Sonet 43
Whilst thus my pen striues to eternize thee,Age rules my lines with wrincles in my face,Where in the Map of all my misery,Is modeld out the world of my disgrace,Whilst in despight of tyrannizing times,Medea like I make thee young againe,Proudly thou scorn'st my world-outwearing rimes,And murther'st vertue with thy coy disdaine;And though in youth, my youth vntimely perrish,To keepe thee from obliuion and the graue,Ensuing ages yet my rimes shall cherrish,Where I entomb'd, my better part shall saue;And though this earthly body fade and dieMy name shall mount vpon eternitie.
Words in this poem
- eternize v. t.
- To make eternal or endless. [Cf. F. éterniser.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonet 43 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 43, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonet-43.html, id L20606.
Form and metre
Sonet 43 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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-ABCBCDEDE-- thee · faceA · misery · disgraceA · timesB · againeC · rimesB · disdaineC · perrishD · graueE · cherrishD · saueE · die · eternitie
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whilst thus my pen striues to eternize thee, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Age rules my lines with wrincles in my face, | 9 | ········· |
| Where in the Map of all my misery, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Is modeld out the world of my disgrace, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Whilst in despight of tyrannizing times, | 10 | ·········· |
| Medea like I make thee young againe, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Proudly thou scorn'st my world-outwearing rimes, | 10 | /˘········ |
| And murther'st vertue with thy coy disdaine; | 9 | ········· |
| And though in youth, my youth vntimely perrish, | 11 | ··········· |
| To keepe thee from obliuion and the graue, | 9 | ········· |
| Ensuing ages yet my rimes shall cherrish, | 10 | /˘/˘······ |
| Where I entomb'd, my better part shall saue; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| And though this earthly body fade and die | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| My name shall mount vpon eternitie. | 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.