Amour 38
If chaste and pure deuotion of my youth,Or glorie of my Aprill-springing yeeres,Vnfained loue in naked simple truth,A thousand vowes, a thousand sighes and teares;Or if a world of faithful seruice done,Words, thoughts, and deeds deuoted to her honor,Or eyes that haue beheld her as theyr sunne,With admiration euer looking on her:A lyfe that neuer ioyd but in her loue,A soule that euer hath ador'd her name,A fayth that time nor fortune could not moue,A Muse that vnto heauen hath raised her fame.Though these, nor these deserue to be imbraced,Yet, faire vnkinde, too good to be disgraced.
Words in this poem
- aprill n.
- The fourth month of the year. [L. Aprilis. OE. also Averil, F. Avril, fr. L. Aprilis.]
- admiration n.
- Wonder; astonishment. [F., fr. L. admiratio. See Admire.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 38 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 38, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-38.html, id L20579.
Form and metre
Amour 38 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 A-A-B-B-CDCDEE youthA · yeeres · truthA · teares · doneB · honor · sunneB · her · loueC · nameD · moueC · fameD · imbracedE · disgracedE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If chaste and pure deuotion of my youth, | 9 | ········· |
| Or glorie of my Aprill-springing yeeres, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Vnfained loue in naked simple truth, | 10 | ·˘··/˘˘/˘· |
| A thousand vowes, a thousand sighes and teares; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Or if a world of faithful seruice done, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Words, thoughts, and deeds deuoted to her honor, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Or eyes that haue beheld her as theyr sunne, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| With admiration euer looking on her: | 10 | ··˘/˘·/˘·· |
| A lyfe that neuer ioyd but in her loue, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A soule that euer hath ador'd her name, | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| A fayth that time nor fortune could not moue, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A Muse that vnto heauen hath raised her fame. | 10 | ·······˘·· |
| Though these, nor these deserue to be imbraced, | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet, faire vnkinde, too good to be disgraced. | 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.