Sonnet 1
Like an aduenturous Sea-farer am I,Who hath some long and dang'rous Voyage beene,And call'd to tell of his Discouerie,How farre he sayl'd, what Countries he had seene,Proceeding from the Port whence he put forth,Shewes by his Compasse, how his Course he steer'd,When East, when West, when South, and when by North,As how the Pole to eu'ry place was rear'd,What Capes he doubled, of what Continent,The Gulphes and Straits, that strangely he had past,Where most becalm'd, wherewith foule Weather spent,And on what Rocks in perill to be cast?Thus in my Loue, Time calls me to relateMy tedious Trauels, and oft-varying Fate.
Words in this poem
- farre n.
- A young pig, or a litter of pigs. [See Farrow.]
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- perill v. i.
- To be in danger.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 1 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, Sonnet 1, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonnet-1.html, id L20627.
Form and metre
Sonnet 1 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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-ABCBCDEDEFF i · beeneA · discouerie · seeneA · forthB · steer'dC · northB · rear'dC · continentD · pastE · spentD · castE · relateF · fateF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Like an aduenturous Sea-farer am I, | 11 | ··········· |
| Who hath some long and dang'rous Voyage beene, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And call'd to tell of his Discouerie, | 9 | ········· |
| How farre he sayl'd, what Countries he had seene, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Proceeding from the Port whence he put forth, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Shewes by his Compasse, how his Course he steer'd, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When East, when West, when South, and when by North, | 10 | ·········· |
| As how the Pole to eu'ry place was rear'd, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What Capes he doubled, of what Continent, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| The Gulphes and Straits, that strangely he had past, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Where most becalm'd, wherewith foule Weather spent, | 11 | ··˘/˘//˘/˘· |
| And on what Rocks in perill to be cast? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thus in my Loue, Time calls me to relate | 10 | ········˘/ |
| My tedious Trauels, and oft-varying Fate. | 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.