Amour 5
Since holy Vestall lawes haue been neglected,The Gods pure fire hath been extinguisht quite;No Virgin once attending on that light,Nor yet those heauenly secrets once respected;Till thou alone, to pay the heauens their dutieWithin the Temple of thy sacred name,With thine eyes kindling that Celestiall flame,By those reflecting Sun-beames of thy beautie.Here Chastity that Vestall most diuine,Attends that Lampe with eye which neuer sleepeth;The volumes of Religions lawes shee keepeth,Making thy breast that sacred reliques shryne,Where blessed Angels, singing day and night,Praise him which made that fire, which lends that light.
Words in this poem
- vestall a.
- Of or pertaining to Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth; hence, pure; chaste. [L. Vestalis belonging to Vesta, vestal. See Vesta.]
- celestiall a.
- Belonging to the aërial regions, or visible heavens. [OF. celestial, celestied, fr. L. caelestic, fr. caelum heaved. See Cell.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 5 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 5, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-5.html, id L20546.
Form and metre
Amour 5 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCEFFEBB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABBACDDCEFFEBB neglectedA · quiteB · lightB · respectedA · dutieC · nameD · flameD · beautieC · diuineE · sleepethF · keepethF · shryneE · nightB · lightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Since holy Vestall lawes haue been neglected, | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| The Gods pure fire hath been extinguisht quite; | 10 | ···/······ |
| No Virgin once attending on that light, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Nor yet those heauenly secrets once respected; | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Till thou alone, to pay the heauens their dutie | 11 | ··˘/······· |
| Within the Temple of thy sacred name, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With thine eyes kindling that Celestiall flame, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| By those reflecting Sun-beames of thy beautie. | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| Here Chastity that Vestall most diuine, | 9 | ·/˘˘·/˘·· |
| Attends that Lampe with eye which neuer sleepeth; | 11 | ˘/·····/˘/˘ |
| The volumes of Religions lawes shee keepeth, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Making thy breast that sacred reliques shryne, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Where blessed Angels, singing day and night, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Praise him which made that fire, which lends that light. | 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.