Amour 39
Die, die, my soule, and neuer taste of ioy,If sighes, nor teares, nor vowes, nor prayers can moue;If fayth and zeale be but esteemd a toy,And kindnes be vnkindnes in my loue.Then, with vnkindnes, Loue, reuenge thy wrong:O sweet'st reuenge that ere the heauens gaue!And with the swan record thy dying song,And praise her still to thy vntimely graue.So in loues death shall loues perfection proueThat loue diuine which I haue borne to you,By doome concealed to the heauens aboue,That yet the world vnworthy neuer knew;Whose pure Idea neuer tongue exprest:I feele, you know, the heauens can tell the rest.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 39 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 39, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-39.html, id L20580.
Form and metre
Amour 39 is 14 lines in a single stanza. 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 -A-ABCBCACACDD ioy · moueA · toy · loueA · wrongB · gaueC · songB · graueC · proueA · youC · aboueA · knewC · exprestD · restD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Die, die, my soule, and neuer taste of ioy, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| If sighes, nor teares, nor vowes, nor prayers can moue; | 10 | ·········· |
| If fayth and zeale be but esteemd a toy, | 11 | ··········· |
| And kindnes be vnkindnes in my loue. | 7 | ······· |
| Then, with vnkindnes, Loue, reuenge thy wrong: | 7 | ······· |
| O sweet'st reuenge that ere the heauens gaue! | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And with the swan record thy dying song, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| And praise her still to thy vntimely graue. | 10 | ·········· |
| So in loues death shall loues perfection proue | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| That loue diuine which I haue borne to you, | 9 | ········· |
| By doome concealed to the heauens aboue, | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| That yet the world vnworthy neuer knew; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Whose pure Idea neuer tongue exprest: | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| I feele, you know, the heauens can tell the rest. | 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.