Sonnet 48
Cupid, I hate thee, which I'de haue thee know,A naked Starueling euer may'st thou be,Poore Rogue, goe pawne thy Fascia and thy Bow,For some few Ragges, wherewith to couer thee;Or if thou'lt not, thy Archerie forbeare,To some base Rustick doe thy selfe preferre,And when Corne's sowne, or growne into the Eare,Practise thy Quiuer, and turne Crow-keeper;Or being Blind (as fittest for the Trade)Goe hyre thy selfe some bungling Harpers Boy;They that are blind, are Minstrels often made,So may'st thou liue, to thy faire Mothers Ioy:That whilst with MARS she holdeth her old way,Thou, her Blind Sonne, may'st sit by them, and play.
Words in this poem
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
- fascia n.
- A band, sash, or fillet; especially, in surgery, a bandage or roller. [L., a band: cf. It. fascia. See Fasces, and cf. Fess.]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- sonne n.
- A male child; the male issue, or offspring, of a parent, father or mother. [OE. sone, sune, AS. sunu; akin to D. zoon, OS., OFries., & OHG. sunu, G. sohn, Icel. sonr, Sw. son, Dan. sön, Goth. sunus, Lith. sunus, Russ. suin', Skr. sunu (]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 48 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 48, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/sonnet-48.html, id L20634.
Form and metre
Sonnet 48 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABABC-C-D-D-EE knowA · beB · bowA · theeB · forbeareC · preferre · eareC · keeper · tradeD · boy · madeD · ioy · wayE · playE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cupid, I hate thee, which I'de haue thee know, | 10 | /˘········ |
| A naked Starueling euer may'st thou be, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Poore Rogue, goe pawne thy Fascia and thy Bow, | 11 | ·····/˘˘··· |
| For some few Ragges, wherewith to couer thee; | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| Or if thou'lt not, thy Archerie forbeare, | 10 | ·········· |
| To some base Rustick doe thy selfe preferre, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And when Corne's sowne, or growne into the Eare, | 10 | ·········· |
| Practise thy Quiuer, and turne Crow-keeper; | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Or being Blind (as fittest for the Trade) | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Goe hyre thy selfe some bungling Harpers Boy; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| They that are blind, are Minstrels often made, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| So may'st thou liue, to thy faire Mothers Ioy: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That whilst with MARS she holdeth her old way, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thou, her Blind Sonne, may'st sit by them, and play. | 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.