Amour 37
I euer loue where neuer hope appeares,Yet hope drawes on my neuer-hoping care,And my liues hope would die but for dyspaire;My neuer certaine ioy breeds euer-certaine feares.Vncertaine dread gyues wings vnto my hope,Yet my hopes wings are loden so with feare,As they cannot ascend to my hopes spheare,Yet feare gyues them more then a heauenly scope.Yet this large roome is bounded with dyspaire,So my loue is still fettered with vaine hope,And lyberty depriues him of hys scope,And thus am I imprisond in the ayre:Then, sweet Dispaire, awhile hold vp thy head,Or all my hope for sorrow will be dead.
Words in this poem
- fettered a.
- Seeming as if fettered, as the feet pf certain animals which bend backward, and appear unfit for walking.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 37 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 37, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-37.html, id L20578.
Form and metre
Amour 37 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCBCCBEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
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 ABBACDDCBCCBEE appearesA · careB · dyspaireB · fearesA · hopeC · feareD · spheareD · scopeC · dyspaireB · hopeC · scopeC · ayreB · headE · deadE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I euer loue where neuer hope appeares, | 9 | ····/˘·˘/ |
| Yet hope drawes on my neuer-hoping care, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And my liues hope would die but for dyspaire; | 10 | ·········· |
| My neuer certaine ioy breeds euer-certaine feares. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Vncertaine dread gyues wings vnto my hope, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet my hopes wings are loden so with feare, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As they cannot ascend to my hopes spheare, | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| Yet feare gyues them more then a heauenly scope. | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet this large roome is bounded with dyspaire, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So my loue is still fettered with vaine hope, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And lyberty depriues him of hys scope, | 9 | ········· |
| And thus am I imprisond in the ayre: | 10 | ·········· |
| Then, sweet Dispaire, awhile hold vp thy head, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Or all my hope for sorrow will be dead. | 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.