Amour 35
See, chaste Diana, where my harmles hart,Rouz'd from my breast, his sure and safest layre,Nor chaste by hound, nor forc'd by Hunters arte,Yet see how right he comes vnto my fayre.See how my Deere comes to thy Beauties stand,And there stands gazing on those darting eyes,Whilst from theyr rayes, by Cupids skilfull hand,Into his hart the piercing Arrow flyes.See how he lookes vpon his bleeding wound,Whilst thus he panteth for his latest breath,And, looking on thee, falls vpon the ground,Smyling, as though he gloried in his death.And wallowing in his blood, some lyfe yet laft;His stone-cold lips doth kisse the blessed shaft.
Words in this poem
- diana n.
- The daughter of Jupiter and Latona; a virgin goddess who presided over hunting, chastity, and marriage; -- identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. [L. Diana.]
- layre n.
- One who, or that which, lays. [See Lay to cause to lie flat.]
- gloried a.
- Illustrious; honorable; noble. [See Glory.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 35 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 35, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-35.html, id L20576.
Form and metre
Amour 35 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other English sonnets, 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG hartA · layreB · arteA · fayreB · standC · eyesD · handC · flyesD · woundE · breathF · groundE · deathF · laftG · shaftG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| See, chaste Diana, where my harmles hart, | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| Rouz'd from my breast, his sure and safest layre, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Nor chaste by hound, nor forc'd by Hunters arte, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yet see how right he comes vnto my fayre. | 9 | ········· |
| See how my Deere comes to thy Beauties stand, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And there stands gazing on those darting eyes, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whilst from theyr rayes, by Cupids skilfull hand, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Into his hart the piercing Arrow flyes. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| See how he lookes vpon his bleeding wound, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Whilst thus he panteth for his latest breath, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And, looking on thee, falls vpon the ground, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Smyling, as though he gloried in his death. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And wallowing in his blood, some lyfe yet laft; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| His stone-cold lips doth kisse the blessed shaft. | 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.