erinnis frights mee with her lookes, | 10 | ·········· |
| My manhood dares not with foule Ate mell: | 10 | ·/····/˘·· |
| I quake to looke on Hecats charming bookes, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I styll feare bugbeares in Apollos cell. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| I passe not for Minerua nor Astræa. | 11 | ··/······/˘ |
| But euer call vpon diuine Idea. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.