Sonnet 27
Is not Loue here, as 'tis in other Clymes,And diff'reth it, as doe the seu'rall Nations?Or hath it lost the Vertue, with the Times,Or in this land alt'reth with the Fashions?Or haue our Passions lesser pow'r then theirs,Who had lesse Art them liuely to expresse?Is Nature growne lesse pow'rfull in their Heires,Or in our Fathers did the more transgresse?I am sure my Sighes come from a Heart as true,As any Mans, that Memory can boast,And my Respects and Seruices to youEquall with his, that loues his Mistris most:Or Nature must be partiall in my Cause,Or onely you doe violate her Lawes.
Words in this poem
- partiall a.
- Of, pertaining to, or affecting, a part only; not general or universal; not total or entire; as, a partial eclipse of the moon. [F., fr. LL. partials, fr. L. pars, gen. partis, a part; cf. (for sense 1) F. partiel. See Part, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 27 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 27, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonnet-27-2.html, id L20632.
Form and metre
Sonnet 27 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-A-BCBCDEDEFF clymesA · nations · timesA · fashions · theirsB · expresseC · heiresB · transgresseC · trueD · boastE · youD · mostE · causeF · lawesF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Is not Loue here, as 'tis in other Clymes, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And diff'reth it, as doe the seu'rall Nations? | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Or hath it lost the Vertue, with the Times, | 9 | ········· |
| Or in this land alt'reth with the Fashions? | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Or haue our Passions lesser pow'r then theirs, | 10 | ··//˘/˘··· |
| Who had lesse Art them liuely to expresse? | 10 | ·········· |
| Is Nature growne lesse pow'rfull in their Heires, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Or in our Fathers did the more transgresse? | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| I am sure my Sighes come from a Heart as true, | 11 | ··········· |
| As any Mans, that Memory can boast, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| And my Respects and Seruices to you | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Equall with his, that loues his Mistris most: | 10 | /˘········ |
| Or Nature must be partiall in my Cause, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Or onely you doe violate her Lawes. | 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.