Amour 2
My fayre, if thou wilt register my loue,More then worlds volumes shall thereof arise;Preserue my teares, and thou thy selfe shall proueA second flood downe rayning from mine eyes.Note but my sighes, and thine eyes shal beholdThe Sun-beames smothered with immortall smoke;And if by thee, my prayers may be enrold,They heauen and earth to pitty shall prouoke.Looke thou into my breast, and thou shall seeChaste holy vowes for my soules sacrifice:That soule (sweet Maide) which so hath honoured thee,Erecting Trophies to thy sacred eyes;Those eyes to my heart shining euer bright,When darknes hath obscur'd each other light.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- immortall a.
- Not mortal; exempt from liability to die; undying; imperishable; lasting forever; having unlimited, or eternal, existance. [L. immortalis; pref. im- not + mortalis mortal: cf. F. immortel. See Mortal, and cf. Immortelle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 2 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 2, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-2.html, id L20543.
Form and metre
Amour 2 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABABCDCDE-EBFF loueA · ariseB · proueA · eyesB · beholdC · smokeD · enroldC · prouokeD · seeE · sacrifice · theeE · eyesB · brightF · lightF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My fayre, if thou wilt register my loue, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| More then worlds volumes shall thereof arise; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Preserue my teares, and thou thy selfe shall proue | 10 | ·········· |
| A second flood downe rayning from mine eyes. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Note but my sighes, and thine eyes shal behold | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The Sun-beames smothered with immortall smoke; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And if by thee, my prayers may be enrold, | 10 | ·········· |
| They heauen and earth to pitty shall prouoke. | 9 | ········· |
| Looke thou into my breast, and thou shall see | 10 | ·········· |
| Chaste holy vowes for my soules sacrifice: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| That soule (sweet Maide) which so hath honoured thee, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Erecting Trophies to thy sacred eyes; | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Those eyes to my heart shining euer bright, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| When darknes hath obscur'd each other light. | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
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.