Sonet 55
Truce gentle loue, a parly now I craue,Me thinks, 'tis long since first these wars begun,Nor thou nor I, the better yet can haue:Bad is the match where neither party wone.I offer free conditions of faire peace,My hart for hostage, that it shall remaine,Discharge our forces heere, let malice cease,So for my pledge, thou giue me pledge againe.Or if nothing but death will serue thy turne,Still thirsting for subuersion of my state;Doe what thou canst, raze, massacre, and burne,Let the world see the vtmost of thy hate:I send defiance, since if ouerthrowne,Thou vanquishing, the conquest is mine owne.
Words in this poem
- wone v. i.
- To dwell; to abide. Piers Plowman. [OE. wonen, wunen, wonien, wunien, AS. wunian. Wont, a.]
- hostage n.
- A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or stipulations of any kind, on the performance of which the person is to be released. [OE. hostage, OF. hostage, ostage, F. ôtage, LL. hostaticus, ostaticum, for hospitaticum, fr. L. hospes guest, host. The first meaning is, the state of a guest, ]
- 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,]
- raze n.
- A Shakespearean word (used once) supposed to mean the same as race, a root. [See Rack.]
- massacre n.
- The killing of a considerable number of human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the usages of civilized people; as, the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day. [F., fr. LL. mazacrium; cf. Prov. G. metzgern, metzgen, to kill cattle, G. metzger a butcher, and LG. matsken to cut, hew, OHG. meizan to cut, Goth. máitan.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonet 55 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 55, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonet-55.html, id L20609.
Form and metre
Sonet 55 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 A-A-BCBCDEDEFF craueA · begun · haueA · wone · peaceB · remaineC · ceaseB · againeC · turneD · stateE · burneD · hateE · ouerthrowneF · owneF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Truce gentle loue, a parly now I craue, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Me thinks, 'tis long since first these wars begun, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Nor thou nor I, the better yet can haue: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Bad is the match where neither party wone. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| I offer free conditions of faire peace, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| My hart for hostage, that it shall remaine, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Discharge our forces heere, let malice cease, | 10 | ˘///˘··/˘· |
| So for my pledge, thou giue me pledge againe. | 10 | ·········· |
| Or if nothing but death will serue thy turne, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Still thirsting for subuersion of my state; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Doe what thou canst, raze, massacre, and burne, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Let the world see the vtmost of thy hate: | 9 | ········· |
| I send defiance, since if ouerthrowne, | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| Thou vanquishing, the conquest is mine owne. | 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.