Sonnet 41
Deare, why should you commaund me to my restWhen now the night doth summon all to sleepe?Me thinks this time becommeth louers best,Night was ordained together friends to keepe.How happy are all other liuing things,Which though the day disioyne by seuerall flight,The quiet euening yet together brings,And each returnes vnto his loue at night.O thou that art so curteous vnto all,Why shouldst thou Night abuse me onely thus,That euery creature to his kinde doost call,And yet tis thou doost onely seuer vs.Well could I wish it would be euer day,If when night comes you bid me goe away.
Words in this poem
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 41 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 41, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonnet-41.html, id L20615.
Form and metre
Sonnet 41 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 ABABCDCDE-E-FF restA · sleepeB · bestA · keepeB · thingsC · flightD · bringsC · nightD · allE · thus · callE · — · dayF · awayF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Deare, why should you commaund me to my rest | 10 | ·········· |
| When now the night doth summon all to sleepe? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Me thinks this time becommeth louers best, | 9 | ········· |
| Night was ordained together friends to keepe. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| How happy are all other liuing things, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| Which though the day disioyne by seuerall flight, | 10 | ·········· |
| The quiet euening yet together brings, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| And each returnes vnto his loue at night. | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| O thou that art so curteous vnto all, | 9 | ········· |
| Why shouldst thou Night abuse me onely thus, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| That euery creature to his kinde doost call, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And yet tis thou doost onely seuer vs. | 10 | ·····/˘·// |
| Well could I wish it would be euer day, | 9 | ········· |
| If when night comes you bid me goe away. | 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.