Sonet 21
You cannot loue my pretty hart, and why?There was a time, you told me that you would,But now againe you will the same deny,If it might please you, would to God you could;What will you hate? nay, that you will not neither,Nor loue, nor hate, how then? what will you do,What will you keepe a meane then betwixt eyther?Or will you loue me, and yet hate me to?Yet serues not this, what next, what other shift?You will, and will not, what a coyle is heere,I see your craft, now I perceaue your drift,And all this while, I was mistaken there.Your loue and hate is this, I now doe proue you,You loue in hate, by hate to make me loue you.
Words in this poem
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonet 21 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, Sonet 21, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonet-21.html, id L20597.
Form and metre
Sonet 21 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABAB-C-CD-D-CC whyA · wouldB · denyA · couldB · neither · doC · eyther · toC · shiftD · heere · driftD · there · youC · youC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You cannot loue my pretty hart, and why? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| There was a time, you told me that you would, | 10 | ·········· |
| But now againe you will the same deny, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| If it might please you, would to God you could; | 10 | ·········· |
| What will you hate? nay, that you will not neither, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Nor loue, nor hate, how then? what will you do, | 10 | ·········· |
| What will you keepe a meane then betwixt eyther? | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| Or will you loue me, and yet hate me to? | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet serues not this, what next, what other shift? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| You will, and will not, what a coyle is heere, | 10 | ·········· |
| I see your craft, now I perceaue your drift, | 9 | ········· |
| And all this while, I was mistaken there. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Your loue and hate is this, I now doe proue you, | 11 | ··········· |
| You loue in hate, by hate to make me loue you. | 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.