Amour 47
The golden Sunne vpon his fiery wheelesThe horned Ram doth in his course awake,And of iust length our night and day doth make,Flinging the Fishes backward with his heeles:Then to the Tropicke takes his full Careere,Trotting his sun-steeds till the Palfrays sweat,Bayting the Lyon in his furious heat,Till Virgins smyles doe sound his sweet reteere.But my faire Planet, who directs me still,Vnkindly such distemperature doth bring,Makes Summer Winter, Autumne in the Spring,Crossing sweet nature by vnruly will.Such is the sunne who guides my youthfull season,Whose thwarting course depriues the world of reason.
Words in this poem
- distemperature n.
- Bad temperature; intemperateness; excess of heat or cold, or of other qualities; as, the distemperature of the air.
- youthfull a.
- Not yet mature or aged; young.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 47 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 47, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-47.html, id L20588.
Form and metre
Amour 47 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABBAC--CDEEDFF wheelesA · awakeB · makeB · heelesA · careereC · sweat · heat · reteereC · stillD · bringE · springE · willD · seasonF · reasonF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The golden Sunne vpon his fiery wheeles | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘· |
| The horned Ram doth in his course awake, | 10 | ··˘·····˘/ |
| And of iust length our night and day doth make, | 10 | ····/····· |
| Flinging the Fishes backward with his heeles: | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Then to the Tropicke takes his full Careere, | 10 | ·········· |
| Trotting his sun-steeds till the Palfrays sweat, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Bayting the Lyon in his furious heat, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Till Virgins smyles doe sound his sweet reteere. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But my faire Planet, who directs me still, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Vnkindly such distemperature doth bring, | 10 | ···˘/˘˘˘·· |
| Makes Summer Winter, Autumne in the Spring, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Crossing sweet nature by vnruly will. | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Such is the sunne who guides my youthfull season, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Whose thwarting course depriues the world of reason. | 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.