Amour 24
Our floods-Queene, Thames, for shyps and Swans is crowned,And stately Seuerne for her shores is praised,The christall Trent for Foords and fishe renowned,And Auons fame to Albyons Cliues is raysed.Carlegion Chester vaunts her holy Dee,Yorke many wonders of her Ouse can tell,The Peake her Doue, whose bancks so fertill bee,And Kent will say her Medway doth excell.Cotswoold commends her Isis and her Tame,Our Northern borders boast of Tweeds faire flood;Our Westerne parts extoll theyr Wilys fame,And old Legea brags of Danish blood:Ardens sweet Ankor, let thy glory beThat fayre Idea shee doth liue by thee.
Words in this poem
- excell v. t.
- To go beyond or surpass in good qualities or laudable deeds; to outdo or outgo, in a good sense. [L. excellere, excelsum; ex out + a root found in culmen height, top; cf. F. exceller. See Culminate, Column.]
- isis n.
- The principal goddess worshiped by the Egyptians. She was regarded as the mother of Horus, and the sister and wife of Osiris.
- extoll v. t.
- To place on high; to lift up; to elevate. [L. extollere; ex out + tollere to lift, take up, or raise: cf. OF. extoller. See Tollerate, and cf. Flate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 24 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 24, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-24.html, id L20565.
Form and metre
Amour 24 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABABCDCDEFEFCC crownedA · praisedB · renownedA · raysedB · deeC · tellD · beeC · excellD · tameE · floodF · fameE · bloodF · beC · theeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Our floods-Queene, Thames, for shyps and Swans is crowned, | 10 | /········· |
| And stately Seuerne for her shores is praised, | 10 | ·/˘······˘ |
| The christall Trent for Foords and fishe renowned, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And Auons fame to Albyons Cliues is raysed. | 10 | ·········˘ |
| Carlegion Chester vaunts her holy Dee, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Yorke many wonders of her Ouse can tell, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The Peake her Doue, whose bancks so fertill bee, | 10 | ·········· |
| And Kent will say her Medway doth excell. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Cotswoold commends her Isis and her Tame, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Our Northern borders boast of Tweeds faire flood; | 10 | //˘/˘····· |
| Our Westerne parts extoll theyr Wilys fame, | 10 | /···˘/·/˘· |
| And old Legea brags of Danish blood: | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Ardens sweet Ankor, let thy glory be | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| That fayre Idea shee doth liue by thee. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
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.