Amour 33
Whilst thus mine eyes doe surfet with delight,My wofull hart, imprisond in my breast,Wishing to be trans-formd into my sight,To looke on her by whom mine eyes are blest;But whilst mine eyes thus greedily doe gaze,Behold! their obiects ouer-soone depart,And treading in this neuer-ending maze,Wish now to be trans-formd into my hart:My hart, surcharg'd with thoughts, sighes in abundance raise,My eyes, made dim with lookes, poure down a flood of tears;And whilst my hart and eye enuy each others praise,My dying lookes and thoughts are peiz'd in equall feares:And thus, whilst sighes and teares together doe contende,Each one of these doth ayde vnto the other lende.
Words in this poem
- wofull a.
- Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity; afflicted; wretched; unhappy; sad.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 33 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 33, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-33.html, id L20574.
Form and metre
Amour 33 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDCECEFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABCDCDCECEFF delightA · breastB · sightA · blestB · gazeC · departD · mazeC · hartD · raiseC · tearsE · praiseC · fearesE · contendeF · lendeF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whilst thus mine eyes doe surfet with delight, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| My wofull hart, imprisond in my breast, | 10 | ·········· |
| Wishing to be trans-formd into my sight, | 10 | /˘········ |
| To looke on her by whom mine eyes are blest; | 10 | ·········· |
| But whilst mine eyes thus greedily doe gaze, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Behold! their obiects ouer-soone depart, | 9 | ˘/·····˘/ |
| And treading in this neuer-ending maze, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Wish now to be trans-formd into my hart: | 10 | ·········· |
| My hart, surcharg'd with thoughts, sighes in abundance raise, | 12 | ········˘/˘· |
| My eyes, made dim with lookes, poure down a flood of tears; | 12 | ············ |
| And whilst my hart and eye enuy each others praise, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| My dying lookes and thoughts are peiz'd in equall feares: | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| And thus, whilst sighes and teares together doe contende, | 12 | ······˘/˘··· |
| Each one of these doth ayde vnto the other lende. | 11 | ········/˘· |
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.