Amour 49
Define my loue, and tell the ioyes of heauen,Expresse my woes, and shew the paynes of hell;Declare what fate vnlucky starres haue giuen,And aske a world vpon my life to dwell.Make knowne that fayth vnkindnes could not moue;Compare my worth with others base desert:Let vertue be the tuch-stone of my loue,So may the heauens reade wonders in my hart.Behold the Clowdes which haue eclips'd my sunne,And view the crosses which my course doth let;Tell mee, if euer since the world begunne,So faire a Morning had so foule a set?And, by all meanes, let black vnkindnes proueThe patience of so rare, diuine a loue.
Words in this poem
- shew n.
- Show. [Obs. except in shewbread.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- tuch n.
- A dark-colored kind of marble; touchstone. Sir J. [See Touchstone.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 49 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 49, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-49.html, id L20590.
Form and metre
Amour 49 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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-ABCB-DCDCBB heauen · hellA · giuen · dwellA · moueB · desertC · loueB · hart · sunneD · letC · begunneD · setC · proueB · loueB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Define my loue, and tell the ioyes of heauen, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Expresse my woes, and shew the paynes of hell; | 10 | ·········· |
| Declare what fate vnlucky starres haue giuen, | 9 | ˘/······· |
| And aske a world vpon my life to dwell. | 9 | ········· |
| Make knowne that fayth vnkindnes could not moue; | 8 | ········ |
| Compare my worth with others base desert: | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| Let vertue be the tuch-stone of my loue, | 9 | ········· |
| So may the heauens reade wonders in my hart. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Behold the Clowdes which haue eclips'd my sunne, | 10 | ˘/····˘/·· |
| And view the crosses which my course doth let; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Tell mee, if euer since the world begunne, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| So faire a Morning had so foule a set? | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| And, by all meanes, let black vnkindnes proue | 8 | ········ |
| The patience of so rare, diuine a loue. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
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.