Sonnet 43
Why should your faire eyes with such soueraine grace,Dispearse their raies on euery vulgar spirit,Whilst I in darknes in the selfesame place,Get not one glance to recompence my merit:So doth the plow-man gaze the wandring starre,And onely rests contented with the light,That neuer learnd what constellations are,Beyond the bent of his vnknowing sight.O why should beautie (custome to obey)To their grosse sence applie her selfe so ill?Would God I were as ignorant as theyWhen I am made vnhappy by my skill;Onely compeld on this poore good to boast,Heauens are not kind to them that know them most.
Words in this poem
- starre n.
- One of the innumerable luminous bodies seen in the heavens; any heavenly body other than the sun, moon, comets, and nebulæ. [OE. sterre, AS. steorra; akin to OFries. stera, OS. sterro, D. ster, OHG. sterno, sterro, G. stern, Icel. stjarna, Sw. stjerna, Dan. stierne, Goth. staírno, Arm]
- grosse n.
- A heavy silk with a dull finish; as, gros de Naples; gros de Tours. [F. See Gross.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 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, Sonnet 43, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonnet-43.html, id L20619.
Form and metre
Sonnet 43 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCBCBDEDEFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 ABABCBCBDEDEFF graceA · spiritB · placeA · meritB · starreC · lightB · areC · sightB · obeyD · illE · theyD · skillE · boastF · mostF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Why should your faire eyes with such soueraine grace, | 10 | ·········· |
| Dispearse their raies on euery vulgar spirit, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Whilst I in darknes in the selfesame place, | 10 | ·········· |
| Get not one glance to recompence my merit: | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| So doth the plow-man gaze the wandring starre, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And onely rests contented with the light, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| That neuer learnd what constellations are, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Beyond the bent of his vnknowing sight. | 9 | ········· |
| O why should beautie (custome to obey) | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To their grosse sence applie her selfe so ill? | 10 | ·········· |
| Would God I were as ignorant as they | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| When I am made vnhappy by my skill; | 9 | ········· |
| Onely compeld on this poore good to boast, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Heauens are not kind to them that know them most. | 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.