Amour 45
Blacke pytchy Night, companyon of my woe,The Inne of care, the Nurse of drery sorrow,Why lengthnest thou thy darkest howres so,Still to prolong my long tyme lookt-for morrow?Thou Sable shadow, Image of dispayre,Portraite of hell, the ayres black mourning weed,Recorder of reuenge, remembrancer of care,The shadow and the vaile of euery sinfull deed.Death like to thee, so lyue thou still in death,The graue of ioy, prison of dayes delight.Let heauens withdraw their sweet Ambrozian breath,Nor Moone nor stars lend thee their shining light;For thou alone renew'st that olde desire,Which still torments me in dayes burning fire.
Words in this poem
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- remembrancer n.
- One who, or that which, serves to bring to, or keep in, mind; a memento; a memorial; a reminder.
- sinfull a.
- Tainted with, or full of, sin; wicked; iniquitous; criminal; unholy; as, sinful men; sinful thoughts. Piers Plowman. [AAS. synfull.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 45 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 45, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-45.html, id L20586.
Form and metre
Amour 45 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 88%).
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 woeA · sorrowB · soA · morrowB · dispayreC · weedD · careC · deedD · deathE · delightF · breathE · lightF · desireG · fireG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Blacke pytchy Night, companyon of my woe, | 10 | ·········· |
| The Inne of care, the Nurse of drery sorrow, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Why lengthnest thou thy darkest howres so, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Still to prolong my long tyme lookt-for morrow? | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| Thou Sable shadow, Image of dispayre, | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| Portraite of hell, the ayres black mourning weed, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Recorder of reuenge, remembrancer of care, | 11 | ˘/˘··˘/˘˘·· |
| The shadow and the vaile of euery sinfull deed. | 12 | ·/·······/˘· |
| Death like to thee, so lyue thou still in death, | 10 | ·········· |
| The graue of ioy, prison of dayes delight. | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| Let heauens withdraw their sweet Ambrozian breath, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Nor Moone nor stars lend thee their shining light; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For thou alone renew'st that olde desire, | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| Which still torments me in dayes burning fire. | 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.