Sonet 31
Me thinks I see some crooked Mimick ieereAnd taxe my Muse with this fantastick grace,Turning my papers, asks what haue we heere?Making withall, some filthy anticke face;I feare no censure, nor what thou canst say,Nor shall my spirit one iote of vigor lose,Think'st thou my wit shall keepe the pack-horse way,That euery dudgen low inuention goes?Since Sonnets thus in bundles are imprest,And euery drudge doth dull our satiate eare,Think'st thou my loue, shall in those rags be drestThat euery dowdie, euery trull doth weare?Vnto my pitch no common iudgement flies,I scorne all earthlie dung-bred scarabies.
Words in this poem
- withall adv.
- With this; with that. [With + all.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- imprest v. t.
- To advance on loan. Burke. [Pref. im- + prest: cf. It. imprestare. See Prest, n.]
- satiate a.
- Filled to satiety; glutted; sated; -- followed by with or of. [L. satiatus, p. p. of satiare to satisfy, from sat, satis, enough. See Sad, a., and cf. Sate.]
- trull n.
- A drab; a strumpet; a harlot; a trollop. [G. trolle, trulle; cf. OD. drol a jester, Dan. trold an elf, imp, Sw. troll a goblin, Icel. troll, tröll, a giant, fiend, demon. Cf. Droll, Troll.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonet 31 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 31, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonet-31.html, id L20604.
Form and metre
Sonet 31 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABABC-C-DADAEE ieereA · graceB · heereA · faceB · sayC · lose · wayC · goes · imprestD · eareA · drestD · weareA · fliesE · scarabiesE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Me thinks I see some crooked Mimick ieere | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And taxe my Muse with this fantastick grace, | 10 | ·········· |
| Turning my papers, asks what haue we heere? | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Making withall, some filthy anticke face; | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| I feare no censure, nor what thou canst say, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor shall my spirit one iote of vigor lose, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Think'st thou my wit shall keepe the pack-horse way, | 10 | ·········· |
| That euery dudgen low inuention goes? | 10 | ·········· |
| Since Sonnets thus in bundles are imprest, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And euery drudge doth dull our satiate eare, | 11 | ······//˘˘· |
| Think'st thou my loue, shall in those rags be drest | 10 | ·········· |
| That euery dowdie, euery trull doth weare? | 10 | ·········· |
| Vnto my pitch no common iudgement flies, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| I scorne all earthlie dung-bred scarabies. | 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.